Yes

Yes came together in London in 1968: Jon Anderson singing, Chris Squire on bass, Bill Bruford on drums, Tony Kaye on keyboards and Peter Banks on guitar, playing a mix of their own songs and covers that wandered across rock, pop, blues and jazz on the first 2 albums. Then in 1970 Steve Howe replaced Banks, and the band pointed itself at the stars.

What followed was a run of celebrated progressive rock records. The Yes Album in 1971 brought "Yours Is No Disgrace" and "I've Seen All Good People", and Rick Wakeman took over the keyboards from Kaye in 1971, the year of Fragile, which had "Roundabout", "Heart of the Sunrise" and "Long Distance Runaround". Close to the Edge came in 1972, and Alan White took over from Bruford on drums. It is music built like a cathedral: Anderson's choirboy voice soaring on top, Squire's bass snarling through the middle like a lead instrument, Howe's guitar darting between everything and Wakeman's keyboards filling the vaults. The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge and the live Yessongs all went platinum or better in the US, and Tales from Topographic Oceans, Going for the One and Tormato kept selling. The stage shows had elaborate sets and lights, and Roger Dean's cover paintings became part of the package.

The lineup never sat still. Patrick Moraz passed through between Wakeman's stints in the mid-'70s, and in 1980 Anderson and Wakeman walked, replaced by Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn of the Buggles for Drama, after which the band came apart the following year. In 1983 Squire, White, Anderson and Kaye regrouped with guitarist Trevor Rabin, whose songwriting steered them toward sleek pop-rock on 90125, their biggest seller, with "Owner of a Lonely Heart" as their only US number-one single and "Cinema" winning a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Big Generator did well in 1987, and in 1991 the band merged with the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe offshoot into an 8-man lineup for Union.

Squire died in 2015, leaving no founders in the band, and White, by then the longest-serving member, died in 2022. Since February 2023 the lineup has been Howe, Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen, and their latest album, Aurora, came out in June 2026. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2017, and on the countdowns "Roundabout" still spins the fastest.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.