.. Rick Wakeman ..

Description & Bowie Connection

'..There's no doubting Wakeman is a keyboard genius. Even concert pianists write to him asking him how he can play like he does. He left school to enrol at the Royal College of Music and played on some 2,000 tracks for artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed and Cat Stevens while still in his teens. His influence has been far-reaching - using choirs and orchestras on rock tracks is almost compulsory these days.' ....
.... 'He (has) sold more than 100 million records, either solo or as a member of iconic seventies band Yes..'

Played on 'David Bowie'(1969) and 'Hunky Dory'(1971) LPs, including the songs 'Space Oddity' and 'Life On Mars?'

UFO/Alien Connection

'..NASA transmitted some of his music into space in the hope of communicating with aliens, making Rick Wakeman earth's ambassador to the universe - a thought some may well find somewhat scary...
...This week he releases Out There, an unashamed progfest with a suitably overblown concept - a spacecraft made out of musical instruments collects different types of music from around the universe. It includes a dedication to the doomed crew of space shuttle Columbia and Wakeman even plans a tribute concert at NASA...
..."To be perfectly honest, after King Arthur I got a bit up myself," he admits. "I saw a UFO in Florida and spent a year talking to people who claimed to have met aliens. I was so engrossed in all of this that I tried to get into a hangar that was said to house unspecified craft and got arrested - tremendous adventures. I wrote this album - No Earthly Connection - based on my thoughts that music was a sixth sense. I was away with the fairies. It was great."...'

Quotes from article 'Life On Planet Wakeman' by Chris Goodman,
Sunday Express s-2 magazine, March 16th 2003.

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