A keytar is a relatively lightweight keyboard (with or without a built-in synthesizer) that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands. The instrument has a musical keyboard for triggering musical notes and sounds. Controls for pitch bends, vibrato, portamento, and sustain are placed on the instrument's "neck". The term "keytar" is a portmanteau of the words "keyboard" and "guitar". Keytars may either contain their own synthesis engines, or simply be controllers, triggering notes on another MIDI capable synthesizer.

History

In early 1970s, Edgar Winter often performed with keyboards slung around his neck, but they were not technically keytars because they had no "neck"; he actually used an ARP 2600 keyboard and a lightweight Univox electronic piano with shoulder straps added. Also in 1980s, Wayne Famous of the band The Producers strapped on a regular Oberheim synthesizer, which caused him to develop back problems.

One of the earliest keytars commercially released and widely known may be the "Moog Liberation" in 1980. Early users included Spyro Gyra keyboardist Tom Schuman, and Devo. The earliest printed use of the word “keytar” was in 1980, when it appeared in an interview with Jeffrey Abbott by Tom Lounges of ''Illianabeat'' magazine (now ''Midwest BEAT Magazine'').

Although Steve Masakowski has been incorrectly credited for many years as the inventor of the keytar, in an interview with Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle on December 11, 2009, he only claimed to have invented an instrument called the Key-tar which was a string based instrument.

The keytar was made popular in the 1980s by glam metal bands, as well as synthpop and New Wave musicians. Changing trends in music diminished the keytar's popularity during the '90s, continuing on until the late 2000s when a major revival was sparked by artists and groups such as The Black Eyed Peas, Motion City Soundtrack, No Doubt, and Steely Dan. Another instance is in early 2008 with Snoop Dogg's music video for his single "Sensual Seduction," in which he uses a keytar as a throwback to old school bands.

Notable manufacturers of keytar models have included Moog, Roland, Yamaha, Korg and Casio. As of 2010, the Roland AX-Synth and the Roland Lucina are the only mass-manufactured keytars on the market.

Examples

1980s

The Moog Liberation was released in 1980 by Moog Music. It included two monophonic VCOs and a polyphonic section that could play organ sounds. The neck had spring-loaded wheels for filter cutoff, modulation, and volume as well as a ribbon-controlled pitch bend. The Liberation had a single VCF and two ADS envelope generators.

The Roland SH-101 is a small, 32 key, monophonic analog synthesizer from the early 1980s. It has one oscillator with two waveforms, an 'octave-divided' sub-oscillator, and a low-pass filter/VCF capable of self oscillation. When a shoulder strap is connected to it, and the small handgrip with a pitch bend wheel and a pitch modulation trigger is used, the SH-101 becomes a keytar.

The Yamaha SHS-10 from the late 1980s has a small keyboard with 32 minikeys and a pitch-bend wheel, an internal Frequency modulation (usually referred to as FM) synthesizer offering 25 different voices with 6-note polyphony. Onboard voices include a range of keyboard instruments (pipe organ, piano, electric piano, etc.); strings (violin, guitar, double bass, etc.); and wind and brass (clarinet, flute, trumpet, etc.).

1990s–2000s

The Roland AX-7, which was manufactured from 2001 to 2007, contains many more advanced features than early keytars. It has 45 velocity sensitive keys (without aftertouch), and a 3-character LED display. Several features aimed towards stage performance are present, such as a pitch bend ribbon, touchpad-like expression bar, sustain switch, and volume control knob, all on the upper neck of the instrument. There is also a proprietary "D-Beam" interface, made up of infrared sensors that detect nearby motion. This interface can be used to trigger and control effects.

In August 2009, Roland released the Roland AX-Synth, a model of keytar that contains its own synthesizer sounds in addition to being a MIDI controller.

Related instruments

While some inexpensive children’s toys are manufactured in the same shape as a keytar, and marketed with the keytar name, these toys have very limited capabilities. They can typically only perform one note at a time (monophonic) or in some cases, two-note polyphony. Professional models allow the performer to play many notes at once (except for older instruments such as the aforementioned Roland SH-101). As well, the sound quality for the samples or synthesis is usually very rudimentary.

