RIP to the voice of the original King Crimson. And what a beautiful, rich, full voice, so elegant and resonant. Never forget...the great Greg Lake. Will miss you always Greg. What a class act, what a good guy and what a TALENT. I grew up on this man's voice.. Epitaph and Moonchild, 20th C Schizoid Man, plus Still You Turn Me On, are some of my favorites.

Probably my favorite voice in music...and how nice that he is such a lovely person.

This interview reminds me of what Greg Lake was like the day I met him, March 24, 1972, at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium. It was only my second rock concert, courtesy of my 16-year-old brother. I was 15, and our friend Frank with us was 14. My musician brother insisted we arrive in the morning at the venue to watch ELP's equipment load-in. It had just completed and we were about to head for the stage door, where female me hoped to build up the courage to ask for ELP's autographs, when a limo pulled up to the loading dock and out stepped Keith Emerson. To our chagrin, Keith gave us a suspicious frown and kept walking swiftly into the venue. Then Greg Lake and Carl Palmer came out of the limo laughing, and walked straight over to us, and they could not have been nicer. I was so starstruck at meeting my musical heroes I could barely glance at them. I was content to watch as my brother talked with them at length. Then he told them this was only my second rock concert, that he'd taken me to my first the month before. Carl Palmer asked me, "Oh, who did you see last month?" I managed to answer, "Alice Cooper." Greg smiled at me and said, "Ah, Alice. They put on a good show. How do they kill him this tour?" The effect of the gorgeous Greg Lake grinning flirtatiously at me just about bowled over this little girl. I had to rely on my drama class/school play training in order to be able to reply. I answered dramatically, "The gallows," and I mimed a noose around my neck and hanging limp. Greg and Carl started laughing, and I thought, "Oh, thank God." Then they invited us to their sound check, which turned out to be a full rehearsal of their entire show that night, during which Greg or Carl or both came and talked with us throughout the afternoon every time they took a break, while Keith Emerson played keyboards nonstop and apparently was composing a new piece that later turned up on "Brain Salad Surgery." Greg and Carl were friendly and kind, as interested in asking us questions and listening carefully to our answers and getting to know us as we were in them, which was amazing to me - these two consummate artists didn't act like rock stars about to be in a spotlight on stage playing to 9,000 fans. It was a great day I love recalling. What impressed me most was Greg's thoughtfulness - by that I mean he treated everyone as an equal and with respect, all of the staff at the venue and us, and he constantly had an expression that he was evaluating everything and being thoughtful in the way he interacted and responded. He and Carl both gave me encouragement in my music, and Greg confided he didn't consider himself a born naturally gifted musician, and he gave me specific instructions for how to learn and improve as a musician. I went on to become a decent musician and have a decent music career, thanks to Greg Lake and Carl Palmer. I know Greg didn't believe in God, but I hope he in fact is in Heaven and having a great time. He was a beautiful soul, not puffed up by his success. The Greg Lake you see in interviews, and who did his "Songs of a Lifetime Tour" where he talked about music being a journey we took together, and he genuinely was interested in hearing others' stories and experiences, was the same Greg Lake we met that day in 1972 at the height of his success. I'm really saddened he passed so young, and my heart is with his loved ones who are missing him every day. Greg had a great sense of humor, also. Both he and Carl did. At one point, a mean security guard came along and told us to leave. My brother muttered, "Say something." I politely told the guard, "Sir, Greg Lake invited us to stay." "Who's Greg Lake?" he demanded. "He's one of the artists appearing here tonight - Emerson, Lake and Palmer?" I replied. "Where is he?" the guard demanded. "He's on the stage, playing bass," I replied. The guard stormed to the stage, where ELP were playing. The music stopped abruptly. The guard stormed back to us, followed casually by Greg Lake, who had a figuring-things-out expression. He saw us, and addressed the guard, "Oh, yes, those are our friends; we asked them to stay. Will that be all right?" "It makes no difference to me," the guard snapped angrily, and stormed away. When he was out of earshot, Greg leaned over and said confidentially, "For a moment there, I thought he was going to make Keith and Carl and me leave. Frankly, I don't think he cares much for our music." We all burst out laughing.

greg lake, a classy guy, humble & what is missing in music today

It’s hard to fathom how much talent was packed into this one guy. Great voice, great songwriting, and an animal on both bass and guitar.

