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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gregory Stuart Lake |
| Born | 10 November 1947 Poole, Dorset, England |
| Died | 7 December 2016(2016-12-07) (aged 69) London, England |
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| Years active | 1964–2016 |
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| Website | greglake.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Custom Alembic models Custom Wal bass models Fender Jazz Bass Gibson Ripper |
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Gregory Stuart “Greg” Lake (10 November 1947 – 7 December 2016) was an English bassist, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer who gained prominence as a founder 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 fellow Dorset guitarist Robert Fripp invited him to join King Crimson as their 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 ELP.
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 Lake’s first time playing the instrument as he had primarily been a guitarist for the previous eleven years. 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.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.
In 2001, Lake toured as a member of the seventh incarnation of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band In 2003, Lake played the bass on The Who song “Real Good Looking Boy”. The group’s usual bassist, Pino Palladino, was set to do it but he was touring during the time of recording, so Lake was asked instead
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 The tour ended in November of that year and produced the live album, Songs of a Lifetime (2013).
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 the conservatory.
Lake spent several years writing his autobiography Lucky Man, originally planned to be published in 2012, and now due for release in September 2017
Lake died in London on 7 December 2016, at the age of 69, after suffering from cancer.
Bass Stuff 