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Zombies, The |
1961 |
One of England's earliest and most creative bands, they found their biggest success posthumously. |
United Kingdom |
|
Zappa, Frank |
1940 |
The one, the only. |
United States |
|
Zao |
1972 |
Offshoot from Magma, Francois Cahen and Yochk'o Seffer offer world-class (albeit more traditional) jazz rock. |
France |
|
Zamla Mammaz Manna |
1977 |
Samla Mammas Manna reformed in 1977 to release a few albums. |
Sweden |
|
Yes |
1968 |
Nothing defines the good and bad of Prog other than Yes. |
United Kingdom |
|
Yamash'ta, Stomu |
1947 |
Classically-trained percussionist from Japan, Stomu Yamash'ta's career jumps between the avant-garde, traditional Japanese music, progressive jazz-rock and later in his career, soundtrack and new-age type music. For the... |
Japan |
|
Wyatt, Robert |
1945 |
Both biped and wheelchair-bound, the one and only. |
United Kingdom |
|
Wonderland |
1968 |
Frank Dostal and Achim Reichel's post-Rattles band produced one strange album. |
Germany |
|
Winwood, Steve |
1948 |
From Spencer Davis, to Traffic, to Blind Faith, back to Traffic, Go, and then on to a very successful solo carrer, few musicians have the resume of multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood. A genuine legend of the... |
United Kingdom |
|
Windchase |
1977 |
Post-Sebastian Hardie band |
Australia |
|
Wilde Flowers, The |
1964 |
The genesis of the Canterbury scene lay within the ranks of The Wilde Flowers; Ayers, Sinclairs, Hoppers, Coughlan, Hastings, and Wyatt all start here. |
United Kingdom |
|
Wigwam |
1968 |
Finland's world-class progressive rock band featured Englishman Jim Pembroke. Wigwam eventually signed to Virgin Records. |
Finland |
|
Who, The |
1964 |
From their beginnings as a r&b-influenced singles band with a Mod image, The Who quickly rose to the very top of England's rock elite by sheer virtue of their live performances. Along the way they penned many... |
United Kingdom |
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White, Alan |
1949 |
Alan White's career led him from John Lennon to Jon Anderson, with dozens of sessions in between. |
United Kingdom |
|
White Noise |
1968 |
Largely the project of American David Vorhaus, White Noise represents some of the first releases of electronic music aimed at a commercial audience. He was joined by members of the BBC's legendary Radiophonic Workshop... |
United Kingdom |
|
Way, Darryl |
1948 |
Violinist and composer for Curved Air |
United Kingdom |
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Wavemaker |
1976 |
Second of Brian Hodgon's electronic music projects. |
United Kingdom |
|
Walsh, Steve |
1951 |
The voice of Kansas. |
United States |
|
Wallenstein |
1971 |
Jürgen Dollase's self-proclaimed "symphonic rock orchestra". Released four interesting albums that feature the drumming of Harald Grosskopf. Later albums had great covers but are of little interest to the progressive... |
Germany |
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Wakeman, Rick |
1949 |
The silver-caped keyboardist and sometimes-comedian |
United Kingdom |
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Wagner, Adrian |
1952 |
Great-great grandson of "the" Richard Wagner, Adrian Wagner was a collaborator with Robert Calvert, as well as a Charisma recording artist and inventor of the "Wasp" keyboard. |
United Kingdom |
|
von Zamla |
1981 |
Yet another morph of Samla Mammas Manna, this one led by Lars Hollmer and guitarist Eino Haapala. |
Sweden |
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Violeta De Outono |
1984 |
|
Brasil |
|
Vangelis |
1943 |
Greek multi-instrumentalist Vangelis Papathanassiou was a child prodigy, eventually studying music in Athens. He spent his early career with in the beat band Formix, later forming Aphrodite's Child in 1968. By early 70s... |
Greece |
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Van Leer, Thijs |
1948 |
Flautist, keyboardist and vocalist of Focus, his solo albums were for the most part recordings of classical music. |
Netherlands |
|
Van Der Graaf Generator |
1968 |
Led by the indefatigable Peter Hammill, perhaps the most original and significant group of the era; even "without the capes". Hammill is a complicated character, and so then is Van Der Graaf Generator: one moment placid... |
United Kingdom |
|
Utopia |
1973 |
In its first incarnation, Todd Rundgren's take on progressive rock |
United States |