Greg Lake for me will always be the voice of King Crimson and even though that lineup didn't last long, they not only made history but created some of the greatest music ever thus helping to kick off the genre that we know as prog rock. ELP were the biggest supergroup on the planet and conquered the entire world with countless masterpieces. A fantastic singer, bassist, guitarist and amazing composer, one of the true legends of music RIP Greg Lake and thank you for all of the fantastic music

He's a model of the way a famous musician SHOULD act towards not only his bandmates, but also to his fans. He's a brilliant musician, in both the first two King Crimson albums as well as Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

One of the most overlooked musical talents I can think of. His genre has lost one of the most unique vocalists ever recorded. His exceptional voice will be well-missed by all who actually care about such things. God Speed to you, mate.

GREG is pretty much the most UNDERRATED BASSIST, GUITARIST, and MUSICIAN EVER

The interviewer is a jerk acting as he did at the beginning of the interview. Greg as someone else said is a humble classy man who gave his time to give this interview and didn't deserve to have this guy act as he did. Greg was a wonderful talented man and is deeply missed.

I love Greg Lake. No matter of many years may have gone by, he's still special to me.

Greg Lake is a gift to music and the world.

Greg Lake was such a humble, gracious, thoughtful, intelligent human being; a real gentleman. Plus, he possessed one of the most powerful baritone voices in music, and played TF out of his bass guitar (and guitar).

King Crimson is THE original Prog Rock band and with all their lineup changes the band is like a history of the genre. Greg's stay in the band was short, but Pete Townshend called "In The Court Of The Crimson King" an 'uncanny' masterpiece.

Lucky man,/,,, what a lucky man he was 💖

Thanks for all your great songs. Greg Lake we will miss you !

One of the best, if not the best, rock singer of all time

I saw KC in Hyde Park in '71. Jack Bruce played there too and I don't recall who else. It was free! At the Court of KC still remains one of the finest albums of all time.

Don't forget his Bass abilities. The bass in Mirrors blew my head off

Greatest voice ever...absolutely brilliant artists

What a great guy to interview!!! What a great voice!

A member of two of the most influential bands in contemporary music, a great voice, good bass and a lyrical composer, King Crimson and ELP certainly changed my life musically, I´m forever grateful for they´re great music. Ariel.

Bless this talent for gracing this world with real good music .

I remember Jon Anderson or one of the members of the original line up of Yes describing seeing KC for the first time, and saying what a total mind blowing experience it was. It was said that KC played that first album's worth of material pretty true to what you hear on the record. I mean really. ..all those dynamics and tight fast riffs that the entire band plays togeher...and it being such a new and different sound...I dare say the influence that band had on the other bands at that time was tremendous. Certainly Yes pays homage on Heart of the Sunrise especially!

A very special man. Thank you Greg for changing my life when I was a lost teenaged boy.

Greg Lake always the modest, gentle extremely talented man with one of the greatest singing voices out there....THANKs Greg...

From the beginning, he was a lucky man, talking to the wind in the court of Crimson King.

He's so right about the music getting interwoven into people's lives and linked to events and emotions.

Lake is a very thoughtful and gracious interviewee; glad I heard this. Funny that none of the 1969 Crimson talks about the breakup. ITCOTKC came out in October, and only 2 months later the band was finished - that must be some kind of all-time record for the speedy demise of a successful band.

Greg lake very able musician, King crimson is a great band ,shame they could not find a better interviewer .

Nice one Greg. Good interview. King Crimson still blow my mind. One of a kind, and a real inspiration. Thank you!

I love hearing Greg speak. He seems like an intelligent, thoughtful person. What a voice he had in his prime! I agree with angelicb4me about the interviewer. He didn't seem very respectful, and didn't come across like he gave a hoot.

i like how greg respects the connection fans have between his art and the moments in their lives.. he seems like a very humble and gracious person... so.. this would have been 1997 since the interviewer remarks "...28 years on.." at 30 year anniversary in 1999, fripp was approached by the other original bandmates for a brief reunion tour, but declined to participate. what a shame

What a lovely soul he was. Miss him

Many people are fond of Greg Lake's voice.

Im a drummer and i agree.His feel is great.Clean as awhistle.

This man was wonderful

The guy is "blessed" with a lovely set of vocal cords.....

Great interview and surprising that Greg has such fond memories. Greg Lake is a great artist. Please keep your comments within the bounds of taste and maturity.

