Hugely successful Pomp Progressive Rock act with a complex individual sound graced by vocalist JON ANDERSON's almost cherubic vocals. In their time YES have amazed fans and media alike with grandiose stage shows and overblown, at times even pompous, albums. During the early seventies they became a favourite of students, taking this generation with them into the following decade and beyond. YES, despite their emphasis on accomplished musicianship have proven highly commercial over their lengthy career selling millions of albums.

YES was formed in London during 1968 by the Accrington born ex-THE WARRIORS vocalist JON ANDERSON and erstwhile SYN bassist Chris Squire. Anderson, holding down a day job as a cleaner at La Chasse in London, also held credits with GUN and had issued a brace of solo singles for Parlophone. They soon added former SYN and MABEL'S GREEN TOY SHOP guitarist PETER BANKS, ex-FEDERALS and BITTER SWEET keyboard player Tony Kaye and ex-PAPER BLITZ TISSUE and SAVOY BROWN drummer Bill Bruford.

The band's first break came in October of 1968 with a gig at Speakeasy Club in London, replacing a cancelling SLY & THE FAMILY STONE upon the recommendation of THE NICE manager Tony Stratton-Smith. Their ascendancy on the capital's live scene would be rapid. The following month they were then handpicked to act as the opening band for CREAM's farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall and soon after gained a valuable residency at Wardour Street's famous Marquee Club. National recognition was afforded by a Radio One session for DJ John Peel on his 'Top Gear' show and in April of 1969 YES found themselves at the Royal Albert Hall again, lending support to JANIS JOPLIN. With record company interest at a fever pitch the group duly signed with Atlantic Records.

YES debuted with the 'Sweetness' single acting as a taster for the eponymous November 1969 album. As a harbinger of what was to come the Paul Clay produced 'Yes' ploughed a distinctly unique furrow to the other Progressive Rock bands of the day blending an almost Folk and classical approach to Rock with distinctive angelic harmonies. The opening track 'Beyond And Before' would, by their later standards, come across as a basic Rocker, but dipping into a rendition of THE BYRDS 'I See You' the band displayed Jazz technicians PETER BANKS and BILL BRUFORD's abilities to the fore. YES also bravely took THE BEATLES 'Every Little Thing' into a whole new realm.

The partly orchestrated 1970 album 'Time And A Word', produced by Tony Colton and engineered by Eddie Offord, often thought of by fans as a transitional offering, saw writing credits for the title track and 'Sweet Dreams' going to DAVID FOSTER, a former colleague of Anderson's in THE WARRIORS. 'Time And A Word' opened with the Richie Havens penned 'No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed', which incorporated the theme from 'The Big Country' movie.

Even before 'Time And A Word' had reached the record stores Banks had been superseded by former TOMORROW, BODAST and SYNDICATS guitarist STEVE HOWE. As such, although Banks performs on the record it is Howe who is featured on the album sleeve. Kaye was supplanted by former STRAWBS and WARHORSE man RICK WAKEMAN. Banks and Kaye stayed together scoring hits in America with their band FLASH. Banks then pursued a solo career and an abortive group EMPIRE. Kaye teamed up with BADGER with DAVID FOSTER, continued the YES connection with their debut live album being produced by JON ANDERSON. Kaye then later joined BADFINGER in 1978.

In March of 1971 'The Yes Album', produced by the band and Eddie Offord, was launched, seeing 'I've Seen Good People' cracking both US and UK radio. A breakthrough album, the record hosted concert favourites 'Perpetual Change' and 'Yours Is No Disgrace' and 'Starship Trooper'. The follow up, 'Fragile', was an important staging post in the band's career. Not only was it the debut of RICK WAKEMAN's grandiose contributions, employing an arsenal of organ, synthesizer, piano, harpsichord, and mellotron, but also the first to be clad in artwork by Roger Dean, a visual abettor to the next stage of the YES success story. Dean's YES album covers, depicting lavish fantasy realms, went beyond packaging and placed the band's product into that of cultural iconography. So successful was this partnership that the landscapes conjured up by Dean would be interpretated into some of the seventies most monumental stage sets. Musically, 'Fragile', reaped in literally millions of new fans drawn in by the mystique of the band as well as the lure of radio hit 'Roundabout'.

