The Life of Jon Anderson & Yes

Jon Anderson with ukulele 2.jpg
October 25 marked Jon Anderson's 70th birthday, and even though he is no longer with Yes, the legacy he has left behind is worth going through.

How did it all come in the first place?

 It all started "way back when in '67," when the late Chris Squire and Peter Banks joined Clive Bayley and Bob Haggart in a band called Mabel Greer's Toy Shop. For as much exposure as possible, they played in London's club circuit mostly at the Marquee Club. It was one fateful evening that Jack Barrie, owner of the nearby La Chasse club and bar, came to see the band and brought over his employee, Jon Anderson. Anderson and Squire quickly found a thirst for vocal harmonies in the likes of Simon & Garfunkel and in their first week of knowing each other, they composed the song Sweetness, which made the cut on Yes' self-titled debut record the following year.

During this time, Peter Banks temporarily left to join the flickering Neat Change, but was dismissed from there, and so returned to Mabel Greer's Toy Shop. It was then that Bill Bruford replaced Haggart after the former had placed an ad to start their own band. Finally, organist/pianist Tony Kaye came onboard and at the discretion of Banks, the band chose the name Yes, considering it would "stand out and sound good."

A Taste of Fame:

By the early 70s, the band began to really taste fame. It was during this time that they recruited three enduring members, guitarist Steve Howe in 1970, who added baritone to Anderson and Squire's high-pitched vocals, keyboardist Rick Wakeman (Kaye was kicked out in the fall of '71 due to his reluctance to take on emerging electronics such as the Melotron or the synthesizer). It was then also that the band released one of their best albums yet.

With 1972's Close to the Edge, Bruford quit the band to join King Crimson in the fall. This signaled the entrance of long-timer Alan White. Yes kept going peaking with 1977's Going for The One and 1978's Tormato, before turmoil ensued in 1979 during recording sessions in Paris with Queen's Roy Thomas Baker.

Back with a Vengance...

 Yes got knocked down, but sure didn't stay down. In 1982, Alan White and Chris Squire met South African guitarist and singer-songwritter Trevor Rabin of Rabbit fame. The power trio came together calling themselves Cinema (at that point, there was never an intention to ever restore Yes). During this time Anderson had a brief stint with Vangelis as Jon & Vangelis. He came back on in late '82 as did aluminus Tony Kaye to record 90125 (NOT A REFERENCE TO BEVERLY HILLS, 90210), which featured, in my opinion, their signature song, Owner of a Lonely Heart, and with a more "poppy" sound, helped expand their fanbase.

Another Venture for Anderson:

 In the late 1980s, Anderson became done and over with the Rabin-led Yes and longed to reform the "classic Yes." On vacation in Montesserat, he composed songs with Howe and eventually let to Bruford and Wakeman joining. The quartet picked Tony Levin of King Crimson fame as a side bass player and went under the name of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe (ABWH).

While their self-titled album was a modest success, their second LP, Dialogue, was aborted as the higher-ups at Arista wanted them to look to outside songwritters. Anderson got a hold of Rabin who sent four songs, stating Yes could only get one. The higher-ups at Arista didn't get their way here, and as luck would have it, by the early 90s, Yes were back together and recorded Union (1991). This record features all eight prominent members thus far (albeit not all of them at the same time), and is practically a "mergr" of the Rabin-led Yes and ABWH material. In the mid-90s, Yes began working with multi-instrumentalist Billy Sherwood who is their current bass player

Anderson quit Yes in 2008, after he was required to rest his voice for six months, leading Yes to abort their Close to the Edge...and Back 40th Anniversary tour.

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