1968–1970: Formation, first album and Time and a Word 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. Having considered the experience of Mabel Greer's Toyshop concluded, the group exchanged ideas for a new name. Sources disagree on the origin of the name, but generally attribute it to Banks. According to the
Financial Times, Anderson suggested "Life" and Squire thought of "World"; Banks said simply, "Yes", and that was how the band was named. Early sets were formed of cover songs from artists such as
the Beatles,
The 5th Dimension and
Traffic. On 16 September, Yes performed at Blaise's club in London as a substitute for
Sly and the Family Stone, who had failed to turn up. They were well received by the audience, including the host
Roy Flynn, who became the band's manager that night. That month, Bruford decided to quit performing to study at the
University of Leeds. His replacement, Tony O'Reilly of
the Koobas, struggled to perform with the rest of the group on stage and former Warriors and future
King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace subbed for one gig on 5 November 1968. After Bruford was refused a year's sabbatical leave from Leeds, Anderson and Squire convinced him to return for Yes's supporting slot for
Cream's farewell concert at the
Royal Albert Hall on 26 November. After seeing an early
King Crimson gig in 1969, Yes realised that there was suddenly stiff competition on the London gigging circuit, and they needed to be much more technically proficient, starting regular rehearsals. They subsequently signed a deal with
Atlantic Records, and, that August, released their debut album
Yes. Compiled of mostly original material, the record includes renditions of "
Every Little Thing" by the Beatles and "I See You" by
The Byrds. Although the album failed to break into the UK album charts,
Rolling Stone critic
Lester Bangs complimented the album's "sense of style, taste and subtlety".
Melody Maker columnist Tony Wilson chose Yes and
Led Zeppelin as the two bands "most likely to succeed". Following a tour of Scandinavia with
Faces, Yes performed a solo concert at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall on 21 March 1970. The second half consisted of excerpts from their second album
Time and a Word, accompanied by a 20-piece youth orchestra. Banks left the group on 18 April 1970, just three months before the album's release. Having expressed dissatisfaction with the idea of recording with an orchestra as well as the sacking of Flynn earlier in the year, Banks later indicated that he was fired by Anderson and Squire, and that Kaye and Bruford had no prior knowledge that it would be happening. Banks' replacement was
Tomorrow guitarist
Steve Howe, who appears in the photograph of the group on the American issue despite not having played on it.
1970–1974: The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge and Tales from Topographic Oceans The band retreated to a rented farmhouse in
Devon to write and rehearse new songs for their following album. Howe established himself as an integral part of the group's sound with his
Gibson ES-175 and variety of acoustic guitars. With producer and engineer
Eddy Offord, recording sessions lasted as long as 12 hours with each track being assembled from small sections at a time, which were pieced together to form a complete track. The band would then learn to play the song through after the final mix was complete. Released in February 1971,
The Yes Album peaked at number 4 in the UK led to the keyboardist being fired from the band in the summer of 1971. Anderson recalled in a 2019 interview: "Steve and Chris came over and said, 'Look, Tony Kaye... great guy.' But, you know, we'd just seen
Rick Wakeman about a month earlier. And I said, 'There's that Rick Wakeman guy,' and we've got to get on with life and move on, you know, rather than keep going on, set in the same circle. And that's what happens with a band." Wakeman, a classically trained player who had left the folk rock group
Strawbs earlier in the year, was already a noted studio musician, with credits including
T. Rex,
David Bowie,
Cat Stevens and
Elton John. Squire commented that he could play "a grand piano for three bars, a Mellotron for two bars and a Moog for the next one absolutely spot on", which gave Yes the orchestral and choral textures that befitted their new material. Released on 12 November 1971, the band's fourth album
Fragile showcased their growing interest in the structures of classical music, with an excerpt of
The Firebird by
Igor Stravinsky being played at the start of their concerts since the album's
1971–1972 tour. Each member performed a solo track on the album, and it marked the start of their long collaboration with artist
Roger Dean, who designed the
group's logo, album art and stage sets.
