Remembering Greg Lake

One of the greatest voices in rock music has been silenced — Rolling Stone reports that Progressive Rock pioneer Greg Lake, best known and loved for his amazing contributions to Emerson, Lake & Palmer and King Crimson, died December 7 at the age of 69, ending what his manager Stewart Young had described as a “long and stubborn battle with cancer.” Lake’s death comes just nine months after fellow ELP co-founder, Keith Emerson died after a struggle against depression and a degenerative nerve condition.

“It is with great sadness that I must now say goodbye to my friend and fellow bandmate, Greg Lake,” ELP drummer Carl Palmer wrote in a statement. “Greg’s soaring voice and skill as a musician will be remembered by all who knew his music and recordings he made with ELP and King Crimson. I have fond memories of those great years we had in the 1970s and many memorable shows we performed together. Having lost Keith this year as well has made this particularly hard for all of us. As Greg sang at the end of ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,’ ‘death is life.’ His music can now live forever in the hearts of all who loved him.”

In a 2013 Rolling Stone interview, Lake said of ELP, “I think there is truth in the fact that the group was pretentious. You don’t make an omelet without cracking eggs. We wanted to try and move things forward and do something new and break boundaries. It was important for us to be original. Certainly the early albums… I’m talking now especially about Tarkus, Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery. Those records were really great and innovative. There were members of the press that didn’t love us, but the public loved us.”

To truly appreciate the mastery of Lake’s seemingly effortless guitar skills and vocal style, we invite you watch Lake (while chewing gum!) and a 12-string acoustic guitar, perform a hauntingly beautiful and intimate version of “Still You Turn Me On,” on a chilly desert evening at the 1974 California Jam. It’s perfect.