Yes

Yes are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968. Having featured 20 full-time musicians across their history, their most notable members include lead singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, guitarists Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin, drummers Bill Bruford and Alan White, and keyboardists Tony Kaye and Rick Wakeman, who represented Yes when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Widely regarded as progressive rock pioneers, the group have explored several musical styles and remain one of the most successful, influential, and longest-lasting acts in the genre. Their discography spans 25 studio albums, with 13.5 million Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified albums sold in the United States and more than 30 million worldwide.Founded by Anderson, Squire, Bruford, Kaye, and guitarist Peter Banks, Yes began performing a mix of original songs and covers spanning rock, pop, blues, and jazz, as showcased on their first two albums, Yes (1969) and Time and a Word (1970). A change of direction in 1970 following the replacement of Banks with Howe led to a series of celebrated progressive rock albums, including four consecutive US platinum or multi-platinum sellers: The Yes Album (1971); Fragile (1971), which included the hit single "Roundabout"; Close to the Edge (1972); and the live album Yessongs (1973). Subsequent releases, including Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973), Going for the One (1977), and Tormato (1978), also achieved major commercial success. Yes earned a reputation for their elaborate stage sets, light displays, and iconic album covers designed by Roger Dean. Personnel shifted frequently during this era; following the 1980 departures of Anderson and Wakeman, Yes recruited keyboardist Geoff Downes and singer Trevor Horn of the Buggles for the album Drama (1980) before the group dissolved the following year.In 1983, Squire, White, Anderson, Kaye, and Rabin reformed Yes. Rabin's songwriting moved the group toward a mainstream pop-rock sound, resulting in their highest-selling album, 90125 (1983). This release featured the group's only US number-one single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart", and won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track "Cinema". The follow-up album, Big Generator (1987), was also successful. In 1989, the offshoot group Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe formed and released a self-titled album. At the suggestion of their record company, both factions merged into a short-lived eight-piece line-up for Union (1991) and its corresponding tour. Yes continued to tour regularly and release albums—including the symphonically backed Magnification (2001)—before entering a temporary hiatus in 2004.Following the cancellation of a 2008 tour due to Anderson's health, Yes enlisted Benoît David as their new lead singer and resumed activity. Jon Davison replaced David in 2012. Squire died in 2015, leaving the band with no remaining original members. Three former members toured separately as Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman from 2016 to 2018. White, the longest-tenured member at the time, died in 2022. Since February 2023, the band's line-up has consisted of Howe, Downes, Davison, bassist Billy Sherwood, and drummer Jay Schellen. Their latest studio album, Aurora, was released in June 2026.In late 1967, bassist Chris Squire and guitarist Peter Banks, both formerly of the Syn, joined the psychedelic rock band Mabel Greer's Toyshop, which had been formed in 1966 by Clive Bayley and Robert Hagger. They played at the Marquee Club in Soho, London where Jack Barrie, owner of the nearby La Chasse club, saw them perform. He later recalled: "the musicianship was very good but it was obvious they weren't going anywhere". Barrie introduced Squire to singer Jon Anderson, a worker at the bar in La Chasse, who found they shared interests in Simon & Garfunkel and harmony singing. That evening they wrote "Sweetness", which was included on the first Yes album, and Anderson joined as lead vocalist. During this time, the band rehearsed in the basement of The Lucky Horseshoe cafe on Shaftesbury Avenue between 10 June and 9 July 1968. In June 1968, Hagger was replaced by Bill Bruford, who had placed an advertisement in Melody Maker, while in July the classically trained organist and pianist Tony Kaye, of Johnny Taylor's Star Combo and the Federals, became the keyboardist. Meanwhile, Banks had left Mabel Greer's Toyshop to join Neat Change, but he was dismissed by this group on 14 July 1968 and was recalled by Squire, replacing Bayley as guitarist.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.