Mr. Fallout, this man has a voice that is so recognized, not to mention his great guitar, & very great original bass talent, yes, I wish the original King Crimson had never broken up... But ELP was the cutting edge of Progressive Rock, so many bands owe that to them... Give Greg his due...

Saw them @ the Westpalm Beach Pop Festiable What a show, what craftsmanship, Beautiful!

What a great guy Greg is. A precious man.

I love Greg Lake!

love this guy, gave me so many happy hours listening to some of my favorite music

He is so amazing.

great answers. intelligent guy and a fantastic musician

Greg's guitar ability is stunning! Watch ELP'S "The Sage" here on KZfaq. The middle part is absolutely thrilling. And his singing! Wonderful!!

Greg Lake is a good man and a great musician. I do remember reading how really heartbroken Robert Fripp was when Lake decided to leave King Crimson. He took it really hard. It's nice to know that the original members of the band get along well as people though all these years later.

I hope to meet him in heaven,when my time is up, what more could you ask for ,afterall it's for eternity

I am 53 years old and retired from one career (as a US naval officer) and five years into a second as a high school history teacher. I saw ELP at California Jam back in '74 and it was one of the most fantastic performances I've ever seen or heard. I work some classic KZfaq rock acts into my lessons to show my students that their favorite stars (sampling thieves all) are standing on the shoulders of giants. Sadly, to them, Greg Lake may as well be freaking Lawrence Welk. Stupid gits!

i think this is the first time hearing someone talk about the band as a friendly group, surprised they also kept in touch after all those years

Let us not forget his great guitar work.

What a great bloke! Proper star. Now if only they could get Fripp and Lake back together for a King Crimson reunion tour!

Oh Gosh I love his glance

all in favor of the original lineup of King Crimson reuniting Vote up this comment

Greg Lake is a legend. Perfect voice for Epitaph and ITCOTCK and In Wake of Poseiden. Thanks for the post, I know very little about GL and this was really interesting. Also with the constant change to King Crimson line up, I thought there must be a lot of disharmony in the band. I was pleasantly surprised to hear they are all still good mates.

greg lake had many touching vocals but one that gets me everytime is ces't la vie

So laid back and polite. i love him.

Poor Greg looks bewildered and I would be as well. What an odd style of interviewing a great artist. But true to form he handles it as a professional. I hope that I get to see him perform live again. He's great!

what ? he's artist too? now i'm really impressed...

yeah man. totally. as clean as it is it holds a beautiful sence of self.Its where it doesn't sound like somebody playing an instrument but it just sounds like music is there.

''THERE ARE ARTISTS WHO CAN WREST US UP AND PLACE US INTO THEMSELVES & INTO THEIR WORK THESE ARE [THE ONE'S WHO WILL CONTINUE] TO WREST US UP EVEN BEYOND THEIR APPOINTED RESTS IN PEACE.'' -''Lucky Man'' -Former Paratrooper Sgt. '71---'74

And "Karn Evil 9", but I could name numerous amazing Bass lines he's laid down.

RIP(;...Gregory Stuart''Greg''Lake...;)

a voice like heavy cream. rip Greg

The guy who wrote "21st Century Schizoid Man". That alone makes me a fan of Greg Lake. Add to that all of the other things he did with KC and ELP! RIP Greg Lake.

In 2009, Greg had an online chat session where he took questions from fans. I attended this session and had the following exchange with him. Here it is word-for-word: Dear Greg - I have been a loyal fan of you and ELP ever since the release of the first ELP album in 1970, when I was barely in high school. I'm very excited to hear that you and Keith are once again collaborating, and I have two questions: 1) Has there been any consideration in doing a 'concept' album this time around? 2) Your best work has always been that which was produced by you. In my humble opinion (and I'm sure many will agree with me), you must have been doing SOMETHING right! If ELP is indeed planning a new recording, will you be its producer? Thanks so very much for all the terrific music you've given us all these many years. Yours truly, XXXXX, YYYYY, NJ Answer Dear XXXXX, Thank you very much for your kind words. Keith and I have begun writing together again and all I can tell you is that the results are exciting but for reasons I am sure you will understand we never discuss the final record until it is finished and we are sure about a release date, etc. Yes I will be producing the record but I have to be honest and tell you that producing a record with Keith's music is a bit like flying an aeroplane on autopilot, it is not so much a matter of what you do to make it better as it is about making sure that you don't do something wrong to make it worse. However, I do thank you for recognising my production efforts on ELP's early albums as I do believe this was instrumental in the way those particular records sounded. Best Wishes, Greg. (Nov-23-09)

The Drastic Line-up Changes, Consistent High-class & Mr Fripp´s Unique Guitarism is King Crimson...

I am not a guitar player but I think that Greg Lake plays a great guitar. I think he plays extremely clean especially his acoustic playing. Does anybody agree?

Greg, for all his talent and recognition, seems like a very nice person. Cool interview.

I wonder if this is the interview referred to in the new prog book, "The Show That Never Ends." Apparently the ever-charming Mr Fripp gathered his old bandmates to help him promote a KC compilation and then split without even talking to them.

So Lake had that 2 minutes of tape. I always felt Granada TV had to test their equipment B4 the stones took stage at Hyde Park and Greg admits there was more footage but it had deteriorated. One can only wonder how much tape was lost and it's contents. Perhaps one could better appreciate the 69 Crim and Greg's contribution to the group.

Thanks so much for this fascinating posting!!!

geez they could have cut the false starts off the beginning

I think I hear Fripp's influence on Greg Lake's acoustic guitar playing. But hey that's just me. I think they are both great.

The interview Greg did with Redbeard on the debut is the best interview on the making of the first King Crimson album

54spiritedwill54 He left after the first but appeared on the second as a session musician, as did Giles.

Thanks Greg. The cream on the top. RIP🐦

Once u experience KING CRIMSON, u, experience king crimson!!!!!!!

What was that interviewer pissing about at . Jerk. He is in the presence of a class act . And the great king crimson. RIP Greg. Bless you.

Ilove Greg ! Special music!

I like what he is saying about the interpersonal chemistry in the band and how it created something worthwhile. I've had this experience too. I've played with people who I barely knew but we had similar tastes in music. So when we tried making music together, it was difficult to write something with a cohesive feeling to it, because we had no idea where the feelings of the other came from, so no real compromise was passible, especially when arranging the song and give it a narrative. On the other hand I've written stuff with great friends and even though we didn't have matching tastes in music, we were much more willing to compromise, understanding the taste of the other and practically implementing our different personalities and how our friendship was constituted much more effectively into our music. It was a much more symbiotic process. Even though the musical relationships never lasted very long, we created stuff together that we are still very fond of. An optimal musical relationship of course is when you have great friendships and at the same time your different tastes are on that sweet spot in terms of difference but they're still compatible enough. Then something innovative and beautiful can arise. Of course you can't be a genre whore who wants to create something that sounds exactly like another thing, even yourself.

How can a dozen people dislike... I can't understand! This is just history of rock music!

Absolutely!!

They have one daughter, Natasha, who is in her early 30's, and model-beautiful.

@TheGreaterGood80 The story I've seen is that Ian McDonald and Michael Giles bolted the band because they didn't like the touring at first and that Robert Fripp actually offered to leave the group if it meant they would stay---meanwhile, the same story says Greg Lake didn't want to stay in the group if the lineup was going to shift, agreed to do the vocals for the second album but committed otherwise to ELP if the original Crimson was to split, which it did . . .

Fun fact: before Lake agreed to perform the vocals for In the Wake of Poseidon in exchange for the old recording equipment, Fripp decided on hiring a then-unknown singer who would later become known as Elton John.

I Love his Voice From Iran

He has been married to the same woman for over 34 years.

I´m glad to hear!!

"It was peace, it was love and everybody was happy".......as KC thunder into Schizoid Man 😂😂😂

My sympathies to you. There is always hope for better, people just have to want it and go for it.

Interesting interview

Hyde Park concert - birth of King Crimson, Brian Jones (tribute), Rolling Stones moving on. .I was too young 😪 . . .who else played that day? ?

Thanks so much for sharing this! When was this filmed?

Anyone gonna be in Los Angeles THIS Saturday, December 20th, 2008? You gotta go check-out the King Crimson tribute show by The Great Deceivers @ club SPACELAND!!!!!!!!!

As my brother said after seeing Greg in London shopping, he is a big “unit”

GREG WE LOVE YOU

Greg's not that fat. This is a distorted image that's been stretched horizontally.

Are you watching Project Runway? I think one of the designers is Greg Lake's long-lost (Russian) son, Nicolas! p.s....love the name Amish Cake....my children grew up vacationing in Lancaster, Pa. Beautiful area.