0:00:02 > 0:00:04Welcome to the hi-tech world of the recording studio.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06This is AIR Studios in North London,
0:00:06 > 0:00:11which started life as a church. So a fitting venue
0:00:11 > 0:00:14for a special Songs Of Praise, featuring a guest
0:00:14 > 0:00:17for whom faith and music are important.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Outside this control room, a congregation eager to sing hymns
0:00:20 > 0:00:24and listen to the music of one of the country's finest and wittiest musicians.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26That's Mr Rick Wakeman.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32In this special Songs Of Praise, Rick talks movingly about how
0:00:32 > 0:00:35one of his own pieces helped him through a bereavement.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39He confesses to have been a rebellious teacher
0:00:39 > 0:00:42at a Baptist Sunday school, and there are some classic hymns,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45including his arrangement of Amazing Grace.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Now infamous as one of TV's Grumpy Old Men, Rick first appeared,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02fresh out of the Royal College of Music, as a talented young pianist
0:01:02 > 0:01:05for the likes of Cat Stevens and David Bowie.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Too skilled to remain anonymous for long,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Rick found fames with bands such as The Strawbs and Yes.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18Solo albums about King Arthur and the wives of Henry VIII then made him a fortune.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23He's been on our screens entertaining us ever since.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27He's led the rock and roll life and, yes, he's a grumpy old man,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31but at heart he's still that Baptist boy from north west London.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33I think we should meet him.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Ladies and gentlemen, the legendary Rick Wakeman!
0:01:37 > 0:01:40CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:46 > 0:01:48Rick, I get the impression that they love you.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50I think the fact when you said legendary,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54which means you're getting old and making the most of it.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55I think that's what it is.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Are people more surprised by the fact that you're grumpy or that you're a Baptist?
0:01:59 > 0:02:01They go together, don't they?
0:02:01 > 0:02:02LAUGHTER
0:02:02 > 0:02:05The whole world knows that you love your music,
0:02:05 > 0:02:07- but also, you're a massive fan of hymns.- I am indeed.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12I love hymns. I suppose mainly because they're great tunes.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15I much prefer the great old tunes. I'm not...
0:02:15 > 0:02:17This is a sign of getting old and grumpy.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21I'm not that good with a lot of the new ones. There are some nice ones.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24But I like a good sing, especially cos I haven't got a good voice.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26The great thing, for the half hour or so,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29- we're going to sing some of your favourite hymns.- You are.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34I think the newest one you'll do was probably done in about 1840.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36ALED LAUGHS
0:02:36 > 0:02:38- Make your way to the piano. - Thank you, sir.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42- You know where it is, don't you? - Yes, this long black thing here.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45It's not every day you're accompanied by Rick Wakeman on the piano,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47but that's exactly what will happen.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49All People That On Earth Do Dwell.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42- Well, Rick, you wanted a singsong. A good old singsong.- And we got one.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46- And you got one.- I did.- How do you actually feel when you're playing?
0:05:46 > 0:05:48I go into a little dreamworld.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51I had a wonderful music teacher called Mrs Symes,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54I had her for about 12, 13 years before I went to the Royal College
0:05:54 > 0:05:57and she taught me that music was colour.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59She said, think of every piece of music, you're an artist,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03you'll paint it, you have a palette and pick your colours and paint it.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07So ever since then, since I was five, I paint pictures, that's what I do.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Do you think what you've got is a God-given talent?
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Well, no doubt about it. There's absolutely no doubt about it.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16I think in many ways that God gives us all a talent.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Some of us are just lucky enough to be able to find what it is.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I think we've all got something.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24You've got yours, you'll find it one day.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26LAUGHTER
0:06:26 > 0:06:32Oh, I'm glad I turned up tonight(!) Let's talk about your distinctive style.
0:06:32 > 0:06:33HE CHUCKLES
0:06:33 > 0:06:35- How would you describe it?- Busy! LAUGHTER
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Say, for instance now, a little challenge for you.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42One of my favourite hymns is Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45So for you to put your mark on it instantly, what would you do?
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Um... Hold on.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50- That's the... PLAYS SIMPLE MELODY - Yeah.- OK.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55PLAYS MORE COMPLICATED MELODY
0:06:57 > 0:06:58Something like that.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00APPLAUSE
0:07:01 > 0:07:03It's only...
0:07:04 > 0:07:07I think it's only 12 notes but I properly managed to get about 80 in
0:07:07 > 0:07:11- and the tune's in there somewhere! - You're obviously doing something right.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13You worked with so many greats.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17You were doing something like 18 sessions a week as a jobbing musician, that's a lot.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20It was, but what a wonderful apprenticeship course.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23I worked with everybody from Clive Dunn to Black Sabbath.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Not on the same day admittedly, it was a different day.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30What about that one hymn you and Cat Stevens released into the world?