Popularity

With the Synthpop revival of the late 2000s, keytars enjoyed a mild resurgence, appearing in bands or singers such as Alestorm, Showbread, The Birthday Massacre, Cobra Starship, Hyper Crush, Lights, Mutemath, Freezepop, and Family Force 5. Page McConnell of the jam band Phish is often seen playing a keytar anytime the band covers the song "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter. Chris Marion of the classic rock band Little River Band performs with a vintage red Roland Corporation AX-1. The lead vocalist for the pirate metal band Alestorm also plays a keytar at all times on stage. The keyboardist in Sonata Arctica, Henrik Klingenberg, is using both keytar and a usual keyboard on stage. The country musician Travis Adkinson, a local favorite in the Lexington, Kentucky area, often plays a keytar on stage. Matthew Bellamy, the lead vocalist and guitarist/pianist of the UK rock band Muse plays a custom keytar that has fewer keys and is shaped more like a guitar. He has used it probably most notably in the music video for Undisclosed Desires. Matt has stated he would like to reinvent the keytar. One of the two member New York band Shy Child performs entire songs minus drums with a Roland AX-7. Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess adopted a custom-made keytar named "The Zen Riffer" in 2008 for live performances. During a 2009 appearance on ''Saturday Night Live'', Lady Gaga played a keytar, and she is often seen with one live, particularly during performance of the song 'Money Honey'. Romeo Nightingale from the German synthpop/glam rock band Cinema Bizarre also sports a keytar. R&B; singer Alicia Keys has also played a keytar while performing certain numbers on The Freedom Tour.

In television, a member of the fictional cover band "Jeffster" from the NBC television comedy ''Chuck'' "plays" a keytar. Demetri Martin, in his appearances in HBO's ''Flight of the Conchords'', plays a keytar which character Murray Hewitt (Rhys Darby) mistakenly refers to as a guit-board.

Also, in the movie ''Yes Man'', the fictional band Munchausen by Proxy performs with a keytar.

Additionally, in the music video for "Eruption" by German metal band Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, keyboardist Dr. Pest uses a keytar throughout the video.

Another appearance was in online Flash cartoon Homestar Runner where in the Strong Bad e-mail "Cheat Day", Bubs played the keytar while Strong Bad was singing.

In the cartoon and toyline of Transformers Animated, the Decepticon Ratbat transforms from a bat into a keytar, which his master Soundwave can use to create sonic attacks.

In the cartoon and toyline of Jem, Stormer of the Misfits was a keytarist. Kimber of the Holograms had a keytar in the toyline and subsequent books based on the series because illustrations followed the toy line.

The video game Rock Band 3 features a 25-key MIDI-compatible keytar controller, which in the game's Pro Mode, is played as a real instrument with each note mapping to the appropriate key on the keyboard scale. The game includes many lessons over several difficulty levels, intended to teach a player how to play the keytar in Pro mode, and effectively for real outside of the game.

In the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles blow The Shredder away with an amplified keytar.

Jan Hammer, the composer best known for his composition and sound design successes for "Miami Vice" frequently used a keytar named PROBE which he helped develop. Jan is seen for instance using his PROBE in the music video for the Miami Vice Theme.

See also

;Related articles

List of keytars

List of keytarists

;Related technologies

MIDI

Guitar synthesizer

Glock-guitar

;Individual models

Moog Liberation

Drumitar

Zendrum

External links

— pictures of almost all keytars

Category:Keyboard instruments The Susan Erwin Experience da:Keytar de:Umhängekeyboard es:Keytar fr:Keytar it:Keytar nl:Keytar ja:ショルダーキーボード pl:Keytar pt:Keytar ru:Клавитара

alt	A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Michael Joseph Jackson
alias	Michael Joe Jackson, MJ, King of Pop
birth date	August 29, 1958
birth place	Gary, Indiana, U.S.
death date	June 25, 2009
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals
genre	R&B;, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
years active	1964–2009
label	Motown, Epic, Legacy
associated acts	The Jackson 5
relatives	Janet Jackson (sister)
website	}}

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B;, pop and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album ''Thriller'' is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including ''Off the Wall'' (1979), ''Bad'' (1987), ''Dangerous'' (1991), and ''HIStory'' (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Life and career

Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B; band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.

The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.

Move to Epic and ''Off the Wall'' (1975–81)

In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B; Album, Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B; Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B; Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B; Album and Favorite Soul/R&B; Male Artist. Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt ''Off the Wall'' should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.