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Uriel (Arzachel) |
1968 |
Precursor to Egg, Uriel also included Steve Hillage on guitar. The band changed their name to Arzachel for their only album. |
United Kingdom |
|
Uriah Heep |
1969 |
Masters of heavy organ rock, Uriah Heep |
United Kingdom |
|
Uno |
1974 |
Elio D'Anna and Danilo Rustici's post-Osanna band, recorded one eponymous album before forming Nova. |
Italy |
|
U.K. |
1976 |
From the remains of King Crimson, a latter-day supergroup. Bill Bruford and Allan Holdsworth left after one album, while Eddie Jobson and John Wetton stick together for another. From there, however, it was on to Asia. |
United Kingdom |
|
Twink |
1944 |
John Charles Alder, better known as Twink, played in a host of classic British psychedelia bands, including In-Crowd/Tomorrow, The Pretty Things/Electric Banana, Pink Fairies, and ever so short lived Stars, with Syd... |
United Kingdom |
|
Turner, Nik |
1940 |
Flute and sax player for Hawkwind, Nik Turner led the Inner City Unit in the early 80s, Los Angeles-based Sphynx in the early to mid 90s, and Space Ritual in the 00s, and various side projects too numerous to list. |
United Kingdom |
|
Triumvirat |
1969 |
The German ELP? |
Germany |
|
Traffic |
1967 |
Steve Winwood was already well known as the voice behind Spencer Davis Group before he started Traffic. The band always kept its R&B roots as it moved from the psychedelic pop of the first two studio albums into... |
United Kingdom |
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Trace |
1974 |
Rick Van Der Linden's ex-Ekseption group. |
Netherlands |
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Tony Williams Lifetime, The New |
1975 |
Tony Williams reformed his Lifetime in the mid-70s with a new lineup featuring Allan Holdsworth on guitar, Alan Pasqua on keyboards and Tony Newton on bass. Marlon Graves replaced Holdsworth for the second album. |
United States |
|
Tony Williams Lifetime, The |
1969 |
Tony Williams, John McLaughlin and Larry Young. The birth of fusion. |
United States |
|
Tomorrow |
1966 |
In the beginning there was psychedelia - inspired by the liberation of drug culture, supported by the new "Underground" and musically, and bringing novel invention to music. Tomorrow were one of London's darlings during... |
United Kingdom |
|
Tempest |
1972 |
Jon Hiseman's post-Colosseum band featured Allan Holdsworth on guitar. |
United Kingdom |
|
Tangerine Dream |
1967 |
From their "free-rock" beginnings in the Berlin underground to the eventual triple-keyboard standard that signed to Virgin Records, Tangerine Dream earns significant credit in introducing synthesizer/sequenced... |
Germany |
|
Tangent, The |
2003 |
Formed by ex-Parallel or 90 Degrees men Andy Tillison and Guy Manning, The Tangent has featured many lineups, mostly with members of the Swedish bands Flower Kings and Beardfish. |
United Kingdom |
|
T.2. |
1970 |
Prog trio featuring guitarist Keith Cross, bassist Bernard Jinks and drummer Peter Dunton released one much hearlded album for Deram in 1970, but broke up due to internal strife. Members were previously in Bulldog Breed... |
United Kingdom |
|
Synergy |
1951 |
Larry Fast, one of the pioneers of electronic music and technology, released an exemplary series albums for the Passport label in the mid to late 70s. In addition to production for artists on the label, he has also... |
United States |
|
Supertramp |
1969 |
Founded in 1969 by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, Supertramp were the benefactor of a Dutch millionaire, Stanley August Miesegaes, who bankrolled their initial lineup. After two unsuccessful albums, the band changed... |
United Kingdom |
|
Supersister |
1967 |
One of Holland's finest groups, Supersister's original music had much in common with the earliest Soft Machine albums. |
Netherlands |
|
Sun Treader |
|
Named after a Carl Ruggles work, Sun Treader featured Peter Robinson on keyboards and Morris Pert on drums. |
United Kingdom |
|
Streetwalkers |
1973 |
Roger Chapman and John "Charlie" Whitney's post-Family venture |
United Kingdom |
|
Strawbs |
1967 |
One of Britain's original folk-rock groups |
United Kingdom |
|
Stomu Yamashta's Go |
1975 |
Daring to combine progressive, fusion and electronic sounds, this supergroup fronted by Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamashta included such luminiaries as Steve Winwood, Klaus Schulze and Al DiMeola. |
Japan |
