{"id":129830,"date":"2025-11-19T10:53:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129830"},"modified":"2025-11-19T10:54:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:54:23","slug":"qa-with-rick-wakeman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129830","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A With Rick Wakeman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129830\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=129830\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-129832 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rick-Wakeman-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rick-Wakeman-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rick-Wakeman-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rick-Wakeman-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rick-Wakeman.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen<br \/>\nPhoto courtesy of Rick Wakeman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rick Wakeman is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo career. He played with David Bowie on \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d and with Marc Bolan\/T-Rex on \u201cGet It On\u201d. When Salvador Dali suddenly appeared on a Paris stage, interrupting Rick\u2019s little electric piano solo piece, Rick gave him a gentle nudge and Dali fell off stage! His new piano album &#8216;Melancholia\u2019 was released on 17 October. He has another album coming out next year and will be doing a tour of America next March with his eldest son.<\/p>\n<p>Go Check Him Out! <!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Did you always want to be a musician growing up?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Yes, apart from a few moments when I was 4 when I wanted to be a train driver, but as steam engines were being phased out, that didn\u2019t last long! Music became my life when I was 5 and has been ever since. It\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever done since and I can\u2019t imagine a day in my life without music.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: Why did you pick keyboards as a musical instrument?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I started on piano when I was 5 and continued through to The Royal College of Music in London to complete my learning, but I also loved other kinds of music and so played in as many different types of bands as possible. Keyboards were in early stages of development and I wanted tob e part of it. The 1960s and 1970s were so fantastic as regards keyboard development and I loved it.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: How did you meet David Bowie and what was it like working with him?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I met him through Tony Visconti who introduced me to Gus Dudgeon who was producing David at the time and I was brought in to play mellotron on \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d. David and I struck up a friendship of which I was very proud. An amazing man.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You pushed Salvador Dali off the stage?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been slightly embellished over the years, but I was playing with The Strawbs in 1970 in a circus in Paris and Dali walked on right in the middle of my one little electric piano solo piece. He was standing at the front of the stage waving his stick and \u2013 somewhat annoyed \u2013 I gave him a \u2018gentle nudge\u2019. Read into it what you will!!!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: You played on &#8216;Get It On&#8217; by T-Rex: What was it like working with Marc Bolan?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I thought the world of Marc and indeed just unveiled a coveted blue plaque for him in his memory at his house in Maida Vale.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: How did you become part of Yes and what is your fondest memory?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I joined in July 1971 after leaving The Strawbs. I have many fond memories of my times with Yes (13 years off and on). It wasn\u2019t always smooth sailing but no band ever is. The reality is that at the different peaks in the times I was with them, the music and musicality produced was astonishing. I recently watched a film of Yes in 2003, I think it was at the Montreux Jazz Festival. I almost couldn\u2019t believe what I was watching and hearing\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: &#8216;The Six Wives of Henry VIII&#8217; was your big break as a solo musician: Looking back, how do you feel about the album now?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I love it. In fact I am currently out on tour in The UK playing the entire album \u2013 and bloody hard to play it is too!!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: new piano album &#8216;Melancholia&#8217; came out on 17 October: how did the process go and is it an extension of &#8216;Piano Portraits&#8217; and &#8216;Piano Odyssey&#8217; or is it something very different?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I suppose in some ways all the piano albums I have done are connected but \u201cMelancholia\u201d is different in a way as it is my first piano concept album, by which I mean a suite of piano embracing one subject. I have never managed to do this before so the end result means a lot to me.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>KB: What are you up to next?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well, for reasons I can\u2019t go into at this juncture, I have already recorded \u201cReturn To The Red Planet\u201d with my band for a late spring release next year. As with \u201cMelancholia\u201d, I am extremely proud of this recording which I did with the English Rock Ensemble and with some additional vocals by the great Mollie Marriott, daughter of Steve Marriott. I am also out touring with my 9-piece band performing \u201cThe Six Wives of Henry VIII\u201d and all of \u2018the myths &amp; legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table\u2019 and next March I am doing a tour of America with my eldest son Oliver.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s lots going on, but I like it that way and as long as I make time for my animal charities too, I\u2019m happy!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Find out more about Rick on his official website: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rwcc.com\/\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F129830\" data-token=\"657dcd84187d84d6524d05c85ad247bb\" data-token-time=\"1777661474\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\"><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div>\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >Comment Email or<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; 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He played with David Bowie on \u201cSpace Oddity\u201d and with Marc Bolan\/T-Rex on \u201cGet It On\u201d. When [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28132,17984],"tags":[33552],"class_list":["post-129830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns-by-karen-beishuizen","category-entertainment-news","tag-qa-with-rick-wakeman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129830"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}