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RARE PHOTOS: Rick wakeman | Vintage Vibes

“I’d get thrown out then brought back in. I just couldn’t play in a conventional way”: Japan’s Richard Barbieri on coloured hair, lipstick, a fingerless glove and the unusual reason he joined the band

Future Porcupine Tree member recalls being put off playing keyboards by Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, and feeling culturally homeless before the new romantic era

Louder

Rick Wakeman announces his The Wizard Of Prog - Ultimate Highlights Concert Tour for early 2027

Rick Wakeman will also release his autobiography, The Wizard Of Prog, in October

Louder

“I started my first band at 13. We tried Yes’ Roundabout… it was a valiant attempt!”: Long before David Bryan joined Bon Jovi, he was trying to play like Rick Wakeman

American keyboardist still loves the Yes album that was his favourite in the 70s, and explains where he satisfies his craving for writing complex songs

Louder

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"Out of the first 10 Prophets sold, one went to Rick Wakeman, one to David Bowie, and one to Joe Zawinul. It took off from there": The history of Sequential in 10 synths, sequencers and drum machines

We chart the rise, fall and revival of one of the synth world's true titans

MusicRadar

“Kate Bush saw me recording at Townhouse Studios, popped her head in, saw the Fairlight and said ‘What's that?’”: We speak to Yes, Asia and the Buggles' synth legend Geoff Downes

From pop to prog, keyboard maestro Geoff Downes charts his journey from auditioning for Wizzard to global success with the Buggles, Yes and Asia

MusicRadar

"The band were screaming at me to come on stage as our time was running out." How Rick Wakeman got his first cape, by Rick Wakeman

After reading a live review that described him as a giant comical spider, Rick Wakeman knew he had to take action

Louder

“Peter had such a glorious touch thanks to his wonderful simplicity. But then he went off the rails and became a gravedigger”: How 10cc’s Rick Fenn ended up working with David Gilmour, Peter Green, Mike Oldfield, and almost all of his other heroes

The underrated guitar great looks back on the “improbable serendipities” that punctuate his 50-year career, hails the guitar he’s been playing for almost all of it, and reveals the favorite solos in his catalog

Guitar World

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“Greg Lake was a bit of a cabaret singer. Jon Anderson, whatever you think of his lyrics, bloody meant it”: The prog stars who influenced a comedy musician’s career – and made him become a milkman for a while

Graham Fellows, creator of Jilted John and John Shuttleworth, started out with ELP before finding Yes, Focus, The Enid and Pink Floyd (although he has no time for The Dark Side Of The Moon)

Louder

"You can borrow the luggage of the past, you can amalgamate it with things that you've conceived could be in the future, and you can set it in the now." How David Bowie conquered time to write the song that gave him an audience

How a young David Bowie’s artistic manifesto was capturedin three and a half perfect minutes

Louder

Rick Wakeman launches new weekly podcast with comedian Griff Rhys Jones

Rick Wakeman and Griff Rhys Jones will launch new podcast, The Sound Of The Seventy Year Olds, on February 27

Louder

“I said, ‘There are no vocals. It’s an instrumental album.’ The lawyer said, ‘Do you mean we’ve just paid $12,000 for a piano player?’” Rick Wakeman relives the moment he delivered The Six Wives Of Henry VIII to a horrified record label

In 1970 they gave him Scotch in the morning, a big cash advance and a three-ton limousine. Eventually the man who’d hated the resulting album gave him a platinum disc for its sales

Louder

“Playing with Vince Neil, opening for Van Halen, it got to be total rock ’n’ roll excess. I had to reassess why I was even playing guitar”: Steve Stevens on resisting shred, how Paco de Lucia made him go nylon, and Billy Idol’s eternal appeal

Billy Idol’s collaborator of 40-plus years transcends the punk-rock guitarist mold, taking in flamenco, jazz‑fusion, prog and classical styles – and he is as excited aboutguitar today as he was when he first picked one up

Guitar World

Debate: Will the return of Rush be the biggest prog event of 2026?

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson own the limelight all year, or can King Crimson, Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Crown Lands and The Pineapple Thief grab headlines?

Louder

Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, Asia, Caravan, Focus and more lined up for huge new prog cruise taking place this summer

Prog-friendly venue Trading Boundaries announces a new prog cruise venture up and down the Rhine for July

Louder

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“If you’re talking dazzling sleight of mind, radical ideas and a willingness to create shock-art for the masses, there was no one more brilliant”: Revisiting David Bowie’s career from a prog perspective

Beyond his work with Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Rick Wakeman and others, plus comparisons to Rush, ELP and krautrock, a commitment to audacious experimentation ran through the true icon’s entire life

Louder

“We came on after the bingo but before the stripper. It freaked me out when this woman walked past us naked… it was enough to put you off sex for ever”: Jon Anderson before, during and after Yes

His unique voice has made him revered among music fans – while his unique attitude has made him notorious among label execs

Louder

“He was unable to write something with delight in it. Suffering battle fatigue, he wrote of asking what it’s like back home. It’s epic”: William Shatner’s surprising Christmas album with Jethro Tull, Yes and King Crimson alumni

The Star Trek icon gets silly and serious in turns as he discusses what the season means to him, the secret to living long and prospering, and the presents Kirk and Spock might give each other

Louder

“My first boyfriend introduced me to The Wall. It was the only interesting thing about him”: Author and musician Joanne Harris on having the audacity to perform Pink Floyd, Rick Wakeman and Genesis music in her school band

She explains why prog makes her think of Barnsley, lists some of her favourite records and recalls taking her daughter to a Genesis tribute show only to hear her say: “Ah yes, Mastodon!”

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Louder

“There’s been a lot happening on Mars since I last visited. So there’s more than enough inspiration”: Rick Wakeman on his sequel to The Red Planet, and taking David Bowie along for the ride

Keyboard maestro has gone back to work with the English Rock Ensemble for the follow-up to his 2020 album, and he says the process feels like early 70s Yes

Louder

“I said, ‘I don’t want to work with him!’ I was bitter that he was doing so well. But I needed the money”: How a prog supergroup with 200 hits between them got together

Quartet with connections to Yes, 10cc, Kate Bush, The Police and many others took five years to agree their debut album was ready to release

BANG Premier

Rick Wakeman undergoes brain surgery

Rick Wakeman has undergone shunt brain surgery and has confirmed when he'll return to the stage.

Louder

“I sold out three nights at Wembley but it cost me a fortune. It always gets voted biggest spectacular and also biggest folly. I take that as a compliment!” Six myths and legends of Rick Wakeman

Keyboard maestro on his 36-year wait to play Hampton Court, the apparent disaster of King Arthur on ice, buying a £1,000 synth for £35 because its owner thought it was broken, his innocence over the Sex Pistols’ firing from A&M and more

MusicRadar

“It doesn't seem to have affected my piano playing - I still seem to be very capable of hitting the odd wrong note here and there”: Rick Wakeman shares positive health update after brain surgery

He’s confident his rescheduled US tour will go ahead in March

Louder

“They said, ‘You mean we’ve paid $12,500 for a piano player?’ My publisher said, ‘Yes, but he’s a good piano player’”: The label called it “unsellable”, the critics hated it, but this prog icon’s solo album went on to sell nearly 15 million copies

How Rick Wakeman defied the critics and his own label to make The Six Wives Of Henry VIII

Louder

“It’s the moment the cracks appeared and their decline into preposterousness began. It sinks under the weight of its own self-importance”: What members of Marillion, Dream Theater, Asia and more think of Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans

It was the double-album that split critics, fans and the line-up who recorded it. We asked a range of prog stars for their thoughts on the 1973 release

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