Yes

Yes are a progressive rock band founded in London in 1968.

History
The members of Yes originated from the British beat scene of the '60s. Jon Anderson came from The Warriors, who cut a 45" for Decca in 1964, before playing with Gun in 1967, and he had a pair of solo singles to his name on Parlophone. Anderson met bassist Chris Squire, formerly of the prog band The Syn, and they formed a band shortly afterward. The duo wanted to achieve pop harmony along with a predilection for progressive rock, and that was the operating principle behind the original Yes. In short order, Anderson and Squire recruited Tony Kaye, drummer Bill Bruford, and Squire's The Syn-mate, guitarist Peter Banks.

Yes performed their first gig in October of 1968, playing at London's Speakeasy Club. The next month, they opened for Cream's farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall, which led to a residency at the Marquee Club and an appearance on John Peel's Top Gear radio show. They have released their first single, "Sweetness," in 1969, followed by an eponymous full-length debut in November of that year. These early recordings found them playing half-psychedelic music.

During the recording of their second album, Banks left the group and was replaced by Steve Howe, formerly of Tomorrow, who recorded the successfull "My White Bicycle" track. While he appears on the cover of the second album, Time and a Word, it still features Banks. In fact, Steve only debuted with The Yes Album, a 1971 recording where the group hit their stride. Expanding the style by playing with folk, space rock, and pop, they unveiled several of their signature anthems on The Yes Album, including "Yours Is No Disgrace", "Starship Trooper" and "I've Seen All Good People".

With The Yes Album performing well on both sides of the Atlantic, they toured heavily, and began working on a fourth album. At this point Kaye quit the band and joined Peter Banks in Flash, so Yes temporarily hired Rick Wakeman, who'd previously played with The Strawbs. His nearly Baroque stylings combined with Howe's guitar, the rhythm section of Squire and Bruford, and the vocals of Anderson gave Yes a unique sound, while album designer Roger Dean gave the band a new look. They have released Fragile, an album featuring showcases for each of the musicians along with two of their signatures: the epic songs like "Roundabout", "South Side of the Sky", 	"Long Distance Runaround" and "Heart of the Sunrise", intercut by the other tracks, such as vocal experimentation in "We Have Heaven" and "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" (which the band normally played in an expanded form during their live appearances). Another effort from this era was Simon & Garfunkel's "America" cover. They went on to record the 1972 Close to the Edge, containing only three tracks, two of them being epic suites.

Bruford quite the band and was replaced by Alan White, who was well known for his work with John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band. He debuted during the post-Close to the Edge tour and was first fully involved during the Tales from Topographic Oceans sessions, in 1973. This was a double LP, originally containing only four long tracks. Though it sold well at the time, it still proved divisive, often held up as the peak of prog rock excesses. Wakeman left the band after the following tour and Yes were joined by Patrick Moraz. Together they recorded the 1974 Relayer, which was followed by a break to let the members focus on their individual projects.

Squire, Howe, White, Anderson, and Moraz released their solo works. In the meantime their label, Atlantic, compiled an album of some of their songs, Yesterdays and the Yessongs film had its theatrical released. At the end of 1976 Yes went back to the studio and released Going for the One in 1977, containing epics such as "Turn of the Century" and "Awaken". A year later it was followed by Tormato.

In March 1980 there was an attempt to develop a new studio album, but both Wakeman and Anderson quickly left the sessions. Howe, Squire, and White were joined by Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes — originating from the new wave duo THe Buggles (know for their "Video Killed the Radio Star" hit). The resulting Drama album performed respectably, reaching two in the UK and 18 in the US. Atlantic released a Yesshows live compilation and after a few months the band breakup was announced. Howe and Downes later formed Asia with John Wetton and Carl Palmer.

In the meantime Squire and White formed a new band called Cinema, inviting Tony Kaye and guitarist Trevor Rabin to join. The project didn't get off the ground until Squire asked Anderson to join, but once the vocalist was in place, they have quickly switched their name to Yes. Horn rejoined to produce their new studio work and they finally had the biggest hit song ever — "Owner of a Lonely Heart". With the album, titled 90125, they went mainstream.

With the commercial success of 90125, the sequel, Big Generator, had Trevor Horn leaving the band (though he again produced their new studio effort). There were also legal battles over the group's name. During this time, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe reunited, releasing an album under that name in 1989. They continued to tour with "An Evening of Yes Music" through 1990, and not long afterward, the lawsuit was settled in their favor, followed by Yes reunion in 1991. Comprising Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe, Squire, Kaye, White, and Rabin, this new version of the band released a new album, Union, and the retrospective box set Yesyears in 1991, accompanied by a supporting tour.