''Thriller'' and ''Motown 25'' (1982–83)

In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows. The album topped the ''Billboard'' 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." ''Thriller'' was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Thanks to the ''Bad'' album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. ''HIStory'' received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, the sales for ''Invincible'' were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general. Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. With ''Thriller'', Christopher Connelly of ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to ''West Side Story'', and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona. ;Bibliography

George, Nelson (2004). ''Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection'' booklet. Sony BMG.

Further reading

External links

Michael Jackson Live: Best Pics – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Michael Jackson at MTV

FBI file on Michael Jackson

Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths Category:African American dancers Category:African American male singers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American beatboxers Category:American businesspeople Category:American child singers Category:American choreographers Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American disco musicians Category:American male singers Category:American boogie musicians Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul singers Category:American tenors Category:American vegetarians Category:Boy sopranos Category:Brit Award winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:Child pop musicians Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:English-language singers Category:Epic Records artists Category:Expatriates in Bahrain Category:Former Jehovah's Witnesses Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Legend Award Michael Jackson Category:Manslaughter victims Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Indiana Category:People acquitted of sex crimes Category:People from Gary, Indiana Category:People from Santa Barbara County, California Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters from Indiana Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jackson Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Young Artist Award winners

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Brett Domino is the alter-ego of Youtube musician Rob J. Madin. As Brett Domino, he is a musician, internet celebrity and TV presenter from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his YouTube videos, in which he plays mostly covers and medleys of popular songs on the Stylophone and keytar - sometimes with his band, 'The Brett Domino Trio'. The band are notable in that its members (Brett Domino, Steven Peavis and Mitch Hutchinson) all play exclusively keyboard instruments. In a number of recent videos, however, Brett and Steven have diversified to incorporate other instruments, such as ukulele, theremin, recorder, accordion, kalimba and Skoog. Brett and the band have been featured a number of times as part of BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show, and in 2009 the band appeared on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, performing live as the house band on two episodes of ITV2's sister show, Britain's Got More Talent, in the final week.

Brett's Youtube videos have received over 7,000,000 views. A recent video, the Justin Timberlake Medley featuring Trabasacks was posted by Justin Timberlake on his Twitter page and official website.

Brett has also been featured on the websites of Lady Gaga and Ellie Goulding. Another musical alter-ego of Rob J Madin has recently surfaced on YouTube with the name 'Rocco La Bête'. The visual style and editing techniques are very similar to those of the Brett Domino videos.

On November 22, 2010, Brett Domino released a song called "Gillian McKeith", a humorous take on the celebrity during her time in the 10th series of the ITV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. The YouTube video has had over 1,000,000 views. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 29 on November 28, 2010.

On February 18, 2011, Brett played a specially written song on ''The Chris Moyles Show'' for Chris Moyles' Birthday

On June 10, 2011, Rob J Madin has recently surfaced on Youtube with the name 'C-Bomb', a 'cousin' of Brett Domino's. Here, playing in a style of Dubstep, unlike other Madin videos, 'C-Bomb' is not seen playing any instruments, but does dance, in a similar style to Brett Domino's Lady Gaga - Bad Romance. It also appears that 'C-Bomb' writes his own compositions, as seen with his Youtube video 'Irresistible'

Singles

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center; |- !rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2" style="width:200px;"| Single !| Peak chart positions !rowspan="2"| Album |- !style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|UK |- |rowspan="2"| 2010 |align="left"| "Gillian McKeith" | style="text-align:center;"| 29 | rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| ''non-album singles'' |- |align="left"| "Fairytale of New York" (cover, with Alexa Goddard) | style="text-align:center;"| — |}

Albums

Songs Off Youtube

Release date: 1 March 2011

Track listing:

Beat It (2011 Version)

Justin Timberlake Medley

I Feel for You

We Speak No Americano

1980s Stylophone Medley

Bad Romance

Jurassic Park Theme

Ellie Goulding Medley

Hip-Hop Medley

Nelly Furtado Medley

Michael Jackson Medley

Korn / 50 Cent / Tenna Marie Medley

Now 75 Medley

Party In the Park (Radio Aire) Medley

William Tell Overture (Live)

Track By Track Commentary

References

External links

Category:English keyboardists Category:People from Leeds Category:Living people Category:English multi-instrumentalists

Belinda Bedekovic is a Croatian keytar player.