Fragile peaked at number 7 in the UK after it was released there in January 1972, and was their first record to reach the top ten in North America. A shorter version of the opening track, "
Roundabout", was released as a single that peaked at number 13 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The track subsequently appeared on
The New Age of Atlantic, a 1972 compilation album of several bands signed to Atlantic Records, and again in the 1975 compilation
Yesterdays. Released in September 1972,
Close to the Edge, the band's fifth album, was their most ambitious work so far. At 19 minutes, the
title track took up an entire side on the vinyl record and combined elements of classical music, psychedelic rock, pop and jazz. The album reached number 3 in the US and decided on former
Plastic Ono Band drummer
Alan White, a friend of Anderson and Offord who had once sat in with the band weeks before Bruford's departure. White learned the band's repertoire in three days before embarking on their
1972–1973 tour. By this point, Yes were beginning to enjoy worldwide commercial and critical success. Their early touring with White was featured on
Yessongs, a triple live album released in May 1973 that documented shows from 1972. The album reached number 7 in the UK It marked a change in their fortunes and polarised fans and critics alike. The double vinyl set was based on Anderson's interpretation of the
Shastric scriptures from a footnote within
Paramahansa Yogananda's book
Autobiography of a Yogi. The album became the first LP in the UK to ship gold before the record arrived at retailers. It went on to
top the UK charts for two weeks He felt sections were "bled to death" and contained too much musical padding. Wakeman left the band after the
1973–1974 tour; his solo album
Journey to the Centre of the Earth topped the UK charts in May 1974. The tour included five consecutive sold-out shows at the Rainbow Theatre, the first time a rock band achieved this.
1974–1980: Relayer, Going for the One, Tormato and the Paris sessions Several musicians were approached to replace Wakeman, including
Vangelis Papathanassiou,
Eddie Jobson of
Roxy Music and former Atlantis/Cat Stevens keyboardist
Jean Roussel. Howe says he also asked
Keith Emerson, who did not want to leave
Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Yes ultimately chose Swiss keyboardist
Patrick Moraz of
Refugee, who arrived in August 1974 during the recording sessions for
Relayer, which took place at Squire's home in
Virginia Water, Surrey. Released in November that year,
Relayer showcased a
jazz fusion-influenced direction the band were pursuing. The album features the 22-minute track titled "
The Gates of Delirium", which highlights a battle initially inspired by
War and Peace by
Leo Tolstoy. Its closing section, "Soon", was subsequently released as a single. The album reached No. 4 in the UK ,
Jon Anderson,
Chris Squire,
Alan White, and
Patrick Moraz Between 1975 and 1976, each member of the band released a solo album. Their subsequent
1976 tour of North America with
Peter Frampton featured some of the band's most-attended shows. The show of 12 June, also supported by
Gary Wright and
Pousette-Dart Band at
John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, attracted over 100,000 people.Roger Dean's brother Martyn was the main designer behind the tour's "Crab Nebula" stage set, while Roger and fabric designer Felicity Youette provided the backgrounds. In late 1976, the band travelled to Switzerland and started recording for their album
Going for the One at
Mountain Studios,
Montreux. It was then that Anderson sent early versions of "Going for the One" and "
Wonderous Stories" to Wakeman, who felt he could contribute to such material better than the band's past releases. Moraz was let go, after Wakeman was booked initially on a session musician basis, before being convinced by Squire to re-join the band full time. Upon its release in July 1977,
Going for the One topped the UK album charts for two weeks Wakeman replaced his Mellotrons with the
Birotron, a
tape replay keyboard, and Squire experimented with harmonisers and
Mu-tron pedals with his bass. Production was handled collectively by the band and saw disagreements at the mixing stage among the members. With heavy commercial rock-radio airplay, the album reached number 8 in the UK When the band, minus Wakeman (who had only committed to recording keyboard overdubs once new material would be ready to record), reconvened in February to resume work on the project, their growing musical differences, combined with internal dissension, obstructed progress. Journalist Chris Welch, after attending a rehearsal, noted that Anderson "was singing without his usual conviction and seemed disinclined to talk". By late March, Howe, Squire and White had begun demoing material as an instrumental trio, increasingly uncertain about Anderson's future involvement. Eventually, a serious band dispute over finance saw Anderson leave Yes, with a dispirited Wakeman departing at around the same time.
