Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of the Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion) of Atomic Rooster. With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they were one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock groups of the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson's flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).Lake says almost dismissively, "It used to be a thing where as a balance to the record I would write an acoustic song." Lake's ballads, the least typical aspect of ELP's music, often garnered the band their greatest airplay and widest public exposure.
The band came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with E.G. Records (who distributed the band's records through Island Records in the United Kingdom, and Atlantic Records in North America), and released Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) and Tarkus (1971), both of which reached the UK top five. The band's success continued with Pictures at an Exhibition (1971), Trilogy (1972), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973, released on ELP's own Manticore Records label). After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 (1977) and Works Volume 2 (1977). After Love Beach (1978), the group disbanded in 1979.
The band re-formed partially in the 1980s as Emerson, Lake & Powell featuring Cozy Powell in place of Palmer, who was, by then, a member of Asia. Robert Berry then replaced Lake while Palmer returned, forming 3. In 1991, the original trio re-formed and released two more albums, Black Moon (1992) and In the Hot Seat (1994), and toured at various times between 1992 and 1998. Their final performance took place in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London to commemorate the band's 40th anniversary. Both Emerson and Lake died in 2016, leaving Palmer as the only surviving member of the band.
Stylistically, the band was known for "[combining] heavy riffs with classical influences." Bruce Eder of AllMusic wrote, "Their flamboyance on record and in the studio echoed the best work of the heavy metal bands of the era, proving that classical rockers could compete for that arena-scale audience."
History 1969–1970: Formation and first gigs By the end of 1969, the Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson and King Crimson bassist/vocalist Greg Lake were looking to leave their respective groups and form a new band. The pair first met in New York City and discussed the possibility of forming one together; they met again in December 1969 when the Nice and King Crimson were billed together for concerts at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. During a soundcheck before one of the shows, Emerson described the first time he and Lake played together: "Greg was moving a bass line and I played the piano in back and Zap! It was there." When the Nice split in March 1970 and Lake left King Crimson a month later, the pair began the search for a drummer, which turned out to be a difficult process. They initially approached Mitch Mitchell, who was at a loose end following the break-up of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and suggested a jam session take place among the three of them and guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The session never happened, but it led to the press later reporting rumours of a planned supergroup named HELP, an acronym for "Hendrix Emerson Lake Palmer", which Lake later debunked. As part of auditions for drummers at a studio by Soho Square, Emerson's manager, Tony Stratton Smith, suggested Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster and previously the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Palmer turned up for a session and enjoyed the chemistry, but was reluctant to commit as Atomic Rooster were starting to gain attention in Europe. Emerson and Lake persisted, and after several weeks, Palmer agreed to join.
The three named themselves Emerson, Lake & Palmer to remove the focus on Emerson as the most famous of the three, and to ensure that they were not called the "new Nice". Triton was a name that Emerson said "was buzzing around" for a little while, and Triumvirate and Seahorse were also in contention.Extended version of Emerson Lake and Palmer's documentary from their 40th Anniversary Concert DVD – 8m23s They moved to Island Studios in Notting Hill to rehearse and form a live set. Most of the numbers were rock adaptations and arrangements of classical pieces, including: Allegro barbaro by Béla Bartók entitled "The Barbarian", the jazz standard "Blue Rondo à la Turk" by Dave Brubeck entitled "Rondo" that Emerson had recorded with the Nice, "Nut Rocker" as an encore, and Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky that Emerson wanted to do after seeing it performed by an orchestra. An original song from Lake, "Take a Pebble", was also worked out. The group wished to enhance their live act, and spent £9,000 on a sound mixer and £4,000 on a Moog modular synthesizer imported from America that was adapted for better performance on stage.
The trio's first live gig followed at Plymouth Guildhall on 23 August 1970, supported by Earth, a local band. They travelled to the venue in a transit van previously owned by fellow progressive rock band Yes, and were paid around £400 for the gig. A small venue outside London was deliberately chosen in case the concert was a failure, but the concert was well received. Their second gig took place on 29 August with a set at the Isle of Wight Festival which was attended by an estimated 600,000 people and drew considerable attention from the public and music press. At the end of "Pictures at an Exhibition", the band fired two cannons that Emerson had tested in a field near Heathrow Airport.
