Greg LakeLucky Man: The Autobiography

Engaging read for sure. As well as being immensely talented as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist/bassist, Greg Lake obviously was a very intelligent fellow. You get the feeling that, at his core, he was a very down to earth guy--there is not a lot of ego or self-promotion in the book. It is just a man in his late 60's looking back on his life with some really interesting introspection, stories and humor. The book mostly covers the arc of his music career from a young lad through ELP's final concert in London in 2010. Not much at all on his early family life, though he did make it clear his parents supported his attempt to make it in music as a teenager including his father helping him with his equipment at local gigs. He ended up more successful than either he or his parents could ever imagine.The stories are the best. The NY, NY "mafia" story from 1973 is priceless. It began with a call from someone threatening to kill him during a stretch of gigs in NYC. How it unfolds is just all-NYC authentic gonzo funny. Elvis even makes it in here is a couple places. For anyone who grew up with King Crimson & ELP in the 70's, this is well worth the purchase and read. It'll take you back in time in an enjoyable way.RIP Mr. Lake...you made a lot of people happy with your musical talent and efforts. You were a lucky man, but so were your mates and those who enjoyed your music.

Great book about a great human

Book was in great shape, received quickly. The story is engaging and anyone who is a fan of Greg Lake, ELP or King Crimson will really enjoy Greg’s insight into their music, recording, touring and his personal thoughts and reactions to touring and their reception in the USA. A fan of Greg since I first heard him singing for King Crimson in 1969, and as a musician, always wished I was blessed with a voice like his...truly a legend and a Lucky Man. To watch the videos of him, Emerson and Palmer in concert is amazing and you can see the brilliance and expertise of each of them (e.g., Take A Pebble, Tarkus, etc.) as they expertly played off of each other and really loved doing it. Greg's classics like C'est la Vie, Still...You Turn Me On, From the Beginning and Lucky Man will always live on in music history as classics, and there is no better voice in all of Rock history IMHO. Miss the heart and the genius of Greg, Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer together...contemporary musicians could learn a lot from them. RIP Greg and Keith, you are missed like crazy.

Maybe its because Greg Lake was such a nice guy and bucked the trend of musicians by being married to the same woman his entire life. Its a great recount of his life, but it seriously could have been twice as long. Significant aspects only garnered a paragraph or two, such as when he was called in at the last minute to front Asia for their biggest concert ever. There was a lot missing from that, such as how they had to slightly adjust the key for the songs to better hit Greg's vocal range compared to John Wetton's that was not in the book. I was also very interested as to the specific guitars and amps he used, which were never mentioned. Everyone that Greg came in contact with was a "great guy and talented musician". So, if you are looking for dirt in this autobio, you won't get it. The breakups of his bands were limited to a single sentance such as "We didn't agree on everything." I did like that it was not written by a ghost writer. You can tell its Greg telling his story directly. 8/10. Had he gone into his collection of guitars and more tech stuff, it would have been a 9.5/10.

I've read my share of musical artist biographies and autobiographies and have come away thinking; "Did these 60s musicians all follow a similar path and get caught up in the same drug-infested spiral and either die early or fade into old age, insanity, or obscurity?" Not so with Greg Lake. This was one of the most heart-rendering, open and honest autobiographies I have ever read. I could hardly put this book down from the moment I started reading it. It's a hidden treasure, to say the least.I was fortunate enough to have seen Emerson Lake & Palmer in their heyday here in Boston in 1969 and I was also lucky enough to catch Greg Lake on his final Song of a Lifetime tour in 2012 where he both performed solo and shared stories of his musical career in both King Crimson and ELP. To think that this artist wrote the song Lucky Man at age 12 right after he got his first acoustic guitar for Christmas and learned D, G, Am, and Em and that this song ended up on the first ELP album and became as famous as he did is almost unimaginable. The memory of Greg Lake will last forever with me.