One of the premier rock keyboardists of the progressive era, Rick Wakeman cut his teeth as a London session musician at the tail-end of the 1960s before earning star status as a member of prog rock superstars Yes in 1971. He left the band in 1973 to concentrate on his burgeoning solo career and within a few years had released a trio of ambitious, classical rock albums that proved highly successful: The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Wakeman briefly rejoined Yes in the late '70s, and during the next decade produced the film score for Ken Russell's Lisztomania; he also co-wrote a musical version of George Orwell's 1984 with lyricist Tim Rice. He subsequently recorded a series of acclaimed new age albums, recorded and toured intermittently with Yes, and maintained a prodigious recording and touring schedule, balancing his rock, new age, religious, and solo piano work. In the 21st century, albums like 2000's Preludes to a Century and 2017's Piano Portraits earned Wakeman critical acclaim and even a return to chart success, especially on his prog-heavy 2020 outing The Red Planet.

Wakeman was born in Perivale, Middlesex, England in 1949. His interest in music manifested itself very early, and from the age of seven he studied classical piano. At the age of 14, he joined a local band, Atlantic Blues, the same year he left school to enroll in the Royal College of Music. He had his eye on a career as a concert pianist, but was dismissed from the college after it became clear that he preferred playing in clubs to studying technique.

By his late teens, he was an established sessionman, playing on records by such diverse acts as Black Sabbath, Brotherhood of Man, and Edison Lighthouse. At the end of the '60s, his name also began appearing on the credits of albums by such artists as Al Stewart and David Bowie, and one set of sessions with folk-rock band the Strawbs led to his joining the group in 1970. After two albums with the Strawbs, Wakeman joined Yes, a post-psychedelic hard rock band that had attracted considerable attention with their first three albums. Wakeman played a key role in the final shape of the group's fourth record, Fragile, creating a fierce, swirling sound on an array of electric and acoustic pianos, synthesizers, and Mellotrons. Fragile was a hit, driven by the chart success of the single "Roundabout," and Wakeman was suddenly elevated to star status.

Yes' next album, Close to the Edge, expanded his audience and his appeal; his instruments were heard almost continually on the record. During the making of the record in 1972, Wakeman also recorded his first solo album, an instrumental work titled The Six Wives of Henry VIII, which consisted of his musical interpretations of the lives and personalities of said six royal spouses. Released early in 1973 on A&M, it performed respectably on the charts. Public reception of Yes' 1974 album, Tales from Topographic Oceans, was mixed, and the critics were merciless in their attacks. Wakeman exited the group before the album's supporting tour.

His new solo album, Journey to the Center of the Earth, adapted from the writings of Jules Verne and featuring a rock band, narrator (David Hemmings), and full orchestral and choral accompaniment, was released to tremendous public response in both America and England, where it topped the charts. In 1975, his next album, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, was given a grand-scale premiere at Wembley's Empire Pool, although it also cost Wakeman a fortune to stage the event on ice. During this same period, Wakeman began working on film scores with the music for Ken Russell's Lisztomania, which was a modest hit.

In 1977, Wakeman returned to Yes, with whom he would continue recording and touring for various stretches over the next three decades. His solo career continued on A&M until the end of the '70s with Criminal Record and Rhapsodies, which were modestly successful. Wakeman's biggest media splash during this period, however, came with his alleged role in getting the Sex Pistols dropped by A&M soon after being signed. None of this bothered his fan base, which rapidly expanded to encompass those he picked up through his work with lyricist Tim Rice on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, and his burgeoning film work, which included the music to movies about the 1976 Winter Olympics and the 1982 soccer World Cup competition. Additionally, he became a regular on Britain's Channel 4.

Wakeman's audience and reputation survived the '80s better than many prog rock stars of his era as he continued releasing albums on his own label. In 1988, he and three of his Yes bandmates formed Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe and released their lone album in 1989. This lineup would eventually merge with Yes' other working half to release the 1991 comeback album Union.

Throughout the '90s, Wakeman remained prolific, recording a handful of solo piano albums like Heritage Suite (1993) and The Piano Album (1995), as well as composing scores for films like Bullet to Beijing and Midnight in St. Petersburg. He also briefly rejoined Yes to record their Keys to Ascension album, though he left the band before touring began. Following a 1999 sequel to Journey to the Centre of the Earth called Return to the Centre of the Earth, Wakeman began his fifth stint as Yes' keyboardist, joining them for several massive tours including a 35th anniversary tour in 2004.

Meanwhile, his solo output remained consistent throughout the decade. By 2008, when Yes again resumed touring, Wakeman bowed out, and his son Oliver Wakeman replaced him on keyboards. Developing his own live retrospective, he toured that year with Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Picture Show, and in 2009, he celebrated the 500th anniversary of Henry the VIII's ascension to the throne with a two-night live run of The Six Wives of Henry VIII at Hampton Palace Court. A 40th anniversary tour of Journey to the Centre of the Earth followed in 2014. In 2016, Wakeman rejoined his former Yes bandmates Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson under the banner ARW for a tour entitled An Evening of Yes Music and More. The following year, after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside his Yes bandmates, he delivered the solo piano album Piano Portraits, which featured instrumental covers of many of his favorite pop songs, such as the Beatles' "Help!" and "Eleanor Rigby," as well as David Bowie's "Life on Mars" and "Space Oddity." A 2018 sequel, Piano Odyssey, added more Beatles and Bowie tracks to his covers list, as well as Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Paul Simon's "The Boxer." The following year, Wakeman returned with his second holiday-themed album, Christmas Portraits, and at the end of the year he headed out on tour with his "Grumpy Old Christmas Show." 2020 marked a return to Wakeman's progressive rock roots with the arrival of the LP Red Planet, which evoked past efforts like The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Criminal Record. 2022 saw the release of Gastank Highlights, a sampler of notable musical moments from the British television variety show hosted by Wakeman. ~ Bruce Eder & Timothy Monger

Dave Cousins is one of the most distinctive and enduring talents to come out of the mid to late 1960s British folk-rock boom -- indeed, along with Richard Thompson, he might be the shining alumnus within the field. Cousins is best known as the leader/founder of the Strawbs, the folk-turned-folk-rock turned progressive rock band that has been his major creative outlet -- with a few notable breaks -- since the mid-'60s. Born David Joseph Hindson in Hounslow, England, Cousins grew up in a middle class home in an area known in more recent years as the Thames Delta. He and a friend from Thames Valley Senior School, Tony Hooper, shared an interest in music. Both were captivated at a young age by the skiffle boom spearheaded by Lonnie Donegan and the Vipers Skiffle Group, but unlike most other fans of those artists, who moved on to a full embrace of American rock & roll, Cousins (and Hooper) resonated more to the folk-influenced side of skiffle music. In his later teens, Cousins was more closely attuned to the work of Martin Carthy and groups such as the Young Tradition, than to the Beatles et al. His devotion to American sounds was focused on the likes of Leadbelly and Elizabeth Cotten, and Ramblin' Jack Elliot (whom he got to see perform in those years); and most important among his early influences were Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, whose music he first discovered through a live recording from the Newport Folk Festival. Cousins had already taken up the banjo, in addition to the guitar, and he got good enough, listening to and emulating Scruggs' style, that he was soon recognized as one of the most skilled young banjo players in England.

His other major influence was Bob Dylan, who was starting to build a following in England in 1964, and with whom he shared many common influences and sources of inspiration. Cousins was aware that, in commercial terms, his own expressive but raspy voice was "unconventional" (to put it politely), in much the same way that Dylan's singing was regarded. He was also fascinated by the American's composing technique and approach to words, though he never did try to truly imitate that style, so much as use it as a benchmark to aim for, in terms the reach of his own songwriting. Meanwhile, he and Hooper were earning something like a living as a duo, performing in clubs and appearing on the radio, and Cousins worked sessions as a banjo player with young up-and-coming performers such as Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. The Strawberry Hill Boys, with Cousins and Hooper as the core members, came into existence in the mid-'60s as a bluegrass group, and evolved into the Strawbs -- with Cousins as lead singer and principal composer, they evolved from a bluegrass band into a folk outfit (with Sandy Denny fronting them for a time), into an electric folk band, and then a folk-rock group, and finally into a progressive rock group with a strong folk element, kick-starting Rick Wakeman's career in the process.