0:07:30 > 0:07:33- Yeah, that was amazing. I got a call from Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam. - Yeah.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37He called me up, he said, do you know the hymn Morning Has Broken?
0:07:37 > 0:07:41I said, of course I do, yeah. He said, I'd like to do it on acoustic guitar and piano,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44do you fancy doing it with me? I said, very much.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47The interesting thing was when we finished it and put it all together,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50the record company didn't want to release it as a single.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55It was only because Steve...Yusuf pushed it through they released it. They didn't want it.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Of course it was a massive hit which was fantastic.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00- You'll perform it for us now? - Absolutely.- Excellent.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Not with Cat Stevens but with a young lady
0:08:03 > 0:08:06who's forging a career as a solo artist after being with
0:08:06 > 0:08:10one of the most successful girl bands ever, All Angels.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Please put your hands together for Laura Wright.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14APPLAUSE
0:08:30 > 0:08:38# Morning has broken Like the first morning
0:08:38 > 0:08:42# Blackbird has spoken
0:08:42 > 0:08:48# Like the first bird
0:08:48 > 0:08:52# Praise for the singing
0:08:52 > 0:08:56# Praise for the morning
0:08:56 > 0:09:03# Praise for them springing Fresh from the Word
0:09:13 > 0:09:17# Sweet the rain's new fall
0:09:17 > 0:09:22# Sunlit from heaven
0:09:22 > 0:09:26# Like the first dewfall
0:09:26 > 0:09:31# On the first grass
0:09:31 > 0:09:36# Praise for the sweetness
0:09:36 > 0:09:40# Of the wet garden
0:09:40 > 0:09:47# Sprung in completeness Where His feet pass
0:10:01 > 0:10:05# Mine is the sunlight
0:10:05 > 0:10:09# Mine is the morning
0:10:09 > 0:10:14# Born of the one light
0:10:14 > 0:10:19# Eden saw play
0:10:19 > 0:10:23# Praise with elation
0:10:23 > 0:10:28# Praise every morning
0:10:28 > 0:10:35# God's recreation of the new day
0:10:46 > 0:10:50# Morning has broken
0:10:50 > 0:10:55# Like the first morning
0:10:55 > 0:10:59# Blackbird has spoken
0:10:59 > 0:11:04# Like the first bird
0:11:04 > 0:11:09# Praise for the singing
0:11:09 > 0:11:13# Praise for the morning
0:11:13 > 0:11:18# Praise for them springing
0:11:18 > 0:11:21# Fresh from the Word. #
0:11:34 > 0:11:37APPLAUSE
0:11:48 > 0:11:51South Harrow Baptist in London is Rick's childhood church.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56It's a place that's influenced him like no other.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01I think this church actually shaped my life.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05From 1953 right the way through till I was about 20 years old.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09I must've spent three, four days a week down here.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14The people I met, plus friends that I made
0:12:14 > 0:12:17plus what I learned about faith, Christianity...
0:12:17 > 0:12:22In fact everything, I suppose, that was good about life, I learned here.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28I'm not sure quite what sort of person I might have become
0:12:28 > 0:12:31had I not spent so much time down here.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36So this church will always have a very, very, very special place in my heart.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40The church hall also holds memories for Rick.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45This rock 'n' roll star used to be a Sunday school teacher,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48albeit one with unorthodox methods.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54I used to sit almost in this very spot except that I wasn't on my own,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59I had eight small chairs round me and eight nine-year-old kids.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Yeah, I was a Sunday school teacher and I loved it.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05I was also a little bit, sort of...different as well.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09I had an old Vauxhall Victor. What I used to do, I picked all the kids up in this car.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Wouldn't be allowed to do it these days cos I squeezed nine in. Some were in the boot,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16some in the back, some were hanging out the windows, roof rack.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19You'd be arrested these days, I'd be in prison.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23We'd go to South Harrow park and have lemonade and crisps and still carry on talking
0:13:23 > 0:13:26about all the things we'd talked about here in church.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29I was accused by some of the other teachers of bribery
0:13:29 > 0:13:31cos they only had two kids in their class.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34But the truth of the matter was my kids loved coming,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37they thoroughly enjoyed it and a lot of them became
0:13:37 > 0:13:39stalwarts of the church in later years
0:13:39 > 0:13:42so the Wakeman method weren't a bad one, really.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Before Rick leaves, he's in for a surprise.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49A reminder of his Sunday school days.