Bruford left to join KING CRIMSON in late 1972 and later GENESIS. He was replaced by Alan White, a musician who had previously worked with John Lennon. Erstwhile REFUGEE keyboardist Patrick Moraz replaced Wakeman in 1974 before Wakeman was reinstated in 1976. However, Wakeman was to enjoy prolific activity with a seemingly uninterrupted stream of solo albums and tours.

Wakeman and Anderson quit in 1980 and were replaced by former BUGGLES guitarist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes much to the utter dismay of long term fans of the band. Nevertheless, the resulting album 'Drama' sold well but YES disbanded later that year. Howe and Downes formed ASIA, another multi-platinum act.

During April of 1981 Squire and White came close to forging what would have been a band truly meriting the description of 'Supergroup'. The duo began rehearsals for a projected band titled XYZ ('Ex YES, ex ZEPPELIN') in union with no less than guitarist JIMMY PAGE of LED ZEPPELIN fame. Nearly a whole album's worth of demo material was laid down on tape but the project was ultimately nixed by LED ZEPPELIN vocalist ROBERT PLANT who felt the direction too be too involved. The erstwhile YES duo then attempted to forge a fresh act CAMERA in league with Tony Kaye, this unit getting as far as a November 1981 single release 'Run With The Fox'.

In 1983 the CINEMA project involved Kaye, Squire, White and South African ex RABBIT guitarist TREVOR RABIN, the latter also handling lead vocals. Although relatively unknown in the UK and USA, despite a set of commendable solo outings such as 'Wolf', Rabin, an accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist, had already achieved genuine superstar status in his homeland. Kaye soon decamped and was replaced for a brief period by Eddie Jobson until Rabin took over all keyboard orientated work. Horn was retained as producer and with new impetus and an alarmingly up to date sound CINEMA laid down the '90125' album. Once the new record was complete a suggestion to have JON ANDERSON re-record the lead vocals and turn CINEMA into YES became a natural path to follow.

YES went onto renewed chart success with the '90125' album and it's Rabin penned American number 1 single 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'. The album ambitiously displayed new sides to YES from the distinctly Hard Rock sound of 'Hold On', the acappella 'Leave It', to the almost Dance direction of 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'. Originally slated to be called 'The New Yes Album' the title was later switched to that of the record's proposed catalogue number. Unfortunately for the band the 90125 catalogue number was allocated to another band. Nevertheless, '90125' would sell over 8 million copies becoming the band's biggest seller to date. Creatively too this union gave YES somewhat of a renaissance and another fine album 'Big Generator' followed.

JON ANDERSON had quit YES for a second time after their 1987 / '88 world tour. Uniting in Montserrat for a planned recordings with the singer Bruford was apparantly quite taken aback that RICK WAKEMAN and Howe were also in attendance. KING CRIMSON bassist Tony Levin was enlisted for the album sessions.

The band had been conceived in an attempt to revive the original spirit of the 70s era YES but the then present day members TREVOR RABIN, Tony Kaye, Alan White and Chris Squire filed a lawsuit against the quartet forbidding any mention of the term 'YES'. There was even an attempt to prevent Anderson ever mentioning he had been a member of YES! The remaining band members at first opted to pull in a new frontman to replace Anderson and discussions were held with former WISHBONE ASH man Mervyn Spence. These plans were scotched when Rabin decided to assume the role.

A world tour was billed as 'An Evening Of Yes Music' as the album reached gold status in America. On these two hour shows each musician performed a fifteen minute solo spot and the set was punctuated with a twenty minute interval. The shows featured new versions of ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE songs as well as classic YES highlights.

Indeed, the album sounded more like YES than the 'Big Generator' album that the then incarnation of the legendary group was offering at the time.

After the tour the band reconvened in France to lay down a projected second album. The record company had other ideas though and forced a YES reunion with the end results being the 'Union' record. Whilst Bruford wound up back in the rejuvenated KING CRIMSON, Anderson, Howe and Wakeman all re-joined YES.

