On This Day in 2024, We Lost One of Progressive Rock’s Greatest 20th-Century Songwriters (And the Pen Behind Some of Celine Dion and Cher’s Biggest Hits)

He was a progressive rock icon, and far too few people outside of the prog-rock world know his name. Pete Sinfield, co-founder and primary lyricist of the prog outfit King Crimson, passed away on this very day in 2024. King Crimson is considered one of the greatest progressive rock bands of all time, and the band’s 1969 debut album, In The Court Of The Crimson King (you definitely know the cover), is considered by many to be the most influential early prog-rock record ever made.

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The Legacy of Pete Sinfield

Pete Sinfield was born on December 27, 1943, in London. His career in the music and arts world began with poetry in the mid-1960s before starting his first band, The Creation, in 1967. Eventually, he transitioned from being the band’s guitarist to their lyricist.

In 1968, King Crimson was born, made up of Sinfield as the band’s primary lyricist, plus Ian McDonald, Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, and Greg Lake. The band would go through several lineup changes through the years, but the original lineup produced one of progressive rock’s most influential pieces of work: The 1969 progressive art rock record, In The Court Of The Crimson King. Sinfield was responsible for the album’s lyrics, production, and stage lighting during live performances.

In The Court Of The Crimson King would become a hefty success for the still-young group, peaking at No. 5 on the UK Albums chart and No. 28 on the Billboard 200 in the US.

After the formation of King Crimson, Sinfield would continue his work as a soloist. In the early 1970s, he helped produce Roxy Music’s debut record, wrote for the Italian prog outfit Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), and produced several of the latter’s albums under Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore Records. He would also pen a number of successful songs for big-name musicians, including Celine Dion, Five Star, Cher, Leo Sayer, and more.

In later years, Sinfield moved to Ibiza, Spain, where he continued to write for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, narrated some sci-fi audiobooks, and even entered the pop music space in the 1980s after moving back to England.

For the rest of his life, Pete Sinfield would remain active in his songwriting community in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and was a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors committee until his death. Sinfield passed away on November 14, 2024. He was 80 years old.

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