1980–1981: Drama and split In 1980, pop duo
The Buggles (singer
Trevor Horn and keyboardist
Geoff Downes) secured the services of
Brian Lane, who had managed Yes since 1970, as their manager. The Buggles were best known for their 1979 hit single "
Video Killed the Radio Star" from their album
The Age of Plastic. At this point, the departure of Anderson and Wakeman had been kept secret from everyone outside the Yes inner circle. Seeing an option of continuing the band with new creative input and expertise, Squire revealed the situation to Horn and Downes and suggested that they join Yes as full-time members. Horn and Downes accepted the invitation and the reconfigured band recorded the
Drama album, which was released in August 1980. The record displayed a heavier, harder sound than the material Yes recorded with Anderson and Wakeman in 1979, opening with the lengthy hard rocker "
Machine Messiah". The album received substantial radio airplay in the late summer–fall of 1980, and peaked at number 2 in the UK and went on to pursue a career in music production, with White and Squire next to depart. Left as the sole remaining members, Downes and Howe opted not to continue with the group and went their own separate ways in December 1980.
Yesshows, a live album recorded during 1976 to 1978, mixed in mid-1979 and originally intended for release in late 1979, was released in November 1980, peaking at number 22 in the UK charts
1982–1988: First reformation, 90125 and Big Generator At the beginning of 1982,
Phil Carson of Atlantic Records introduced Squire and White to guitarist and singer
Trevor Rabin, who had initially made his name with the South African supergroup
Rabbitt, subsequently releasing three solo albums, working as a record producer and even briefly considered being a member of
Asia. The three teamed up in a new band called
Cinema, for which Squire also recruited the original Yes keyboard player Tony Kaye. Later in 1982, Cinema entered the studio to record their debut album. Although Rabin and Squire initially shared lead vocals for the project, Trevor Horn was briefly brought into Cinema as a potential singer, but soon opted to become the band's producer instead. Horn worked well with the band. However, his clashes with Tony Kaye (complicated by the fact that Rabin was playing most of the keyboards during the recording sessions) led to Kaye's departure during the recording, though some of his playing was kept on the final album and he had returned by the time it was released. However, with all the other band members having been members of Yes (with three of them being original members, including the distinctive lead singer) the name change was considered sound commercial strategy. Yes released their comeback album
90125 (named after its catalogue serial number on
Atco Records) in November 1983. The new album marked a significant change in style as the revived Yes had adopted more of a
pop rock sound with few moments that recalled their progressive rock past. This incarnation of the band has sometimes been informally referred to as "Yes-West", reflecting the band's new base in Los Angeles rather than London. It became their biggest-selling album, certified by the
RIAA at triple-platinum (3 million copies) in sales in the US, and introduced the band to younger fans. "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
topped the
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and went on to reach the
number-one spot on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the only single from Yes to do so, In 1984, two further singles from the album "
Leave It" and "
It Can Happen" reached number 24 and 57, respectively. They were also nominated for an award for
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals with "Owner of a Lonely Heart", and a
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal award with
90125. The band's
1984–1985 tour was the most lucrative in their history and spawned the home video release
9012Live, a concert film directed by
Steven Soderbergh with added special effects from
Charlex that cost $1 million. Issued in 1985, an accompanying live album also appeared that year,
9012Live: The Solos, which earned Yes a nomination for a second Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for Squire's solo track, a rendition of "
Amazing Grace". Yes began recording for their twelfth album,