0:13:49 > 0:13:50Oh, wow!
0:13:51 > 0:13:56A '58 Vauxhall Victor! This is fantastic.
0:13:56 > 0:14:02Right colour, right interior. Oh, I hope this is a present from Aled.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08How on earth did I get nine eight-year-olds in my Vauxhall Victor?
0:14:08 > 0:14:13A couple in the front, possibly four in the back, that's six.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15One on the parcel shelf.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17ENGINE STARTS
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Oh, this is so many great memories.
0:16:23 > 0:16:24Well, Rick,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28we were singing there about being valiant against disasters.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Life hasn't been plain sailing
0:16:30 > 0:16:33since those days in South Harrow Baptist, has it?
0:16:33 > 0:16:37No, I've had some rocky trips. Yeah, some big ones actually
0:16:37 > 0:16:39but I think it's a matter of how you treat them.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43I've been in some pretty bad situations in life,
0:16:43 > 0:16:48but if you feel positive that there is light at the end of the tunnel and somewhere to go, you can do it.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51It's also a great time, when you're at your lowest,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53you find out who your friends are.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58You really do, and more often than not, it's the people you least expect
0:16:58 > 0:17:00who are your friends and that's something I found out.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Interesting, because you were having such amazing highs.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Travelling the world, singing and performing the music that you absolutely love.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09- Mm-hmm.- And yet you were having a bad time of it.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Yeah, I had a real bad time. I suppose it culminated in Australia, really.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18And I think you come to periods of your life as you get a bit older.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24We're going back, this is 1985, and you start to question, why, why am I doing this?
0:17:24 > 0:17:27I was just going from hotel room to hotel room.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32Things were going really good but I wasn't feeling great.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36I knew that God was always with me although I have to admit there's
0:17:36 > 0:17:39lots of times when perhaps you wish He wasn't.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Sometimes when you're up to tricks... I was a very heavy drinker.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45You'd go...and you knew He was there and you'd say,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48"Don't keep telling me," that kind of thing.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51But I was sitting in a hotel room in Australia in 1985
0:17:51 > 0:17:55and there was a lot of things going through my head at the time
0:17:55 > 0:17:57and I suppose it was at that actual moment,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01and I've always played a lot and still do,
0:18:01 > 0:18:07but shall we just say, I got the most perfect signal in the transmitter, in the receiver.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10What was God saying to you then?
0:18:10 > 0:18:14He just said, "It's time to re-evaluate your life, where you want to go.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17"Be positive where you want to go and what you want to do.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22"It's not going to be...a simple road, there will always be problems."
0:18:22 > 0:18:27But I got very loud and clear, "If you walk it, I'm there with you."
0:18:27 > 0:18:29So how have you changed as a person?
0:18:29 > 0:18:33What I tried to do was be brutally honest and say,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37"OK, that's not a bad trait. That's OK, that's good."
0:18:37 > 0:18:41But also to equally look at the things that I didn't like.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47It took a few years just to slowly eradicate the bits that I didn't like about myself.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Mmm. Let's have some more music.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55It's going to be Amazing Grace. Why does this resonate so much with you?
0:18:55 > 0:18:58It is, it's the most wonderful Newton hymn.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01It's just quite special. But there's been some wonderful tunes over the years
0:19:01 > 0:19:05but of course there's the one that is now used universally.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08The tragedy was Newton never got to hear it.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Absolutely. He's probably listening up there now, he'll hear it in a few seconds.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15You've roped in a Welshman not a million miles away to sing it.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19- Nobody else would do it! - Well, I'd love to, shall we get on with it?- Absolutely.- Come on.
