Asia
What organization did Greg Lake join in 1983?
Greg Lake Gregory Stuart Lake ( 10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016 ) was an English singer , songwriter , bassist , guitarist and record producer . He gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson , Lake & Palmer ( ELP ) . Born and raised in Dorset , Lake began to play the guitar at the age of 12 and wrote his first song , Lucky Man , at the same age . He became a full-time musician at 17 , playing in several rock bands until his friend and fellow Dorset guitarist Robert Fripp invited him to join King Crimson as lead singer and bassist . They found commercial success with their influential debut album , In the Court of the Crimson King ( 1969 ) . Lake left the band in 1970 and achieved significant success in the 1970s and beyond as the singer , guitarist , bassist , and producer of Emerson , Lake & Palmer ( ELP ) . As a member of ELP , Lake wrote and recorded several popular songs including Lucky Man and From the Beginning . Both songs entered the UK and US singles charts . Lake launched a solo career , beginning with his 1975 single I Believe in Father Christmas which reached number two in the UK . He went on to release three solo albums with his Greg Lake Band with guitarist Gary Moore , recorded 1981 through 1983 ( two studio albums , one live album ) , as well as collaborating and performing with other artists and with various groups in the 1980s , had occasional ELP reunions in the 1990s and in 2010 , and toured regularly as a solo artist into the 21st century . He also sponsored other artists , producing their recordings and helping them to get recording contracts . He also was a fundraiser for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children . He died on 7 December 2016 in London , of pancreatic cancer , at the age of 69 . Early life . Greg Lake was born on 10 November 1947 in the Parkstone area of Poole in Dorset , to Harry , an engineer , and Pearl , a housewife . He grew up in the residential suburb of Oakdale . Speaking about his childhood , Lake said he was born in an asbestos prefab housing unit into a very poor family , and remembered several cold winters at home , but credits his parents for sending him money and food during his time as a struggling musician . He later described his upbringing as a happy one . Lake discovered rock and roll in 1957 when he bought Little Richards Lucille . At the age of 12 , he first learned to play the guitar and wrote his first song , Lucky Man , which he didnt write down , simply committing it to memory . He named his mother , a pianist , as his initial musical influence and she bought Lake a second hand guitar to learn on . Lake then took guitar lessons from Don Strike , who had a shop in Westbourne . Strike taught him these awful Bert Weedon things , reading musical notation exercises with violin pieces by Niccolò Paganini , and playing 1930s pop tunes , the latter of which became an influence on Lake at the time . After roughly one year with Strike , Lake ended his tuition as he wished to learn songs by the Shadows , a favourite band of his , but Strike wouldnt have any of it . Lakes second guitar was a pink Fender Stratocaster . Lake attended Oakdale Junior School followed by Henry Harbin Secondary Modern School , and left the latter in 1963 or 1964 . He then took up work loading and unloading cargo at the Poole docks , and as a draughtsman for a short period . Lake then decided to become a full-time musician at the age of 17 . Career . Early bands . Lake joined his first band , Unit Four , playing cover songs as their singer and guitarist . King Crimson . In the 1960s , Lake formed a friendship with future King Crimson co-founder and guitarist Robert Fripp , who was also from Dorset and had also received lessons from Don Strike , and saw Lake perform in Unit Four in Poole . Fripp was asked to be a roadie for a gig at Ventnor , Isle of Wight , but no audience turned up . Consequently , Lake and Fripp decided to just play tunes from their guitar lessons that Strike had taught them . Fripp formed King Crimson since his previous group , Giles , Giles and Fripp was not commercially successful , and their record company suggested getting a proper lead singer . He chose Lake for this role , but asked him to play bass instead of guitar to avoid having to get a bass player in the group . This marked Lakes first time playing the instrument as he had primarily been a guitarist for the previous eleven years . Though Peter Sinfield was the bands lyricist , Lake had some involvement in the lyrics for their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King . After their contracted producer Tony Clarke walked away from the project , Lake produced the album . Released in October 1969 , the album was an immediate commercial and critical success , as Lake recalled : There was this huge wave of response . The audiences were really into us because we were an underground thing – the critics loved us because we offered something fresh . King Crimson supported In the Court of the Crimson King with a tour of the UK and the US , with some of the shows featuring rock band the Nice as the opening act . During the US leg , Lake struck up a friendship with Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson ; the two shared similar musical interests and talked about the benefits of forming a new group . When King Crimson returned to the UK in early 1970 , Lake agreed to sing on the bands second album , In the Wake of Poseidon , and appear on the music television show Top of the Pops with them , performing the song Cat Food . Emerson , Lake & Palmer . In April 1970 , Lake left King Crimson and reunited with Emerson , along with drummer Carl Palmer of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster , to form the progressive rock supergroup , Emerson , Lake & Palmer . Lake began with a Fender bass before he switched to a Gibson Ripper . As well as bass , Lake contributed acoustic and electric guitar work to Emerson , Lake & Palmer , and his voice had a wider and more diverse range than anything the Nice had previously recorded . Emerson , Lake & Palmer became one of the most successful groups in the 1970s . Lake became known for performing on a Persian carpet on stage , which originally sold for £1,500 and , by 1976 , had increased its value to £7,000 . In addition , Lake would change his guitar strings after each show on tour . Emerson , Lake & Palmer conflicted between Emersons interest in complex , classically-influenced music and Lakes more straightforward rock tastes . Lake complained that Emerson chose to play in keys that were not a good fit for his voice . During the making of the bands second album Tarkus , Lake initially rejected the title track , but was persuaded to record it following a band meeting with management , which ended in the addition of an original Lake tune , Battlefield , into the suite . Lakes track From the Beginning , released on Trilogy in 1972 , had no particular source of inspiration ; I just felt an inspiration to do it , and it flowed through me in a natural way . My hands fell upon these very unusual chords .. . It was kind of a gift . It was released as a single , and reached number 39 in the US . In 1974 , Emerson , Lake & Palmer took a break in activity . Lake used this time to focus on his family life , travel , and write and release music . By then the band were tax exiles and relocated to Switzerland , France , Canada and the Bahamas as they were restricted to two months stay in England a year . In March 1977 , the band released Works Volume 1 , a double album , with each member of the group getting one side of an album for his solo music , and the fourth side for the group to work together . Lake wrote five acoustic songs with lyrical assistance from Sinfield , with a conscious effort not to record just ballads and attempt a wider variety of musical styles . He then incorporated orchestral overdubs to the songs . One of them , Cest la Vie , was released as a single . Lake called the album the beginning of the end of the band , as he no longer produced their future albums , neither of which were a really innovative record . In November 1977 , the band released Works Volume 2 . The band split up in 1979 following the unsuccessful album Love Beach , an album the group were contractually obliged to record . The group reformed for a number of years in the mid-1990s and released two albums , Black Moon in 1992 and In The Hot Seat in 1994 , before permanently disbanding except for a forty-year anniversary one-off gig in 2010 at Londons High Voltage Festival . Solo career and other projects . In 1975 , while still a member of ELP , Lake achieved solo chart success when his single , I Believe in Father Christmas , reached number two on the UK Singles Chart . It has become a Yuletide perennial . In the UK , the single sold over 13,000 copies in two days . Several months following the break-up of ELP in 1979 , Lake began to write new songs and had put down a tremendous amount of material for his first solo album . He travelled to Los Angeles and worked with a group of session musicians to develop his songs further , but he found a lack of personality in the music , though not at the fault of the performers . Lake realised he wished to play as part of a group , and began to assemble members of the Greg Lake Band . The result , Greg Lake , was released in September 1981 on Chrysalis Records , and reached number 62 in both the UK and the US . The debut concert for the tour of the album took place in August 1981 at the Reading Festival , with bandmates Gary Moore on guitar , Ted McKenna on drums , Tommy Eyre on keyboards , and Tristram Margetts on bass . A concert at the Hammersmith Odeon during the tour in 1981 , broadcast live on the King Biscuit Flower Hour , was released as a live album in 1995 . Lakes second solo album Manoeuvres was released in July 1983 . He disbanded the Greg Lake Band soon after completing it , without promoting or touring the album , and split with his record company . In a 1997 interview , he explained his decision : It was a weird time for me , and for the music business . I was pressured into writing songs that the record company thought radio programmers wanted to hear . Hence , there was not the passion the first album had . There were some nice ballads , but the record lacked the pure vision that a hit album needs to succeed . He gave further insight in 2011 : It was great to be the rhythm guitar player in that line-up . Gary is a fabulous player , and the bass was covered properly . The problem was the solo albums really lacked direction . I was lost in a way . Once you’ve been in a band like ELP , if you try a solo career you can do it , but the public voted You’re part of ELP . That’s who you are.. . When you try and search for an alternative identity , it’s difficult . For a long while , I was kind of lost and would try different things . It was fun , but also a bit here , there and everywhere . Adding to the decision , lead guitarist Gary Moore had written solo material that brought him a recording contract : I was working with Greg Lake for two years during ’81 and ’82 and we did two albums . At the time I was with him , I was writing songs .. . I did some demos after the U.S . tour with Greg to see what would happen , and I got a deal with Atlantic . I really wanted to get out on my own at that stage , and I wanted these songs recorded – they weren’t suitable for Greg.. . so I set up a deal with Virgin , and went in and did Corridors Of Power . We didn’t even set out to form a band , but the album took off , so we went on tour . In October 1983 , at friend Carl Palmers request , Lake briefly joined Palmer in the 1980s supergroup Asia , to replace fellow King Crimson alumnus John Wetton for four scheduled concerts in Japan . Lake agreed and spent six weeks learning Asias songs , culminating in his performance in the Asia in Asia concert at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo , 6 December 1983 , the first concert broadcast over satellite to MTV in the United States , and later made into a home video . Lake left the group after the tour , having joined as a favor for the Japanese concerts only . In 1986 , he and Keith Emerson decided to re-form Emerson , Lake & Palmer to record another album . However , Carl Palmer continued to have commitments to Asia , so Lake and Emerson auditioned other artists . They found good rapport with drummer Cozy Powell , and recorded their eponymous album Emerson , Lake & Powell with him . In 2001 , Lake toured as a member of the seventh incarnation of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band . In 2003 , Lake played bass on The Who song Real Good Looking Boy . The groups usual bassist Pino Palladino was touring at the time of recording , and Lake was asked to play bass . In 2005 , Lake toured Germany and the UK with his group , the Greg Lake Band , which now included David Arch on keyboards , Florian Opahle on guitar , Trevor Barry on bass , and Brett Morgan on drums . The tour was sponsored by UK entertainer and long-term ELP fan , Jim Davidson . But the shows were not a sell-out , the US leg was cancelled , and the two men then fell out . In 2006 , Lake played as a member of the supergroup the RD Crusaders in aid for charity . Lake performed Karn Evil 9 with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at several shows . He was a special guest on their album Night Castle ( 2009 ) . In 2010 , Lake and Emerson completed an acoustic world tour , performing ELP songs . The tour got off to a bad start following a backstage altercation between the two , but we completed the tour and it was very happy . We actually ended up enjoying ourselves . That July , Lake joined Emerson and Palmer for a one-off gig from Emerson , Lake & Palmer at the High Voltage Festival in Victoria Park , London , to commemorate the bands fortieth anniversary . The concert was released on CD , DVD , and Blu-ray as High Voltage . It was the final performance by the group . Lake wished to continue touring , but claimed his bandmates didnt want to , thus ending such plans . Lake continued to tour solo in the 2010s . His Songs of a Lifetime Tour began in 2012 which featured songs of his career and those by his favourite artists , including Elvis Presley and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates . The tour ended in December of that year and produced the live albums , Songs of a Lifetime ( 2013 ) and Live in Piacenza ( 2017 ) . On 9 January 2016 , he was awarded an honorary degree in music and lyrics composition by Conservatorio Nicolini in Piacenza , Italy , the first degree awarded by any conservatory , ever . Lake spent several years writing his autobiography Lucky Man , originally planned to be published in 2012 but eventually released posthumously in June 2017 . On 19 June 2017 , the Municipality of Zoagli ( Genoa ) Italy awarded the Honorary Citizenship post mortem to Greg Lake and engraved a marble plaque that is next to Castello Canevaro where the musician performed on 30 November 2012 . Personal life . In late 1974 , Lake moved from a flat in Cornwall Gardens in Kensington , London to a home near Windsor . Lake later lived in the Kingston and Richmond areas of Greater London with his wife Regina . The couple had one daughter , Natasha . Death . Lake died in London on 7 December 2016 , at the age of 69 , after suffering from cancer . His manager announced the news on Twitter , describing Lakes battle with the illness as long and stubborn . Numerous fellow musicians paid tribute , including Rick Wakeman and Steve Hackett , Ringo Starr , John Wetton , Opeths Mikael Åkerfeldt , Jethro Tulls Ian Anderson and ELP drummer Carl Palmer . With Lakes death and that of Keith Emerson earlier in 2016 , Palmer is the last surviving member of the group . Discography . Solo . Compilations - The Greg Lake Retrospective : From the Beginning ( 1997 ) - From the Underground : The Official Bootleg ( 1998 ) - From the Underground 2 : Deeper Into the Mine – An Official Greg Lake Bootleg ( 2003 ) - The Anthology : A Musical Journey ( 2020 ) Singles - I Believe in Father Christmas / Humbug ( 1975 ) - Cest La Vie / Jeremy Bender ( 1977 ) - Watching Over You / Hallowed Be Thy Name ( 1977 ) - Love You Too Much / Someone ( UK/Europe 1981 ) - For Those who dare / Love you too much ( Germany 1981 ) - Let Me Love You Once / Retribution Drive ( USA 1981 ) - It Hurts / Retribution Drive ( UK/Europe 1982 ) - Famous Last Words / I Dont Know Why I Still Love You ( Portugal 1983 ) DVDs - Greg Lake : Live In Concert ( 2006 ) - Welcome Backstage ( 2006 ) - Greg Lake Live in Piacenza ( 2017 ) exclusively with the limited edition box set of the album with the same title . As Producer . - Spontaneous Combustion - Just A Dream { aka Unknown Ballad attributed to Emerson , Lake & Palmer , recorded December 1970 or January 1971 , released as a bonus track on the 2012 Tarkus reissue } ( 2012 ) - Spontaneous Combustion - Lonely Singer / 200 Lives / Leaving ( 1971 ) 7 single - Spontaneous Combustion - self-titled ( 1972 ) - Pete Sinfield - Still ( 1973 ) - The Kings Singers – Strawberry Fields Forever ( 1978 ) 7 single - Annie Barbazza & Max Repetti - Moonchild ( 2018 ) - Annie Barbazza - Vive ( 2018 ) ( Track Boite A Tisane ) References . - Bibliography