Big Generator, in 1985, initially with Trevor Horn returning as producer. The sessions underwent many starts and stops due to the use of multiple recording locations in Italy, London and Los Angeles, with interpersonal problems leading to Horn leaving the sessions partway through, all of which kept the album from timely completion (the album was intended for a 1986 release, but by the end of that year it was still incomplete). Eventually Rabin took over final production. The album was released in September 1987, and immediately began receiving heavy radio airplay, with sales reaching number 17 in the UK The single "
Love Will Find a Way" topped the Mainstream Rock chart, while "
Rhythm of Love" reached number 2 and "
Shoot High Aim Low" number 11. though a version of "Fist of Fire" with more of Howe's guitars left intact appeared on the
In a Word: Yes box set in 2002. ABWH toured in
1989 and 1990 as "An Evening of Yes Music" which featured Levin, keyboardist
Julian Colbeck, and guitarist
Milton McDonald as support musicians. A live album and home video were recorded and released in 1993, both titled
An Evening of Yes Music Plus that featured
Jeff Berlin on bass due to Levin suffering from illness. The tour was also dogged by legal battles sparked by Atlantic Records due to the band's references to Yes in promotional materials and the tour title. Following the tour, the group returned to the recording studio to produce their second album, tentatively called
Dialogue. After hearing the tracks,
Arista Records refused to release the album as they felt the initial mixes were weak. They encouraged the group to seek outside songwriters, preferably ones who could help them deliver hit singles. Anderson approached Rabin about the situation, and Rabin sent Anderson a demo tape with three songs, indicating that ABWH could have one but had to send the others back. Arista listened to them and wanted all of them, proposing to create a combined album with both Yes factions. Meanwhile, the "Yes-West" group had been working on a follow-up to
Big Generator and had been shopping around for a new singer, auditioning
Roger Hodgson of
Supertramp,
Steve Walsh of
Kansas,
Billy Sherwood of
World Trade and solo pop/dance singer
Robbie Nevil (who'd scored a US #2 hit in 1986 with "
C'est la Vie"). Walsh only spent one day with the band, but Sherwood and Squire quickly established a rapport and continued with writing sessions, although Sherwood ultimately chose not to formally join the group or become the lead singer. Arista now suggested that the "Yes-West" group, with Anderson on vocals, record the songs from Rabin's demo tape and add them to the incomplete ABWH album, which would then be released as a full album under the Yes name.
Union was released in April 1991 and is the thirteenth studio album from Yes. Each group played their own songs, with Anderson singing on all tracks. Squire sang background vocals on a few of the ABWH tracks, with Tony Levin playing all the bass on those songs. The album does not feature all eight members playing at once. The track "Masquerade" earned Yes a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1992. Howe described the nomination for a track he had recorded solo at home as "pure justice", following the difficulties in making the album.
Union sold approximately 1.5 million copies worldwide, and peaked at number 7 in the UK The
1991–1992 Union tour united all eight members on a revolving circular stage. Following the tour's conclusion in 1992, Bruford chose not to remain involved with Yes and returned to his jazz project
Earthworks. Howe also ceased his involvement with the band at this time. In August 1991, while the
Union tour was underway, Atlantic released
Yesyears, a four-CD box set anthology. Two accompanying home videos,
Yesyears and
Greatest Video Hits, were also released during 1991. In 1993, the album
Symphonic Music of Yes was released, featuring orchestrated Yes tracks arranged by
Dee Palmer. Howe, Bruford and Anderson perform on the record, joined by the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, the
English Chamber Orchestra and the
London Community Gospel Choir. Howe and Bruford performed together on television (presented as "Yes") to promote the album, marking Bruford's final performance under the Yes name before retiring from performing. The next Yes studio album, as with
Union, was masterminded by a record company, rather than by the band itself. Victory Music approached Rabin with a proposal to produce an album solely with the
90125 line-up. Rabin initially countered by requesting that Wakeman also be included. Rabin began assembling the album at his home, using the then-pioneering concept of a digital home studio, and used material written by himself and Anderson. The new album was well into production in 1993, but Wakeman's involvement had finally been cancelled, as his refusal to leave his long-serving management created insuperable legal problems.