The success of the group's debut, as well as Lake's prior association with King Crimson, led to the band signing management and recording contracts with E.G. Records, who distributed their records through Island in the UK and Cotillion, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, in North America. Emerson believed that Atlantic's chief and co-founder Ahmet Ertegun agreed to take the band on "because we could sell out 20,000-seaters before we even had a record out. That was enough for him to think that a lot of people would go out and buy the record when it did come out."
1970–1971: Debut album, Tarkus, and Pictures at an Exhibition In the months surrounding their debut gigs, the band recorded their first album, Emerson Lake & Palmer, at Advision Studios. Lake took on the role of producer, which he had also done in King Crimson, with Eddy Offord as their engineer. The album included studio versions of "The Barbarian" and "Take a Pebble", "Knife-Edge", based on the first movement of Sinfonietta by Leoš Janáček and the Allemande of French Suite No. 1 in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, Palmer's drum solo "Tank", the three-part "The Three Fates", and "Lucky Man", an acoustic ballad that Lake wrote when he was twelve. The album was released in the UK in November 1970, and reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 18 in the US. "Lucky Man" was released as a single that peaked at No. 48 in the US.
From September 1970 to March 1971, the band completed their first concert tour with shows across the UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Emerson used a large Moog modular synthesizer on stage but it was unreliable as heat affected its sound."Bob Moog told Keith that it would never work live and that he was out of his mind for trying to take it out on the road." Their performance on 9 December 1970 at the Lyceum Theatre in London was filmed and released in UK theatres in 1972 with added psychedelic effects including characters from Marvel Comics.
During a break in their first tour in January 1971, Emerson, Lake & Palmer returned to Advision Studios with Offord to record their second album, Tarkus. Friction between Emerson and Lake during the early recording sessions almost caused the group to disband as Lake disliked the material that Emerson was writing. Following a meeting with the band and management, Lake agreed to write his own songs and continue recording. The album was recorded in six days. The album's first side is occupied by the 20-minute title track, a seven-part song based on reverse evolution that was recorded in four days. Its cover art was designed by painter and graphic designer William Neal. Tarkus was released in June 1971 and was a commercial success, reaching No. 1 in the UK and No. 9 in the US. The band resumed touring with their first North American tour, starting 24 April 1971 at Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania, and continued until the end of May. Further dates across Europe followed until the end of the year.
The band's third album, Pictures at an Exhibition, was released as a budget album in the UK in November 1971. It features their version of the Mussorgsky suite performed live at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971 plus the concert's encore, "Nut Rocker". It was to be released before Tarkus, but the group delayed its release on purpose to show the music press and public that they could write their own songs, and were not merely "the band that did classical music". Atlantic Records declined to release it in the US, claiming it would not sell or receive any radio airplay because of its classical orientation and offered to release it on its sister label Nonesuch Records which handled budget, classical, and avant-garde albums. The band refused until Island imported 250,000 copies into the US which quickly sold, helped by radio DJ Scott Muni playing the entire album on WNEW-FM in New York City. The strong response prompted Atlantic to release it through Cotillion at full price in January 1972. The album peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 10 in the US.
1971–1974: Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery Trilogy, the band's third studio album, was recorded at Advision Studios with Offord between October 1971 and January 1972. Its cover art was designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis. "Hoedown" is an adaptation of Rodeo by Aaron Copland. Released in July 1972, Trilogy reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 5 in the US. "From the Beginning", an acoustic ballad featuring an extended synthesizer solo, was released as a single which reached No. 39 in the US. Lake has picked Trilogy as his favourite studio album by the band. The album was supported with a North American tour in March and April 1972 which included a spot at the Mar y Sol Pop Festival in Manatí, Puerto Rico on 3 April. Following dates across Europe, including their first in Italy, the band performed at the Concert 10 Festival at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on 9 July 1972. This was followed by their first dates in Japan where a riot broke out during the show in Osaka, causing the power to be cut and the group fleeing the stage.