Rick Wakeman Wakeman later called it "dreadful" as contractual disputes between Atlantic Records, who had signed Yes, and A&M prevented him from writing his own composition. Wakeman claimed his contributions to the group written tracks were not credited, that management had agreed to "sort something out on the publishing side" but never took care of it. Wakeman "enjoyed the music too much" to cause a rift about the issue, but said it amounts to "a fair bit of money." "Fragile" reached the top ten in the UK and the US; the Fragile Tour marked Wakeman's first visit to North America. Its commercial
Rick Wakeman Wakeman left from the Ronnie Smith group and for several months, played in a pub band named the Spinning Wheel. In 1970, Wakeman performed on "Seasons" by Magna Carta, and records by Brotherhood of Man, Paper Bubble, Shawn Phillips, and White Plains. He soon became disillusioned with session work, "I was getting good bread, but I wasn't getting a chance to be part of the music". Wakeman's prominence rose during his tenure with the folk rock group Strawbs from 1969 to 1971. He first played the piano for them as a session on "Dragonfly", the first album released with Wakeman's