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Greg Lake passed away December 7 after "a long and stubborn battle with cancer"; he was 69.
Lake was the singer and guitarist in the English "supergroup" Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, which he co-founded in 1970, after an earlier stint in King Crimson. ELP and a rival band Yes (as well as Crimson) helped spark the progressive rock craze in the early '70s; both bands remained active, with intermittent gaps, well into the 21st century as fans flocked to arenas to see them perform.
Keith Emerson died from suicide earlier this year; he suffered from both heart disease and depression, the latter aggravated by a nervous condition which apparently made him lose confidence in his ability to perform the keyboards on tour.
Rolling Stone has a decent write-up on Lake's career. Ironically, critics such as those writing for Rolling Stone were never fans of ELP, Yes, or the other '70s prog rock bands; the article quotes Lake's (2013) response:
"I think there is truth in the fact that the group was pretentious," he told Rolling Stone in 2013. "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."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 11 2016, @07:42PM
ELP was one of those transformative bands that struck a chord with me during those impressionable teenage music years. As lead singer he gets known for the lyric-heavy songs like Lucky Man and that overshadows his musicianship and writing abilities.
Tarkus is one hell of a great album.