The one constant was Cousins, whose voice and songwriting have usually been at the center of the group's sound. His work fairly resounds with both rebellion and antiquity, as though he were writing protest songs of the 18th or 19th centuries. Haunting melodies abound, carried by his raspy and sincere voice. Like his one-time idol Dylan, who found a niche for his style of vocalizing, Cousins has created songs and music that allow his singing to sound compelling, even beautiful at times in all of its unconventionality. Those who like his singing absolutely adore it, swearing by his expressiveness; those who don't may never understand the music's appeal. Luckily, there have been enough of the former group to give Cousins and the Strawbs significant record sales on both sides of the Atlantic and places as far away as Japan (where his solo albums were reissued on CD early on, far sooner than they were in England).

His first solo foray, Two Weeks Last Summer was released in 1972, and came about at a curious time for the Strawbs. As leader, Cousins had been the dominant voice in the group for five years, and since Denny's brief stay with the group, virtually all of the songwriting -- apart from the occasional Tony Hooper piece -- had been his. But the addition to the lineup in 1970 of bassist John Ford and drummer Richard Hudson brought two additional songwriter/singers into the fold. Cousins' first solo album was a result of the excess of material that he had written, in these new circumstances, which he chose to debut in a harder rock setting outside the context of the group, in the company of Deep Purple's Roger Glover, Jon Hiseman of Colosseum, and Miller Anderson, then of the Keef Hartley Band; as well as Tony Hooper's successor in the Strawbs, Dave Lambert. Cousins' next solo album, Old School Songs arrived in 1980, showcasing the music of his new collaborator, virtuoso guitarist Brian Willoughby, who would also become a member of the group. Fourteen years later came Bridge, and 13 years after that came Boy in the Sailor Suit in 2006, with Secret Paths following in 2008, and Duochrome, with violinist Ian Cutler, appearing that same year. The year 2008 also saw the first-ever official U.S. releases of Cousins' early solo albums on CD. He also continues to tour with the Strawbs on a regular basis. Since the early '90s, Cousins has also been active in radio, and operates a record label of his own, Witchwood Records. ~ Bruce Eder€T®

One of the unsung British progressive bands of the early 1970s, the Strawbs differed from their more successful compatriots -- the Moody Blues, King Crimson, Pink Floyd -- principally in that their sound originated in English folk music rather than rock. Their transformation from acoustic bluegrass outfit to progressive folk-rock innovators was an impressive feat, and they hit their stride with gems like 1972's Grave New World and its follow-up, Bursting at the Seams. As the '70s wore on, the Strawbs' career began to falter with ongoing lineup and label changes marring their progress. They survived a breakup at the end of the decade and went on to enjoy a robust revival in the mid-'80s that, while not quite up to the level of their peak years, helped carry them and their fans into the 21st century. The Strawbs of the 2000s were particularly prolific, delivering an array of studio albums with highlights like 2005's Painted Sky and 2009's The Broken Hearted Bride. Over the years, the group has managed to remain stylistically adventurous even on late-period outings like 2021's Settlement, released over 50 years after their debut, and 2023's The Magic of It All, featuring songs written for a film about the band's following in South Africa.

Founded in 1964 as a bluegrass-based trio called the Strawberry Hill Boys by singer/guitarist Dave Cousins, the group originally consisted of Cousins, guitarist/singer Tony Hooper, and mandolinist Arthur Phillips, who was replaced in 1968 by Ron Chesterman on bass. That same year, the band -- now rechristened the Strawbs, and doing repertory well beyond the bounds of bluegrass music -- briefly became a quartet with the temporary addition of Sandy Denny, who stayed long enough to record a relative handful of tracks with the group on the Hallmark label before joining Fairport Convention. (The album would be issued several times, under the titles All Our Own Work and Sandy & the Strawbs, among others.) In 1969, the Strawbs were signed to A&M Records, and cut their first album, the acoustic-textured Strawbs, that same year.