1993 saw discussions taking place between the members of YES and former colleague PETER BANKS for a projected reunion. Banks, however, was to maintain his solo career.

Signing to Victory Records Rabin produced 1994 'Talk' album which saw the reformation of the Rabin/ Anderson / Squire / Kaye / White line up. Touring began in Mexico before the band concentrated on America during the summer months.

1997 YES had been a going entity for over 30 years and with the warm reception granted the 'Keys To Ascension' live sets a new studio album was in the offing. Wakeman felt unable to participate this time around so Anderson, Squire, Howe and White were joined by LODGIC and WORLD TRADE guitarist Billy Sherwood. The resulting album 'Open Your Eyes' was initially started as a Squire/ Sherwood collaboration until the material so obviously lent itself to Anderson's vocals a quick decision was taken to issue it under the YES banner as with renewed enthusiasm the band eagerly took to an American theatre tour.

In 1998 erstwhile guitarist Peter Banks oversaw the release of a set of archive recordings recorded for the BBC in the band's formative years. 'Somethings Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969-1970' provided a wealth of rare material for fans including a version of BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD's 'Everydays'.

RICK WAKEMAN rejoined the band in April of 2002. The band's 'Magnification' studio release would see a Japanese issue complete with two extra tracks, 'Don't Go' and 'Magnification', both recorded live in Amsterdam during 2001. That same year a clutch of YES players, Tony Kaye, Alan White, Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood, featured on the PINK FLOYD tribute album 'Pigs & Pyramids'.

Intriguingly TREVOR RABIN issued an album entitled '90124' through the Voiceprint label in February of 2003. This record, which mimicked the famous YES '90125' artwork, comprised tracks recorded back in 1983 and originally intended for a solo album. The songs remained archived due to Rabin's induction into YES and this retrospective album gave public airing to material later used by the band, such as original versions of 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' and 'Changes'. Meantime YES themselves had a set of early 2003 dates postponed due to JON ANDERSON suffering an accident over the Christmas period, damaging 3 vertebrae in his spine.

Chris Squire and former YES man Billy Sherwood cut a project album 'The Unknown' credited to CONSPIRACY in 2003, utilising the services of HURRICANE's Jay Schellen on drums.

To mark the band's 35th Anniversary the prestigious 'Billboard' music industry trade magazine issued a special celebration issue, which quickly sold out. An accompanying compilation album 'The Ultimate Yes - 35th Anniversary Collection' included a brand new song entitled 'Show Me' plus four newly recorded acoustic numbers. A DVD documentary release, 'Yespeak', featured footage from the 2003 European 'Full Circle' tour. YES undertook a suitably mammoth and grandiose tour of the USA in the Summer of 2004, commencing 15th April in Seattle, Washington, featuring an elaborate new stage set designed by Roger Dean. European gigs kicked off on 2nd June in Helsinki, Finland. Perhaps most worthy of all these varied activities would be the College of Southern Idaho's decision to offer a full time educational course in 'Yesology'!

YES extended their 2004 tour schedule by partnering with DREAM THEATER for an Autumn run of US dates. In November a near '90125' era YES re-united for a one off show at Wembley in London to celebrate producer Trevor Horn's 25th anniversary in the music business. GEOFF DOWNES, TREVOR RABIN, STEVE HOWE, Chris Squire and Alan White performed 'Cinema' and 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'. The latter track was given a renewed lease of life when a dance version became a major hit across Europe in early 2005.

JON ANDERSON would also find himself in an on screen project, as part of the 2005 'Rock School' documentary chronicling the pioneering work of Paul Green's School Of Rock Music in Philadelphia. Anderson fronted up a version of 'Heart Of The Sunrise' backed by musicians from the school. Meantime, YES drummer Alan White, in union with former YES keyboard player GEOFF DOWNES and including Steve Boyce, Karl Haug and Kevin Curry, founded WHITE. This unit partnered with YES associates STEVE HOWE and Chris Squire's THE SYN for collaborative touring. Another endeavour of Squire's would be the launch of a new record label, Umbrello Entertainment Group PLC, in collaboration with his SYN colleague Stephen Nardelli.