Yes are an English progressive rock band founded in 1968 by lead singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Peter Banks, keyboardist Tony Kaye, and drummer Bill Bruford. The band's current line-up includes guitarist Steve Howe (who first joined in 1970), keyboardist Geoff Downes (who first joined in 1980), bassist Billy Sherwood (since 2015, formerly guitarist/keyboardist, who first joined in 1994 as a touring member, and as official member in 1997), lead singer Jon Davison (since 2012) and drummer Jay Schellen (who first joined in 2016 as touring member, and as official member since 2023).
History
1968–1981 The band formed out of psychedelic rock band Mabel Greer's Toyshop in 1968, with the line-up of Anderson, Squire, Banks, Kaye and Bruford. In September, Bruford decided to quit performing to study at the University of Leeds.Welch 2008, pp. 52–53. His replacement, Tony O'Reilly of the Koobas, struggled to perform with the rest of the group on stage and former Warriors and future King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace subbed for one gig on 5 November 1968. After Bruford was refused a year's sabbatical leave from Leeds, Anderson and Squire convinced him to return for Yes's supporting slot for Cream's farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 November.
This line-up released two albums, YesWelch 2008, p. 315 and Time and a Word, the latter of which included a 20-piece youth orchestra.Welch 2008, p. 77. Banks left the group on 18 April 1970, just three months before the album's release. Having expressed dissatisfaction with the idea of recording with an orchestra,Welch 2008, p. 315Welch 2008, p. 80. Banks later indicated that he was fired by Anderson and Squire, and that Kaye and Bruford had no prior knowledge that it would be happening. Banks' replacement was Tomorrow guitarist Steve Howe, who appears in the photograph of the group on the American issue despite not having played on it.Welch, 2008, p. 89 This line-up released The Yes Album, friction arose between Howe and Kaye on tour;Welch 2008, p. 109. this, along with Kaye's reported reluctance to play the Mellotron and the Minimoog synthesizer, preferring to stick exclusively to piano and Hammond organ, led to the keyboardist being fired from the band in the summer of 1971. At the time of Kaye's departure, Yes had already found their new keyboardist, Rick Wakeman, a classically trained player who had left the folk rock group Strawbs earlier in the year.
Fragile, was recorded by the new line-up and was released in November 1971, followed by Close to the Edge in September 1972. The growing critical and commercial success of the band was not enough to retain Bruford, who left Yes in the summer of 1972, before the album's release, to join King Crimson. The band considered several possible replacements, including Aynsley Dunbar (who was playing with Frank Zappa at the time), and decided on former Plastic Ono Band drummer Alan White, a friend of Anderson and Offord who had once sat in with the band weeks before Bruford's departure.
Wakeman left the band after the 1973–1974 tour; his solo album Journey to the Centre of the Earth topped the UK charts in May 1974. Several musicians were approached to replace Wakeman, including Vangelis Papathanassiou, Eddie Jobson of Roxy Music and former Atlantis/Cat Stevens keyboardist Jean Roussel. Howe says he also asked Keith Emerson, who did not want to leave Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Yes ultimately chose Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz of Refugee, who arrived in August 1974 during the recording sessions for Relayer.
In late 1976, the band travelled to Switzerland and started recording for their album Going for the One. It was then that Anderson sent early versions of "Going for the One" and "Wonderous Stories" to Wakeman, who felt he could contribute to such material better than the band's past releases. Moraz was let go, after Wakeman was booked, initially on a session musician basis. Upon its release in July 1977, Going for the One topped the UK album charts for two weeks.
After internal tensions,Welch, Musicians Only, 14 June 1980, p. 5. Anderson and Wakeman left Yes in early 1980. Their replacements were keyboardist Geoff Downes and singer Trevor Horn of the Buggles. After releasing Drama and touring in support of it, the group disbanded in March 1981.
1983–2004 At the beginning of 1982, Phil Carson of Atlantic Records introduced Squire and White to guitarist and singer Trevor Rabin, who had initially made his name with the South African supergroup Rabbitt, subsequently releasing three solo albums, working as a record producer and even briefly considering being a member of Asia. The three teamed up in a new band called Cinema, for which Squire also recruited the original Yes keyboard player Tony Kaye. Later in 1982, Cinema entered the studio to record their debut album. Although Rabin and Squire initially shared lead vocals for the project, Trevor Horn was briefly brought into Cinema as a potential singer, but soon opted to become the band's producer instead.
Horn worked well with the band. However, his clashes with Tony Kaye (complicated by the fact that Rabin was playing most of the keyboards during the recording sessions) led to Kaye's departure during the recording, though some of his playing was kept on the final album and he had returned by the time it was released. Meanwhile, Squire encountered Jon Anderson (who, since leaving Yes, had released two solo albums and had success with the Jon and Vangelis project) at a Los Angeles party and played him the Cinema demo tracks. Anderson was invited into the project as lead singer and joined in April 1983 during the last few weeks of the sessions, having comparatively little creative input beyond adding his lead vocals and re-writing some lyrics.
