Yes is an English rock band that achieved great success through their progressive, art-based, and symphonic rock music. Their use of long compositions and complex vocal and instrumental arrangements, as well as mystical and cosmic lyrics, are what distinguish them. Since February 2012, the current lineup of the band includes Jon Davison as singer, Steve Howe as guitarist, Chris Squire as bass guitarist, Geoff Downes and Alan White, drummer. Squire and Jon Anderson formed Yes in 1968. Peter Banks, Squire’s guitarist, had previously played in The Syn and Mabel Greer’s Toyshop. Anderson, later drummer Bill Bruford, joined a later Mabel Greer’s Toyshop line-up that evolved into Yes. The first Yes line-up was completed by Tony Kaye, keyboardist. The band’s early sets featured original material as well as covers by other artists. Yes was at their most creative in the progressive music genre in the 1970s. Among them were Anderson, Squire and Howe, Kaye and Bruford. Keyboardists Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz, and drummer Alan White were all part of the band’s line ups. They produced what many critics call their best works: The Yes Album and Fragile (both 1971), Close to the Edge (1972), Tales from Topographic Oceans(73), Relayer (1974), and Going for the One (1977). In 1980, Anderson and Wakeman resigned from the band. The album Drama with Downes and Trevor Horn was released. The band broke up in 1981. Downes and Howes then created Asia. Yes was reformed with Anderson, Squire and White, the original keyboardist Kaye, and Trevor Rabin as guitarists. They adopted a pop-rock sound. The decade saw their sales peak with 90125 (1983), the US number-one single “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and Big Generator (1987). Union (1991) was a tour that featured an eight-man lineup (instead a quintet). The singles and albums that followed were less successful. Between 1997 and 2004, the band toured around the world, including their 35th and 30th anniversary shows. After a four year hiatus caused by health problems from Anderson and Wakeman (and subsequently replacing them with Benoit Dave and Oliver Wakeman), Yes returned to touring. Fly from Here was released in 2011 featuring Downes. David, who had been with the band for 30 years, left the band the following year due to illness. Jon Davison, from Glass Hammer, replaced him. Yes is one of the most influential, popular and critically acclaimed bands in the history progressive music. They have had a profound influence on artists like Dream Theater and Rush. [4] Nineteen of their twenty studio albums reached the top ten on the US or UK charts. Two reached the number one spot in Britain. In the US, they have sold 13.5million certified units. From Wikipedia
