The Gonzo Daily: Rick Wakeman: By the time I was 25 I’d had three heart attacks

In my 20s, I lived the ultimate rock’n’roll life. I was a heavy drinker and smoker back then. But I never used drugs, I have never popped a pill in my life.

I am a very extreme sort of character as I don’t do things by halves.

But when I drank, I drank like a fish. I didn’t have one keyboard – I had 36.

I was very aware that if I tried the drug element I would end up going the whole hog and I wouldn’t be alive today.

But my lifestyle played an enormous part in what happened in 1974. I had just left Yes and had done a concert at Crystal Palace, South London, with a choir and orchestra playing my solo album Journey To The Centre Of The Earth when I had my heart attack.

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