Alan White

Alan White (14 June 1949 – 26 May 2022) was an English drummer, best known for his almost 50-year tenure in the progressive rock band Yes. He joined Yes in 1972 as a replacement for original drummer Bill Bruford. He was the longest-serving member of the band, and one of just two members (with founding bassist Chris Squire) whose tenure ceased only with his death.

In 1969, White joined John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band after Lennon invited him to play at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, followed by a show at the Lyceum Ballroom. He played drums on the singles "Instant Karma!" and "Imagine", as well as most of Lennon's 1971 Imagine album.

In addition to his work with Yes and John Lennon, White also released a solo album, Ramshackled (1976), and performed on over 50 albums by other musicians, including George Harrison, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Terry Reid, Joe Cocker and The Ventures. His thunderous playing was directly sampled as the drum basis of the hit Art of Noise singles "Beat Box" and "Close (to the Edit)".

White was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes in 2017.

White was born in the village of Pelton, County Durham, England. His father, who played the piano in local pubs, had various jobs, working as a clerk, shopkeeper, lorry driver and bus driver. His grandfather played the piano and his uncle was a drummer in local dance bands. White attended a technical school and, at the age of seven, moved to the nearby town of Ferryhill, where he spent the rest of his childhood. At age six, White began to take piano lessons, playing the instrument "very percussively", which his uncle noticed and informed his parents who bought him an Ajax drum kit for Christmas when he was twelve. White named his uncle as a big influence. White felt he was pushed to learn and play like his drum instructor and wished "to be more individual" on the instrument, so he began to develop his own style. His parents went on to buy him a metallic silver Ludwig kit.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.