Biography

Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Belinda received her first keyboard, a red "Bambi," at the age of three and a half. She first appeared on TV as a five-year-old. Cameramen and the director called her a wonder child because she played a song perfectly on the first take while recording for the show. She became a child star, and it was then that she realized that music is what she loved most and what she wanted to do with her life.

Belinda joined her first band, Belinda Band, when she was 11, and the band performed all across Croatia. When she was 15, she entered music school, skipping the junior school and the first and second grades of the high school. She was enrolled into the third grade because the professors felt that she knew scores well enough to qualify. She finished school and was able to become a music teacher, but she instead chose to be an entertainer.

Recently, she has been working on the project "Tornado on the Remote Keyboard."

In 2006, she traveled to America to film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. In the movie, she and Borat play keytar together in the song "You be My Wife." In her biography, she says that Sacha Baron Cohen wanted only her for the part, so he postponed filming for a year so she could get her visa sorted out. However, she does not appear in the film at all, but appeared in the soundtrack advertisement and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

References

External links

Belinda Bedekovic official site

Belinda Bedekovic playing Tornado on her keytar

Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Croatian musicians Category:Keyboardists Category:Keytarists

fr:Belinda Bedekovic

name	Rick Wakeman
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Richard Christopher Wakeman
born	May 18, 1949Perivale, London, England
instrument	Keyboard, piano, synthesiser
genre	Rock, progressive rock, pop, electronica, jazz fusion, classical, Christian music
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years active	1969–present
label	A&M;, Charisma, President Records, Voiceprint, Griffin, EMI, Music Fusion, Hot Productions, Studio T
associated acts	Yes, Strawbs, ABWH, David Bowie, Warhorse, Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens
website	www.rwcc.com }}

Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for his solo albums, contributing to the BBC comedy series ''Grumpy Old Men'' and for ''Rick's Place'', his former radio show on Planet Rock that aired until December 2010.

Wakeman was born in West London. He purchased his first electronic keyboard at 12 years of age. In 1968, he studied the piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music at the Royal College of Music before leaving after a year in favour of session music work. He went on to feature on songs by artists including Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, T. Rex, Elton John and Cat Stevens. Wakeman joined the folk group Strawbs in 1969 and played on three of their albums. He first joined Yes in 1971 to replace Tony Kaye, and left the group in 1974 to work on his solo career. He returned in 1976 before leaving with lead vocalist Jon Anderson in 1980. Wakeman was part of the side project Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, a group of ex-Yes members formed in 1989, and the eight-member Yes line-up that followed until his third departure in 1992. He returned for two years in 1995 and once more in 2002, where he was part of the band's 35th anniversary tour until its end in 2004.

Wakeman began his solo career during his first run with Yes. His perhaps most known records being his first three, ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' (1973), ''Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' (1974) and ''The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'' (1975). He has produced over 100 solo albums that have sold more than 50 million copies. In November 2010, Wakeman was awarded the Spirit of Prog award at the annual Marshall Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards.

Early life

Rick Wakeman was born on 18 May 1949 in the west London suburb of Northolt to Cyril Frank and Mildred Helen Wakeman. He attended Wood End Infants School in 1954, followed by Drayton Manor Grammar School in 1959. He started playing the piano at the age of 5 and purchased his first electronic keyboard at the age of 12. In 1968, Wakeman secured a place at the Royal College of Music, where he studied piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music. He left a year later in favour of session music work.

Music career

Session work and the Strawbs (1969–1971)

Wakeman became an active session musician. In June 1969, he played Mellotron on David Bowie's single "Space Oddity" for a session fee of £9. He went on to play piano for Bowie's "Life on Mars?", "Changes" and "Oh! You Pretty Things" in April 1971 and "Absolute Beginners" in 1985. He also played the piano on the Cat Stevens' hit "Morning Has Broken". In 1971 he acquired an early Minimoog synthesiser, purchasing it at half price from actor Jack Wild who believed that it was defective because it only played one note at a time.

Between 1970 and 1971, Wakeman was part of the folk rock group Strawbs. His first appearance on an album sleeve was on ''Dragonfly'', the group's second studio album released in February 1970. The band held a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 11 July 1970 where Wakeman performed a solo piano piece named "Temparament of Mind". He received a standing ovation for his performance, and the track appeared on the band's live record released that year, ''Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios''. Wakeman appeared on the front page of ''Melody Maker'' soon after, which called him "Tomorrow's Superstar", and composed the theme music to the television show ''Ask Aspel''. He remained in the Strawbs for a third album, ''From the Witchwood'', but left the group in mid-1971.