0:19:21 > 0:19:22APPLAUSE
0:19:40 > 0:19:45# Amazing Grace
0:19:45 > 0:19:50# How sweet the sound
0:19:50 > 0:19:58# That saved a wretch like me
0:19:59 > 0:20:04# I once was lost
0:20:04 > 0:20:09# But now I'm found
0:20:09 > 0:20:17# Was blind but now I see
0:20:23 > 0:20:29# Through many dangers
0:20:29 > 0:20:33# Toils and snares
0:20:33 > 0:20:41# We have already come
0:20:44 > 0:20:50# T'was grace that brought us
0:20:50 > 0:20:54# Safe thus far
0:20:54 > 0:21:02# And grace will lead us home
0:21:09 > 0:21:14# Oh, we've been there
0:21:14 > 0:21:19# Ten thousand years
0:21:19 > 0:21:27# Bright shining as the sun
0:21:29 > 0:21:35# We've no less days
0:21:35 > 0:21:41# To sing God's praise
0:21:41 > 0:21:44# Than when
0:21:44 > 0:21:49# We first began
0:21:53 > 0:21:58# Than when
0:21:58 > 0:22:06# We first began. #
0:22:08 > 0:22:13APPLAUSE
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Well, now it's everyone here's turn to sing, and you at home,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26and another hymn that praises God for all he's done for us.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29It's Praise My Soul, The King of Heaven.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Tucked away in the middle of the City of London
0:24:43 > 0:24:46is a church that means a great deal to Rick.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01It was 1973 that I last walked through those doors
0:25:01 > 0:25:03and walked into here.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05And it hasn't really changed,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07except they've moved some of the pews.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11But that's the real reason that I came here.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14I did an album called Six Wives Of Henry VIII,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17and when I was reading all about Jane Seymour,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20all I could get in my head was a church organ sound.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23At that time, using a church organ on a rock record
0:25:23 > 0:25:26was not considered the done thing.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28In fact, there were still people that thought
0:25:28 > 0:25:33that kind of music was probably in league with you-know-who.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38I was recommended very highly to come here to St Giles' in Cripplegate
0:25:38 > 0:25:40where they said they were very forward thinking,
0:25:40 > 0:25:45had a great sound in the church and they had a wonderful church organ.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS
0:26:17 > 0:26:20For Rick, churches are more than places to make music.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23They're where he feels closest to God.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32I'll go in. I'll take music sometimes, with headphones so as not to annoy people.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35And I'll say my prayers while the music's playing in my ears.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Different churches make you talk about different things.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43I'll have the odd row with the boss upstairs as well sometimes if I'm not very happy.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44He soon puts me right.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It's so important to be able to talk to God
0:26:47 > 0:26:51and it's so important to be able to have the right place to do it.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And that's what churches do for me.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Rick, you've written so many great pieces
0:27:10 > 0:27:13that have touched so many of us over the years.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Gone But Not Forgotten you wrote in response to the Falklands War,
0:27:16 > 0:27:18but it had an impact on your life too.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20- Why is it so special?- It did.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24I wrote it, as you said, for the Falklands crisis in 1982.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27And then a couple came to me at a concert and said,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31"Thank you for that piece of music. We played it after we lost our father."
0:27:31 > 0:27:35And they said, "We sat and remembered so many great things about him
0:27:35 > 0:27:36"while that piece was playing."
0:27:36 > 0:27:39I said, "Thank you very much, that's very kind."
0:27:39 > 0:27:42And then just a few years later I lost my mum.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45She died at midnight and I came back to the house very confused,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48like a lot of people in a similar situation.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52And I sat at the piano and I found myself playing Gone But Not Forgotten.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55I actually played for about three hours. I promise I won't do that now.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59I played it for three hours, closed my eyes. I've mentioned about painting pictures.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02I had all these wonderful pictures of my mum,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05of all the great things she'd done and things that made me laugh.
0:28:05 > 0:28:10And realising that even though she wasn't here, the memories can never be taken away.
0:28:10 > 0:28:12And so that piece remained very special.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15- Every time I play it, I think of my mum.- It's incredible.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19- It's powerful, yet it has no words. - No, it was meant to have words.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Originally Tim Rice, Sir Tim Rice, was going to do the words for me.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25And he did about six songs at the same time.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29And when he came back with the lyrics for the songs he said,
0:28:29 > 0:28:30"OK, here's Gone But Not Forgotten."
0:28:30 > 0:28:35I played it and said, "But there aren't any lyrics." He said, "It doesn't need them."
0:28:35 > 0:28:40- If it's not too painful, will you play it for us tonight?- Of course. It's never painful. Happy memories.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46APPLAUSE
0:30:50 > 0:30:52Thank you very much. Thank you.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59Rick, that was utterly beautiful. Your mum would be so proud.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02I hope so. She calls me Richard when she wasn't.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Well, she wouldn't be calling you Richard now.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07- Thanks for the stories and music. - Thank you.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11We're going to end with your final hymn, To God Be The glory.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15From all of us here at AIR Studios in London, until next time, goodbye.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22Next week, David Grant celebrates the 10th anniversary
0:33:22 > 0:33:25of our ever popular School Choir of the Year competition.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27He'll introduce some of the very best performances
0:33:27 > 0:33:29from the last decade.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33And catch up with some previous winners to find out how the competition
0:33:33 > 0:33:35has changed their lives.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media
0:33:54 > 0:33:58E-mail - subtitling@bbc.co.uk