RICK WAKEMAN Postpones Tour To Undergo Surgery

Keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman CBE has announced the postponement of his "Strictly Wakeman" U.S. tour so that he can undergo surgery "to correct an ongoing health issue".

The nine-date trek was scheduled to kick off later this month and was slated to feature Hayley Sanderson, who is one of the vocalists on the BBC's "Strictly Come Dancing".

In a statement, Wakeman's spokesperson said: "It is with great regret that Rick Wakeman has to postpone his 'Strictly Wakeman' tour of the U.S. with Hayley Sanderson in July, as his doctors have recommended that he undergo surgery this month to correct an ongoing health issue.

"Please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for any rescheduled dates. When further information about the shows is available, ticket holders will be informed. Rick's U.K. tour with the English Rock Ensemble in October and other ongoing commitments are not affected."

Over the decades, the 76-year-old father of six has suffered three heart attacks (all before the age of 25),pleurisy, hepatitis, pneumonia, cirrhosis of the liver, a high-speed motorway crash and a nervous breakdown.

When the July dates were first announced, they were billed as an all-new show featuring "music specially adapted for piano and vocals".

The trek would have marked the first time Wakeman had toured with a female singer.

"Hayley is great to work with, as she has the talent to feel the music in such a way as to make all the arrangements seamless," Rick said at the time.

"Hayley and I have never worked in concert with just the piano and voice, and so it opens up opportunities for new arrangements of pieces from rare albums."

Rick first started establishing a reputation as one of rock's most original and proficient keyboard players in the late '60s, when he worked with the likes of David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Marc Bolan, Lou Reed, Al Stewart, Elton John and other artists too numerous to mention, as a much-in-demand session player. He stepped out of the recording studio and into the limelight when he first joined THE STRAWBS and then YES, helping to make the latter the most successful progressive rock band in the world by contributing to seminal albums such as "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge".

But outside of YES, Rick was really able to unleash his creativity with a series of groundbreaking concept albums, "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII", "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" and "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table", which have been performed in large-scale shows featuring bands, orchestras and choirs.

However, he is equally at home as a solo artist in up close environment of concert halls, performing music on a piano — both his own and tunes that have a special resonance for him — and recounting wickedly funny stories taken from the length of his career. In recent years, he has added a rack of electric keyboards to ring the changes and enable him to enlarge his live solo repertoire.

Wakeman has reportedly played on more than 2,000 records, including such classics as Cat Stevens's "Morning Has Broken" and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Life On Mars".