Adam Wakeman (born 11 March 1974) is an English musician, known as the keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's band; he also played keyboards and guitar off-stage for Black Sabbath. Wakeman has also worked with Annie Lennox, Travis, the Company of Snakes, Strawbs, Will Young, Victoria Beckham, Atomic Kitten, Martin Barre, Uriah Heep and Deep Purple. He created the fictional character Milton Keanes, a disillusioned jazz pianist from the 1960s and released several YouTube mockumentaries and albums under the name Jazz Sabbath, with the album Volume 2 reaching number 6 on the Billboard Jazz Chart in 2022.
Wakeman has often collaborated with his father, Rick Wakeman, and has released albums with him. He has also released solo albums Soliloquy, 100 Years Overtime, Real World Trilogy and Neurasthenia. In 2006, he created his own band, Headspace, with Damian Wilson.
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Biography
Wakeman was born into a musical family as the younger brother of Oliver Wakeman and the son of long-term Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. He started playing classical piano at the age of eight. He cites Dr. John, Monty Alexander, Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater and Mark Kelly of Marillion as influences, with the solo from Marillion's "Incommunicado" one of the first he learned to play as a child. By the age of seventeen he had obtained grade eight from the ABRSM and had recorded the first album with his father. Father and son toured extensively, the two of them sitting at grand pianos to full scale rock performances with orchestra and choir. At the age of 24, Adam won the Keyboard Magazine Best New Talent award and promptly started a session career of his own in London.
In the mid-1990s, Wakeman formed Jeronimo Road with Fraser Thorneycroft-Smith. An album, Live at the Orange, was released after the band broke up on the Explore Multimedia label. In 2000 and 2001, he toured with his father's old band the Strawbs.
In 2006, he put together the progressive rock band Headspace, with vocalist Damian Wilson, guitarist Pete Rinaldi, bass player Lee Pomeroy and drummer Richard Brook. Their EP entitled I am... was released in 2007 to coincide with support shows at Wembley Arena, Birmingham's NIA and Dublin's The Point with Ozzy Osbourne. They released their debut concept album I Am Anonymous worldwide on 22 May 2012 on the Inside Out / Century Media record label.
He recorded several albums with Rick, as Wakeman with Wakeman, and he also participated on three of his father's solo albums. He also participated in Rick's tours from 1992, and he appeared in the Border TV's 1996 broadcast and VHS presentation of The New Gospels from the Isle of Man, the DVD from the Gran Rex, Argentina as well as 2009's Six Wives of Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace. The 2010 release, Scream, from Ozzy Osbourne featured five songs co-written by Adam Wakeman, although an error in the liner notes means the track "I Want It More" was wrongly credited to only Osbourne and Kevin Churko.
With over 200 pieces of music composed for several production music libraries, Wakeman started www.theperfectmusiclibrary in 2010 representing and creating music for film, television and media. As director of the company, he has placed music across most major TV networks including the BBC, ITV and Sky.
Discography
Solo
1993: Soliloquy
1994: 100 Years Overtime
1997: Real World Trilogy
2003: Neurasthenia
2021: A Handful of Memories
Wakeman with Wakeman
1992: Wakeman With Wakeman – AKA Lure of the Wild
1993: No Expense Spared
1994: The Official Bootleg
1994: Wakeman with Wakeman Live
Rick Wakeman and Adam Wakeman
1994: Romance of the Victorian Age
1996: Vignettes
1996: Tapestries
Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman
Weir Keeper's Tale (2016)
The Sun Will Dance In Its Twilight Hour (2018)
Stripped (2019)
Can We Leave The Light On Longer? (2024)
Jazz Sabbath
Jazz Sabbath (2020, as Milton Keanes)
Jazz Sabbath Vol. 2 (2022, as Milton Keanes)
Jazz Sabbath The 1968 Tapes (2024, as Milton Keanes)
Collaborations
1994: Light Up The Sky – Rick Wakeman
2001: The Revealing Songs of Yes – Various Artists
2001: Out of the Blue – Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble
2005: Live at the Orange – Jeronimo Road
2009: The Six Wives of Henry VIII Live at Hampton Court Palace – Rick Wakeman
2010: Scream – Ozzy Osbourne
2012: I Am Anonymous – Headspace
2013: Snakecharmer – Snakecharmer
2016: The End - Black Sabbath - keyboards (tracks 5–8)
2016: All That You Fear Is Gone – Headspace
2017: Second Skin – Snakecharmer
2017: The End: Live in Birmingham – Black Sabbath
2023: Live at the London Palladium 2023 – Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble