The Gonzo Daily: Seven questions to Rick Wakeman

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Seven questions to Rick Wakeman

Richard Christopher Wakeman - yes, Rick Wakeman - was born on May 18th 1949 in Perivale - a suburb in west London, England -, to bring joy and happiness to Cyril Frank Wakeman and Mildred Helen Wakeman, his parents. Young Rick started playing the piano at the age of 5, attended Clarinet lessons and formed a tradicional jazz band at 12, commenced Church organ lessons at 13 and joined a blues band called The Atlantic Blues at 14. In 1966 he bought his first car (one of his passions) and also played his first BBC sessions with the James Royal Set for Radio One (with The Who's John Entwhistle on bass guitar). In 1968, Rick secured a place at the Royal College of Music, studying piano, modern music, clarinet and orchestration for one year, leaving the college in favor of his work as a session musician.

In June 1969, Rick Wakeman recorded a Mellotron on David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (released in July 1969) and also recorded piano on the first Strawbs album, "Dragonfly", joining the band in the next year. In July 1970 the Strawbs recorded their second album, "Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios - Live At The Queen Elizabeth Hall". The concert that originated the album was one of the first events in Rick's life that brought him the attention of the media (Melody Maker mentioned him as the "Tomorrow's Superstar"), increasing his demand for session work with other artists. In 1971 Rick recorded Strawbs' third album, "From The Witchwood" but left the band right after the album was ready. Also in 1971, Rick purchased his first Minimoog, previously owned by actor Jack Wild, who didn't know that the synthesizer was monophonic and, thinking that it was broken, sold it to Rick for half the price it originally costed. In 1971 Rick Wakeman recorded with Cat Stevens ("Morning Has Broken"), David Bowie ("Life On Mars?", "Changes" and "Oh! You Pretty Things", among others from Bowie's "Hunky Dory" album) and Lou Reed (on his debut solo album, "Lou Reed", released in April 1972).

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