Greg Lake English rock musician (King Crimson; Emerson, Lake Date of Birth: 10.11.1948 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Greg Lake

Greg Lake, an English rock musician, was born on November 10, 1947, in Bournemouth. At the age of 12, Lake's parents bought him a guitar, and he began taking lessons. One of his fellow students was Robert Fripp, who would later become a member of King Crimson. Lake's first bands were UNITE FOUR, SHAME, and SHY LIMBS. He even managed to record a single with SHAME. However, his first serious lineup was with THE GODS, which he joined in 1968. Future members of the Rolling Stones and Uriah Heep also played in this band. Shortly before the recording of their album began, Lake left THE GODS and joined KING CRIMSON, at the invitation of his old friend Robert Fripp. He stayed with the band for about a year and recorded their second album "In The Wake Of Poseidon" (1970).

Soon after, Lake became a part of the legendary group EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (ELP), with which he achieved the greatest success of his career. The band released albums that sold millions of copies and went on several massive tours. Lake remained with ELP until 1979 when their popularity began to decline, and he decided to pursue a solo career. His debut album "Greg Lake" was released in 1981, and he assembled an excellent yet short-lived group for its recording, including guitarist Gary Moore, drummer Ted McKenna, and keyboardist Tommy Eyre. The new repertoire had a distinct focus on the guitar rather than keyboards, resulting in a different sound from ELP. The album reached the 62nd position on the charts in both Britain and America, and the lineup even performed at the Reading Festival and embarked on a small tour before disbanding.

Lake recorded his second solo album "Manoeuvres" with Gary Moore, and the album was not very successful, leading Lake to take a break from the music business. He returned in 1985, temporarily replacing the vocalist in the supergroup ASIA. A year later, he joined the project EMERSON, LAKE & POWELL, which was not very successful. Shortly after, Lake became a member of the trio RIDE THE TIGER, which also included keyboardist Geoff Downes and drummer Michael Giles, both former colleagues from ELP. Lake was invited by his former ELP bandmates to participate in a film about the group, which led to a full-scale reunion of ELP in 1992.

Lake continued to perform with ELP, with occasional breaks, until the 2010s, while also releasing solo albums from time to time.