Through the '90s and 2000s, their lineup was fluid, with members playing in different contexts either on their own or under the group name. The 1994 album Talk featured Anderson, White, Kaye, Squire, and Trevor Rabin. A year later, Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman, and White — the lineup that constituted Yes in the mid-'70s — reunited for another tour, which resulted in a pair of new albums titled Keys to Ascension, including live material with the new studio recordings. Wakeman left during the recording of this new material, leaving Billy Sherwood — a guitarist who joined the band early in the '90s — as the keyboardist. Billy was featured heavily on 1997's Open Your Eyes, an album which originally started under the Conspiracy moniker, Billy's band featuring Squire. Keyboardist Igor Khoroshev joined for 1999's The Ladder album.

Sherwood left in 2000, followed by Khoroshev, by which time Howe was touring regularly with Yes. Magnification, a 2001 album saw the group recording with an orchestra. Wakeman came back aboard in 2002 for a tour and stayed through their 35th anniversary tour in the mid-2000s. Their second large box set, In a Word, was released in 2002, with the live box The Word Is Live released in 2005.

Howe, Squire, Downes, and White recorded the Trevor Horn-produced Fly from Here, from 2011; it featured Benoit David, a singer from the Yes tribute band. After recording and touring, David was replaced by Jon Davison, who stayed with the band through the mid-2010s, appearing on 2014's Heaven & Earth, produced by Roy Thomas Baker.

Squire died of leukemia in June of 2015, but the band carried on, as he requested. They toured in 2016, playing half of Tales from Topographic Oceans and all of Drama (while Chris was still alive, they started touring performing the entire classic albums); the 2017 live album was titled Topographic Drama: Live Across America. A 50th anniversary tour from 2018 was commemorated with the 2019 release 50 Live.

Discography

 * Studio albums
 * Yes (1969)
 * Time and a Word (1970)
 * The Yes Album (1971)
 * Fragile (1971)
 * Close to the Edge (1972)
 * Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)
 * Relayer (1974)
 * Going for the One (1977)
 * Tormato (1978)
 * Drama (1980)
 * 90125 (1983)
 * Big Generator (1987)
 * Union (1991)
 * Talk (1994)
 * Keys to Ascension (1996)
 * Keys to Ascension 2 (1997)
 * Open Your Eyes (1997)
 * The Ladder (1999)
 * Magnification (2001)
 * Fly from Here (2011)
 * Heaven & Earth (2014)
 * Live albums
 * Yessongs
 * Yesshows
 * 9012Live: The Solos
 * Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969–1970
 * House of Yes: Live from House of Blues
 * Symphonic Live
 * Live at Montreux 2003
 * Songs from Tsongas
 * Union Live
 * In the Present – Live from Lyon
 * Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome
 * Progeny: Highlights from Seventy-Two
 * Like It Is: Yes at the Mesa Arts Center
 * Topographic Drama – Live Across America
 * Yes 50 Live
 * The Royal Affair Tour: Live in Las Vegas

Members

 * Current members
 * Steve Howe – guitars, backing vocals (1970–1981, 1990–1992, 1995–present)
 * Alan White – drums, percussion, backing vocals, piano (1972–1981, 1983–present)
 * Jon Davison – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, keyboards (2012–present)
 * Billy Sherwood – bass guitar (2015–present), backing vocals (1997–2000, 2015–present), guitars (1997–2000), keyboards (1997-1998); touring member in 1994
 * Geoff Downes – keyboards, backing vocals (1980–1981, 2011–present)


 * Former members
 * Chris Squire – bass guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1968–1981, 1983–2015, his death)
 * Jon Anderson – lead and backing vocals, guitar, percussion (1968–1980, 1983–1988, 1990–2008)
 * Bill Bruford – drums, percussion (1968–September 1968, November 1968–1972, 1990–1992)
 * Rick Wakeman – keyboards (1971–1974, 1976–1980, 1990–1992, 1995–1997, 2002–2004)
 * Tony Kaye – keyboards, backing vocals (1968–1971, 1983, 1984–1994; touring member in 2018–2019)
 * Peter Banks – guitar, backing vocals (1968–1970, † 2013)
 * Patrick Moraz – keyboards (1974–1976, touring member in 2018)
 * Trevor Horn – lead vocals (1980–1981, 2018)
 * Trevor Rabin – guitars, lead and backing vocals, keyboards (1983–1989, 1990–1994)
 * Eddie Jobson – keyboards (1983)
 * Benoît David – lead vocals, acoustic guitar (2008–2012)
 * Oliver Wakeman – keyboards, backing vocals (2008–2011)
 * Tony O'Reilly – drums (September–November 1968)
 * Igor Khoroshev – keyboards, backing vocals (1997–2000)


 * Additional live musicians
 * Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing vocals (2001)
 * Jay Schellen – drums, percussion (2016–2017, 2018–present)
 * Dylan Howe – drums (2017)