Steve Hackett: Roger King is retiring

In a recent interview, Steve Hackett announced that his long-time keyboardist and producer Roger King will be retiring from the music business at the end of the year.

Roger King has been a loyal musical companion to Steve Hackett since the late 1990s. Since the album Darktown, Roger has been a fixture on his studio albums. Both as a keyboardist and as a producer or co-writer of various tracks, he has had a significant influence on Steve Hackett’s music. He has also played keyboards in Steve Hackett’s live rock band for almost 25 years without major interruption.

Now Steve Hackett has announced in an interview that Roger King will be retiring at the end of the year. This means that he will not only be leaving Steve’s live band, but will also no longer be available to Steve in the studio. Steve spoke about the new challenges and also about the opportunities that a new approach with other musicians can bring.

In the meantime, Roger has added on Steve’s socials: “Good day all. Thanks for all the lovely good wishes about my ‘retirement’ – it’s all rather humbling and very much appreciated. Just one small clarification – I won’t necessarily be retiring completely (who knows what’s next?) but the US tour with Steve in the fall will be my last. The travel, you know – it loses its appeal after a while. It has been, I have to say, a blast and a real privilege for nearly thirty years, and I can’t overstate my gratitude to Steve and all the other brilliant folk who have made it possible. Pastures new await, grazing or otherwise…”

A replacement for Steve Hackett’s live band has apparently already been found, but has not yet been announced.

In addition to his work with Steve Hackett, Roger King was also part of the band The Mute Gods, which released three albums, alongside Nick Beggs and Marco Minnemann. We reviewed these albums in a special feature here.

In 2001, Roger King did something new for the German Genesis Fan Club: he wrote a diary for us about the Steve Hackett South America Tour, which we published here.

We wish Roger King all the best and an eventful retirement.

Photo in the header graphic: Michaela Ix
This news item was updated with Roger’s own statement