Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart "Greg" Lake (born November 10, 1947 in Poole , England , † December 7, 2016 in London ) was a British bassist , guitarist , singer , songwriter and producer . He became known as a member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer . One of his most famous compositions is the ballad Lucky Man .
Life
King Crimson
First he was a member of a band that called itself among other things as The Shame . In the late 1960s Lake played in the band The Gods , some of which later formed Uriah Heep . Even before the first album was released, he left the band to found the band King Crimson together with his old school friend Robert Fripp . Here he first played the bass guitar . For the debut album In the Court of the Crimson King he also took on the role of singer. The album was supposed to be produced by Tony Clarke, who was then working for Moody Blues . However, he left the recording session on the first day. So Lake stepped in as a producer.
The band performed with The Nice on their farewell tour of North America . Following the tour, Lake left the band in April 1970 to form the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP) with Keith Emerson , ex-The-Nice keyboardist, and drummer Carl Palmer . Nevertheless, he still helped with the completion of the second King Crimson album In the Wake of Poseidon by lending his voice to most of the songs. This is how the single Cat Food came about with Lake as the lead singer. He also contributed his vocals and guitar playing to the album Still (1973) by King Crimson-lyricist Peter Sinfield .
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s and were instrumental in the development of progressive rock . Lake's distinctive and expressive voice contributed significantly to the band's songs like Still… You Turn Me On ( Brain Salad Surgery ) and The Sage ( Pictures at an Exhibition ) . Although he also played guitar (acoustic and electric) on some pieces, he was mainly active as a bassist. In the studio version of the ballad From the Beginning he played all three instruments (acoustic, electric and bass guitar), which were superimposed on the mixer together with the voice and the more reserved parts of the other musicians. In 1971, Greg Lake was voted second best bass guitarist in the world by readers of the music magazine Melody Maker (in the same poll, he took second place with Keith Emerson as composer and arranger). Lake also became known with his solo piece I Believe in Father Christmas in 1975, which was later released in a different version on the ELP album Works Volume II . Lake wrote mainly the lyrics of the first albums himself, later he was supported or completely replaced by Peter Sinfield, who also wrote the lyrics for the band King Crimson.
In 1973, Lake founded the Manticore label, which he also signed to some talented musicians. After the less successful album Love Beach (1978) ELP broke up for the first time - for two main reasons: Greg Lake had considerable vocal problems. In addition, his increased tendency towards the more conventional ballad style collided with the musical conception of Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, who wanted to put the emphasis at ELP - as before - on highly complex instrumental pieces.
Asia and solo
After the band split up, Lake released two solo albums, Greg Lake (1981) and Maneuvers (1983), on which ex- Thin-Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore also played. In late autumn 1983, he replaced for several concerts in Japan , including the worldwide live broadcast of a concert in Tokyo by the television station MTV , John Wetton as a singer and bass player for the band Asia . Lake wanted to steer the musical style of the band in a more sophisticated direction, but this was rejected by the other musicians.
In 1984, Jim Lewis, vice president of Polydor Records , tried to get Emerson to bring ELP back together. He met with Lake, and the two decided to try a second time. Since drummer Carl Palmer was contractually bound to Asia or their record company Geffen Records , Emerson and Lake Cozy Powell engaged . As Emerson, Lake & Powell , the band recorded an album that was released in 1986 and went on tour. After disputes with Emerson, the trio broke up in the same year. In 1987, Brian Lane, the manager of Palmer, also tried to bring ELP back to life. In March, the three musicians rehearsed together for two weeks, but the bad relationship between Keith Emerson and Greg Lake continued unchanged and another attempt to reunite ELPs failed.
Lake turned to a new project in 1989 that brought him together with Asian keyboardist Geoff Downes and with former King Crimson drummer Michael Giles . The year-long collaboration between the three musicians under the project name Ride the Tiger resulted in eight new songs, some of which have remained unreleased to this day. The song Street Wars later appeared on the ELP album In the Hot Seat , Love under Fire can be found on the Asia album Aqua . Two other tracks were on Lakes From the Beginning. The Greg Lake Retrospective released.
Later career and death
In 1992 ELP recorded a hard-rock-oriented album in the original line-up with Black Moon . A world tour and another studio album (In the Hot Seat) followed, followed by a tour in 1998. After their last concert in San Diego , the band broke up again. Lake toured with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band in 2001 . From 2005 Lake performed with his band in Great Britain. The band consisted of David Arch (keyboard), Florian Opahle (guitar), Trevor Barry (bass) and Brett Morgan (drums). In 2006 the band released a double DVD. Annie Barbazza sang his songs on the album Moonchild , which he produced and which was released posthumously in 2018 .
Greg Lake died of cancer on December 7, 2016 at the age of 69.
Discography
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With King Crimson
- 1969 - In the Court of the Crimson King
- 1970 - In the Wake of Poseidon
With Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Albums
- 1970 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- 1971 - Tarkus
- 1971 - Pictures at an Exhibition
- 1972 - Trilogy
- 1973 - Brain Salad Surgery
- 1977 - Works Volume I.
- 1977 - Works Volume II
- 1978 - Love Beach
- 1979 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert
- 1992 - Black Moon
- 1994 - In the Hot Seat
solo
- 1981 - Greg Lake
- 1983 - maneuvers
- 1995 - Greg Lake in Concert (King Biscuit Flower Hour)
- 1997 - The Greg Lake Retrospective, From the beginning
- 2002 - Nuclear Attack (Live)
- 2017 - Live in Piacenza
With Emerson, Lake & Powell
- 1986 - Emerson, Lake & Powell
- 2012 - Emerson, Lake & Powell (Live in Concert)
With Asia
- 2001 - Enso Kai - Live at the Budokan Tokyo 1983
With Geoff Downes
- 2015 - Ride the Tiger
literature
- Greg Lake: Lucky Man: The Autobiography . Constable, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-4721-2648-1 (English, autobiography).
- Siegfried Schmidt-Joos , Barry Graves : Rock Lexicon . 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1973, ISBN 3-499-16177-X .
Web links
- Works by and about Greg Lake in the catalog of the German National Library
- http://www.greglake.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Barry Grave: Rock-Lexikon. 1975/1978, p. 208.
- ^ AJ Charron: A Brief History of Progressive Rock , at www.guitarnoise.com
- ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Barry Graves: Rock-Lexikon. 2nd edition 1975, reprint 1978, p. 208.
- ↑ feb / AP: Founded King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Greg Lake is dead. In: Spiegel Online . December 8, 2016, accessed December 9, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lake, Greg |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lake, Gregory Stuart (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English rock musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Poole , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 7, 2016 |
| Place of death | London |