At the suggestion of record company executives, Cinema then changed their name to Yes in June 1983. Yes released their comeback album 90125 in November 1983. Yes began recording for their twelfth album, Big Generator, in 1985, initially with Trevor Horn returning as producer. The sessions underwent many starts and stops due to the use of multiple recording locations in Italy, London and Los Angeles, with interpersonal problems leading to Horn leaving the sessions partway through, all of which kept the album from timely completion (the album was intended for a 1986 release, but by the end of that year it was still incomplete). Eventually Rabin took over final production. The album was released in September 1987.
By the end of 1988, Anderson felt creatively sidelined by Rabin and Squire and had grown tired of the musical direction of the "Yes-West" lineup. He took leave of the band, asserting that he would never stay in Yes purely for the money, and started work in Montserrat on a solo project that eventually involved Wakeman, Howe and Bruford. This collaboration led to suggestions that there would be some kind of reformation of the "classic" Yes, although from the start the project had included bass player Tony Levin, whom Bruford had worked with in King Crimson. The project, rather than taking over or otherwise using the Yes name, was called Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH). Their eponymous album, released in June 1989. ABWH toured in 1989 and 1990 as "An Evening of Yes Music" which featured Levin, keyboardist Julian Colbeck, and guitarist Milton McDonald as support musicians. A live album and home video were recorded and released in 1993, both titled An Evening of Yes Music Plus that featured Jeff Berlin on bass due to Levin suffering from illness.
Following the tour, the group returned to the recording studio to produce their second album, tentatively called Dialogue. After hearing the tracks, Arista Records refused to release the album as they felt the initial mixes were weak.Chambers 2002, p. 112 The "Yes-West" group were working on a follow-up to Big Generator and had been shopping around for a new singer, auditioning Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, Steve Walsh of Kansas, Robbie Nevil of "C'est la Vie" fame, and Billy Sherwood of World Trade. Walsh only spent one day with them, but Sherwood and the band worked well enough together and continued with writing sessions. Arista suggested that the "Yes-West" group, with Anderson on vocals, record four songs to add to the new AWBH album which would then be released under the Yes name. Union was released in April 1991 and is the thirteenth studio album from Yes. Each group played their own songs, with Anderson singing on all tracks. Squire sang background vocals on a few of the ABWH tracks, with Tony Levin playing all the bass on those songs. The album does not feature all eight members playing at once. Almost the entire band have openly stated their dislike of Union.Welch 2008, pp. 324–325 Bruford has disowned the album entirely, and Wakeman was reportedly unable to recognise any of his keyboard work in the final edit and threw his copy of the album out of his limousine.Welch 2008, p. 420 The 1991–1992 Union tour united all eight members on a revolving circular stage. Following the tour's conclusion in 1992, Bruford chose not to remain involved with Yes and returned to his jazz project Earthworks. Howe also ceased his involvement with the band at this time.
The next Yes studio album, as with Union, was masterminded by a record company, rather than by the band itself.Welch 2008, p. 336 Victory Music approached Rabin with a proposal to produce an album solely with the 90125 lineup. Rabin initially countered by requesting that Wakeman also be included. Rabin began assembling the album at his home, using the then-pioneering concept of a digital home studio, and used material written by himself and Anderson. The new album was well into production in 1993, but Wakeman's involvement had finally been cancelled, as his refusal to leave his long-serving management created insuperable legal problems. Talk was released in March 1994 and is the band's fourteenth studio release. The 1994 tour included sideman Billy Sherwood on additional keyboards and guitar.
In November 1995, Anderson, Squire and White resurrected the "classic" 1970s lineup of Yes by inviting Wakeman and Howe back to the band, the Keys to Ascension album included three live shows at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California which were recorded and released, along with the new studio tracks. The Keys to Ascension 2 included the same formatting. Disgruntled at the way a potential studio album had been sacrificed in favour of the Keys to Ascension releases, Wakeman left the group again. With Yes in disarray again, Squire turned to Billy Sherwood (by now the band's engineer) for help. Sherwood's integral involvement with the writing, production, and performance of the music led to his finally joining Yes as a full member (taking on the role of harmony singer, keyboardist and second guitarist). The results of the sessions were released in November 1997 as the seventeenth Yes studio album, Open Your Eyes For the 1997/1998 Open Your Eyes tour, Yes hired Russian keyboard player Igor Khoroshev, who had played on some of the album tracks. By the time the band came to record their eighteenth studio album The Ladder with producer Bruce Fairbairn, Khoroshev had become a full-time member (with Sherwood now concentrating on songwriting, vocal arrangements and second guitar). The Ladder was released in September 1999, peaking at number 36 in the UK and number 99 in the U.S. While on tour, Khoroshev was involved in a backstage incident of sexual assault with a female security guard at Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia on 23 July 2000 and parted company with the band at the end of the tour.