Joining Yes and start of solo career (1971–1975)

In 1971, Wakeman joined the progressive rock band Yes, replacing their organist Tony Kaye. His first concert with the group took place in Leicester on 30 September 1971. He worked on the group's fourth, fifth and sixth studio albums – ''Fragile'' (1971), ''Close to the Edge'' (1972), and ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'' (1973). Wakeman, however, felt ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'' was pretentious and – despite its ambition -insubstantial. He disliked performing the album on tour, feeling the length of the songs prevented the band from playing their more popular tracks. Following the tour, as the band began work on what would become ''Relayer'' (1974), Wakeman felt further alienated from the group. Disenchanted with the direction in which Yes was going, and already into a successful solo career, he left.

Wakeman produced his first three solo albums during his first run with Yes. On 23 January 1973, he released ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'', an instrumental concept album based on his interpretations of the musical characteristics of the wives of Henry VIII, using keyboard instruments. The album was overall well received by critics. ''TIME'' magazine named the record one of the best pop albums of 1973. In October 1975, the album was certified Gold.

On 18 January 1974, Wakeman performed ''Journey to the Centre of the Earth'', a forty-minute piece based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Combining rock with an orchestra and choir, the concert was recorded and released on 18 May, where it topped the UK album charts on entry for one week. The record became a multi-million dollar seller in six weeks. The album was certified Gold in September 1974.

In May 1975, Wakeman released ''The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'', with the album was performed live at the Empire Pool on ice. The show was well received but expensive to produce, consuming much of the income from sales of the album. The album was also a worldwide success, reaching No.21 in the United States while going Gold (the third time a Wakeman record had achieved this) in Brazil, Japan and Australia. The album has sold 12 million copies.

In 1975, Wakeman produced the first of two soundtracks for films by Ken Russell – ''Lisztomania'' and ''Crimes of Passion'' (1984).

Rejoining Yes (1976–1980)

Wakeman returned to Yes for their 1977 album ''Going for the One''. He remained until their next album, ''Tormato'', a year later. He is reputed to have given the album its name by throwing a tomato at a showing of the art used for the album's cover.

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Yes (1989–1992)

In 1989, he joined with three fellow ex-Yes members to form Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe ("ABWH"). After ABWH's first album, some of the completed tracks for a planned second album were merged with tracks from an in-progress Yes album to create the album ''Union''. Wakeman, along with the combined members of both bands then joined to form a Yes supergroup (made up of past and present members of Yes) for the subsequent tour in 1991. When the tour ended a year later, Wakeman left again.

Fourth run with Yes (1995–1997)

He then returned in 1996 for the ''Keys to Ascension'' albums but left before the band could tour.

Fifth run with Yes and Hampton Court (2002–2009)

In 2002, he rejoined Yes and stayed with the band until their 2008 In The Present Tour. For the group's 40th anniversary tour, Wakeman was replaced by his son, Oliver Wakeman.

In 2008, Wakeman toured with a solo show named ''Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show'', featuring an evening of music and stories.

In May 2009, Wakeman performed ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' live at Hampton Court Palace for the first time, for two nights. The performance was recorded and released as ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII Live at Hampton Court Palace''.

Instruments

Although Wakeman is a noted player of the grand piano, electric piano, Hammond organ, Minimoog and many later models of synthesiser, he is well known as an exponent (for a time) of the Mellotron – an analogue electronic musical instrument that uses a bank of pre-recorded magnetic tape strips, each of which is activated by a separate key on its keyboard and lasts approximately 8 seconds. Wakeman featured playing this instrument, to varying degrees, on the David Bowie track "Space Oddity", the Yes albums ''Fragile'', ''Close to the Edge'' and ''Tales From Topographic Oceans'', as well as the solo albums ''The Six Wives of Henry VIII'' and ''White Rock''. It proved too unwieldy and unreliable for regular touring, and he eventually doused the last Mellotron that he owned in petrol and set fire to it in a field. Undeterred, he worked with David Biro to develop the Birotron, which used the then popular 8-track cassette format rather than tape strips. Because of the advent of digital keyboards at that time, and also because the cassette tape format could not reproduce the attack and decay of musical notes (which the tape strips of the Mellotron could reproduce), the Birotron was never a commercial or technical success. Only 35 Birotrons were produced, and Wakeman eventually threw his across the stage after it broke down mid-concert, an action he now regrets as there are only six remaining examples.