For their second album, Dragonfly, recorded and released the following year, the group broadened their sound with the presence of a group of session musicians, including piano/organist Rick Wakeman. Soon after the release of this record, the Strawbs became a full-fledged band with the addition not only of Wakeman but also Richard Hudson and John Ford, on drums and bass, respectively. These changes, coupled with Cousins' increasing dexterity on electric guitar, gave the Strawbs a much more powerful sound that was showcased on their next album.

The live Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios (1970) sold well, and was followed the next year by From the Witchwood. In 1971, Wakeman left the Strawbs in order to join Yes; he was replaced by Blue Weaver (formerly of the Amen Corner). Grave New World (1972) showed the band entering their strongest period, with Cousins' songwriting augmented by the new prowess of the composing team of Hudson and Ford. The record became their best-selling album to date. Unfortunately, its release also heralded the exit of Tony Hooper. He was replaced by Dave Lambert, a more aggressive, rock-oriented guitarist, and his addition brought the group into their peak period. The Strawbs' 1973 album Bursting at the Seams featured two Top Ten U.K. hits, "Lay Down" and "Part of the Union," and one album track, "Down by the Sea," racked up substantial airplay on American FM radio.

As happens with peak periods, the band's fortunes began to decline as the decade wore on. Blue Weaver left after one more tour, while Hudson and Ford exited to form Hudson-Ford, also signed to A&M. The Strawbs regrouped in 1974 with Hero and Heroine, recorded with a new lineup consisting of Cousins, Lambert, keyboardist John Hawken, bassist Chas Cronk, and drummer Rod Coombes. The new album was a critical and commercial failure in England but proved popular in America. Their next two albums, Ghosts (1975) and Nomadness (1976), both did better in the U.S. than they did in the U.K. None of this was enough to sustain the group, however, which continued to lose members and also left A&M Records.

Two more albums on the Oyster label were poorly distributed and one album for Arista, Deadlines (1978), was a commercial failure, while a second record for the label was never released. The Strawbs called it quits at the end of the 1970s, and Cousins embarked on some solo projects in association with guitarist Brian Willoughby that attracted the interest of die-hard fans but few others. That might have been the end of the group's history if it hadn't been for an invitation to play the 1983 Cambridge Folk Festival. The Strawbs accepted it in the guise of Cousins, Hooper, Hudson, Ford, Weaver, and Willoughby, and the response was so favorable that a tour was scheduled, which led to their return to America in the mid-'80s. The band followed this up with two new studio albums released in Canada.

In 1993, the Strawbs released their own retrospective concert album, Greatest Hits Live!, which summed up many of the high points of their history. The group continued to play throughout the decade and into the following century, issuing a slew of live efforts and studio albums. The original lineup from the Hero and Heroine era returned to the studio in 2008 to record The Broken Hearted Bride, a return-to-form effort that solidified the band's staying power. In 2009, the group released Dancing to the Devil's Beat, while 2011's Hero & Heroine in Ascencia found Cousins and his bandmates revisiting the material from 1974's Hero and Heroine.

After several years of touring in both acoustic and electric lineups, in 2017 the Strawbs released The Ferryman's Curse, their first studio album of original material in eight years. Celebrating their 50th anniversary, the group toured America in 2019, then returned with another studio album in 2021's stylistically eclectic Settlement. South African documentary filmmaker Niel van Deventer, a longtime fan of the Strawbs, was aware of the popularity of "Grave New World" and "Bursting at the Seams" in his homeland, especially among those involved in the anti-apartheid movement. The director approached Dave Cousins about making a movie about the band's international following and their music's significance to their South African fans. Cousins agreed to be part of the project, and 2023's The Magic of It All collected songs he wrote for the film, recorded in Cape Town, South Africa with a studio band of leading South African musicians. ~ Bruce Eder & Mark Deming