Yes are an English rock band who achieved success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. They are distinguished by their use of mystical and cosmic lyrics, live stage sets and lengthy compositions, often with complex instrumental and vocal arrangements. The band's current line-up since February 2012 consists of singer Jon Davison, guitarist Steve Howe, bass guitarist Chris Squire, keyboardist Geoff Downes, and drummer Alan White.
Squire formed Yes in 1968 with singer Jon Anderson. Squire and guitarist Peter Banks had played together in The Syn and then Mabel Greer's Toyshop. Anderson and later drummer Bill Bruford joined a line-up of Mabel Greer's Toyshop, which evolved into Yes. Keyboardist Tony Kaye completed the first Yes line-up. Their early sets were a mix of original material and cover versions.
The 1970s saw Yes release the albums that are widely viewed as their creative peak: The Yes Album, Fragile (both in 1971), Close to the Edge (1972), Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973), Relayer (1974) and Going for the One (1977). For most of this period, the band included Anderson, Squire, Howe (who replaced Banks in 1970), Rick Wakeman on keyboards and Bruford, or later Alan White, on drums; Kaye and Patrick Moraz each play keyboards on one of these albums. After the public and critical failure of Tormato (1978) and the rise of punk rock, Anderson and Wakeman left the band in 1980; Squire, Howe and White recorded Drama with Downes and new vocalist Trevor Horn, both also members of The Buggles. The band disbanded in December 1980, with Howe and Downes subsequently creating Asia.
Yes reformed in 1983 with Anderson, Squire, White, a returning Kaye, and singer and guitarist Trevor Rabin, adopting a more pop rock sound. Their sales peaked across the decade with 90125 (1983), which spawned the US number one single "Owner of a Lonely Heart", and Big Generator (1987). The tour in support of Union (1991), which amalgamated members of Yes and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, was a commercial success that featured an eight-man line-up (instead of a quintet). Subsequent albums and singles have sold less well.
The band toured almost constantly between 1997 and 2004, including both 30th and 35th anniversary shows, also releasing the albums Open Your Eyes (1997), The Ladder (1999), and Magnification (2001) during this period. After a four-year hiatus, Yes resumed touring, replacing Anderson with Benoît David and Wakeman with his son Oliver Wakeman due to health issues. In 2011 they released Fly from Here featuring Downes, who returned on keyboards after 30 years. The following year David left the band due to illness and was replaced by Jon Davison, also of Glass Hammer. The band's twenty-first studio album Heaven & Earth, their first album with Davison, was released in July 2014.
Yes are one of the most popular, influential and critically acclaimed acts in the history of the progressive genre, and have influenced bands such as Dream Theater and Rush.