Keyboardist and composer Oliver Wakeman was born February 26, 1972. He is the eldest son of progressive rock legend Rick Wakeman (YES). Oliver filled the keyboard role, once held by his father, with YES from 2008 to 2011.
Oliver’s work with YES includes the triple live album in “In The Present – Live From Lyon,” “Fly From Here” and the “From A Page” boxed set featuring recordings from his time in the band released in 2019.
During his period with YES, Wakeman also toured and recorded as a member of The Strawbs.
Oliver’s debut album “Heaven’s Isle” (1997) was inspired by the island of Lundy, and he has since released various solo and Oliver Wakeman Band albums. He has also released several collaborations with acclaimed musicians, including Clive Nolan, Steve Howe, bandmate to both Oliver and his father in YES, as well as writing and recording with British guitar legend Gordon Giltrap.
Oliver Wakeman and Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena) collaborated in the 1990s and early 2000s on two rock opera/concept albums. The first project was Jabberwocky, released in 1999. It was based on the well-known Lewis Carroll poem. Next came The Hound of The Baskervilles (2002), inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The plan was for Clive and Oliver to produce a trilogy of musical performances based on literary classics, but an album inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was discarded because of a lack of record company support.
In 2001, Oliver released “The 3 Ages of Magick”, an instrumental album that followed the path of classic 1970s progressive rock albums. It featured Steve Howe on 11 of its 13 tracks. “The 3 Ages of Magick” is based on stories from British folklore and uses traditional instruments to help tell each story.
In 2013, Oliver teamed up with Gordon Giltrap to release “Ravens & Lullabies”. The Lullabies part was primarily acoustic, while Ravens was more prog rock oriented.
Oliver and Clive reunited after 20 years to release a 3-CD boxed set in 2021 titled “Tales By Gaslight” featuring remastered editions of their albums “Jabberwocky” and “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” together with a new recording called “Dark Fables.”
In 2022, Oliver Wakeman released “Collaborations”, a 3-CD boxed set that contains reissues of “The 3 Ages of Magick” and “Ravens & Lullabies” as well as a new third live album titled “From a Stage” featuring pieces composed by Oliver and Gordon.