The wild and witty definitive autobiography from prog-rock legend Rick Wakeman, one of the greatest musicians of all time
'From the beginning to not quite the end... just yet'.
ISBN-13: 9781529983869
Publisher: Ebury Spotlight
Publication Date: 29th October 2026
With 50m album sales under his own name and countless millions more playing with YES and collaborating with legendary musicians like David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Marc Bolan and Elton John, Rick Wakeman, who's seen it all, done it all, is now telling all in his autobiography.
From piano-playing child prodigy, through to classically trained keyboardist and onto his rise with Yes and as a solo artist, Rick's life has been one of very dramatic spirals, spectacular comebacks and legendary rock 'n' roll excess.
The first of his epic concept albums, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, was released in 1973 and was a worldwide hit, to the vast surprise of his record company. The following year, Journey to the Centre of the Earth was another global top ten. He toured the world with it, taking huge orchestras and choirs, which he funded, spending every penny he'd earned.
After headlining at Crystal Palace Park, he suffered a heart attack aged just 25. While languishing in hospital, he wrote his next album, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and ignoring doctors' orders to retire, went straight out on tour. However, the high cost of his lavishly staged concerts, combined with his second divorce, eventually caught up with him, leaving him impoverished, homeless and occasionally even sleeping rough by 1980. In the years since, he has rebuilt his career to achieve iconic status, releasing numerous critically acclaimed albums and touring the globe with the English Rock Ensemble, reunions with a variety of Yes members and his own solo concerts, as well as fitting in popular appearances on TV and radio.
While Rick takes his music and creativity very seriously, he views his life as material for a sitcom. This unmissable memoir is a story of musical genius with a taste for adventure, a delightful sense of the absurd and a winning gift for comedy. It's the book Rick has always wanted to write and the sole unsurprising thing about it is that it's a hell of a read.