Recent years

Wakeman's track "Arthur" has been used as the theme tune to the BBC's ''Election Night Coverage'' since 1979, with the exception of 2001 and 2010. Wakeman's album ''Fields of Green '97'' features the track "Election '97/Arthur" which was used by the BBC for their coverage of the 1997 General Election. The music was revamped for the BBC's 2005 general election night coverage.

His TV career was launched in 1982 when he hosted Gastank on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The show featured a mix of interviews with 1970s musicians and impromptu performances where the guest artist would join Wakeman and his house band in playing re-arranged versions of their classic songs or entirely new pieces created for the show.

Wakeman is a contributor to the BBC Two show ''Grumpy Old Men''. He has also appeared in a number of episodes of ''Countdown''. He has also appeared on the satirical panel shows ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' (4 appearances) and ''Have I Got News For You''. Between September 2005 and December 2010, Wakeman presented ''Rick's Place'', a weekly radio show on Planet Rock with David 'Kid' Jensen. Wakeman appeared as himself in "Journey to the Centre of Rick Wakeman", the season two finale of ''Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music'', a BBC Radio 4 comedy programme. The episode detailed a fictional war between England and Wales in 2009 which only Wakeman could stop. Wakeman provided piano for Benn's 2008 single "Sing Like an Angel", which was released on iTunes. In December 2006, Wakeman was the guest host for an episode of ''The Personality Test'' on Radio 4. He also appeared on ''Top Gear'' and set a race track lap time of 1'55.26. Wakeman made his debut appearance on ''Just a Minute'' on Radio 4 on 7 February 2011.

In October 2007, Wakeman commenced a new tour 'Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show', where he accompanies video performers such as Gordon Giltrap and the English Rock Ensemble (Ashley Holt, Lee Pomeroy, Dave Colquhoun and Tony Fernandez). A Freemason, he is a member of Chelsea Lodge No. 3098, the membership of which is made up of entertainers. In 2009, Wakeman became a Patron of Tech Music Schools.

In 2011, Wakeman, alongside Fiaba's drummer Bruno Rubino, has been recording and arranging the debut full-length studio album of the Italian singer Valentina Blanca.

Personal life

On 28 March 1970, Wakeman married his first wife Rosaline Woolford at twenty years of age and had two sons, Oliver (b. 26 February 1972) and Adam (b. 11 March 1974). The two divorced in 1977, and Wakeman married studio secretary Danielle Corminboeuf in January 1980 in the West Indies, with whom he had one son, Benjamin (b. 1978). He had a daughter, Jemma Kiera (b. 12 February 1983), with former Page 3 model Nina Carter and the two married in 1984 followed by the birth of their son, Oscar (b. May 1986). He has had a renewal of his Christian faith, which began around the time of their marriage.

Nina and Rick divorced in December 2004.

In his twenties, Wakeman suffered three heart attacks. The first occurred after a performance of ''Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' at the Crystal Palace Bowl on 27 July 1974.

A passionate football fan, Wakeman has supported Brentford F.C. since he was a child, and later on he also became a director of the West London club. After a disagreement with the board, he moved on to Manchester City F.C. but maintained his allegiance to Brentford. He was involved in the ownership of the American soccer club Philadelphia Fury in the late '70s, along with other rock celebrities such as Peter Frampton and Paul Simon.

He is a strong supporter of the UK's Conservative Party, and performed a concert in September 2004 for the benefit of the party.

Wakeman has been president of the show business charity The Heritage Foundation. The charity erects blue plaques on the homes and/or work-places of late entertainers and sportspeople. He is also Honorary President of the Classic Rock Society, a UK-based organisation helping to promote classic and progressive rock.

Discography

Bibliography

See also

Oliver Wakeman

Adam Wakeman

References

External links

Rick Wakeman's Communication Centre

Rick Wakeman's Official Press Photos

Category:English electronic musicians Category:English rock keyboardists Category:English session musicians Category:Yes (band) members Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:People from Ealing Category:People from Wembley Category:English Christians Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:The Ozzy Osbourne Band members Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:English heavy metal keyboardists Category:Progressive rock musicians Category:Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe members

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