The band formed in 1970. Interestingly enough, the band's name was almost Hendrix, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (HELP). In 1969, Keith Emerson was playing for The Nice, and Greg Lake was playing for King Crimson. After playing at a few of the same concerts, the two tried working together and found their styles to be not only compatible, but complementary. They wanted to be a keyboard/bass/drum band - such a thing had never been done before, but they felt it was possible - and so searched out a drummer. Before settling on Carl Palmer, they approached Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience; Mitchell was uninterested but passed the idea to Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix, tired of his band and wanting to try something different, expressed an interest in playing with the group. Due to scheduling conflicts such plans were not immediately realized, but the initial three planned on having Hendrix join after their debut at the Isle of Wight Festival. Unfortunately, Hendrix died shortly thereafter, so the three pressed on as Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

This is not true.

I'm gonna go make some shit up now.