Talk was released in March 1994 and is the band's fourteenth studio release. Its cover was designed by
pop artist
Peter Max. The record was largely composed and performed by Rabin, with the other band members following Rabin's tracks for their respective instrumentation. It was digitally recorded and produced by Rabin with engineer Michael Jay, using 3.4
GB of hard disk storage split among four networked
Apple Macintosh computers running
Digital Performer. The album blended elements of radio-friendly rock with a more structurally ambitious approach taken from the band's progressive blueprint, with the fifteen-minute track "
Endless Dream". The album reached number 20 in the UK Rabin and Hodgson wrote a lot of material together and became close friends. In early 1995, following the tour, disagreements and dissatisfactions forced another change in the band. 1990s Yes manager Jon Brewer has stated that Squire had not appreciated the
Talk production process: "(he) didn't like that. He didn't think it was what Yes was all about; he was very much against a computerised, digital sound at that time. So Trevor and Chris moved away from one another for quite a while." For his part, Rabin felt that he had achieved his highest ambitions with
Talk and lamented its disappointing reception, feeling that this was due to the fact that it "just wasn't what people wanted to hear at the time." Having remarked at the conclusion of the tour "I think I'm done", Rabin quit the band and returned to Los Angeles, where he shifted his focus to composing for films. Both men had been working on a side project called
Conspiracy and reworked existing demos and recordings from there to turn them into Yes songs, and also worked on new material with Anderson and White. (Howe's involvement at this stage was minimal, mainly taking place towards the end of the sessions.) Sherwood's integral involvement with the writing, production, and performance of the music led to his finally joining Yes as a full member (taking on the role of harmony singer, keyboardist and second guitarist). The results of the sessions were released in November 1997 as the seventeenth Yes studio album,
Open Your Eyes (on the Beyond Music label, who ensured that the group had greater control in packaging and naming). The music (mainly at Sherwood's urging) attempted to bridge the differing Yes styles of the 1970s and 1980s.
The Ladder was released in September 1999, peaking at number 36 in the UK and parted company with the band at the end of the tour.
2001–2008: Magnification, Anniversary touring, and Anderson's departure Following the departures of Sherwood and Khoroshev and the death of Fairbairn, Yes once again set about reinventing themselves, this time choosing to record without a keyboardist, opting instead to include a 60-piece orchestra conducted by
Larry Groupé; the first time the band used an orchestra since
Time and a Word in 1970. The result was their nineteenth studio album, 2001's
Magnification. The record was not a chart success; it peaked at number 71 in the UK Following Wakeman's announcement of his return in April 2002, Yes embarked on their
Full Circle Tour in 2002–2003 that included their first performances in Australia since 1973. The band's appearance in
Montreux on this tour was documented on the album and DVD
Live at Montreux 2003, released in 2007. In 2002,
Rhino Records issued
In a Word: Yes, a five CD box set of classic, rare and unreleased tracks from the band's history, including some from the 1979 Paris sessions, followed a year later by the compilation album
The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection, which reached number 10 in the UK charts, On 26 January 2004, the film
Yesspeak premiered in a number of select theatres, followed by a closed-circuit live acoustic performance of the group. Both
Yesspeak and the acoustic performance, titled
Yes Acoustic: Guaranteed No Hiss, were released on DVD later that year. A
35th anniversary tour followed in 2004 which was documented on the DVD
Songs from Tsongas, released in 2005. After their 35th Anniversary Tour, Yes described themselves as "on hiatus". During the hiatus, Yes members continued to collaborate. Squire, Howe and White reunited for one night only with former members
Trevor Horn,
Trevor Rabin and
Geoff Downes during a show celebrating Horn's career, performing three Yes songs. The show video was released in DVD in 2008 under the name
Trevor Horn and Friends: Slaves to the Rhythm. Anderson toured jointly with Wakeman, for concerts focused largely on Yes material, White joined fellow Yes-men Tony Kaye and Billy Sherwood in Circa, and Howe reunited to record, release and tour with once-and-future Yes bandmate Geoff Downes in the reunion of the original Asia line-up. In May 2008, a fortieth-anniversary Close to the Edge and Back Tour—which was to feature
Oliver Wakeman on keyboards—was announced. Anderson has said that they had been preparing four new "lengthy, multi-movement compositions" for the world tour, but he had expressed disinterest in producing a new studio album after the low sales of
Magnification, suggesting that recording one was not "logical anymore". The tour was abruptly cancelled prior to rehearsals, after Anderson suffered an asthma attack and was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure, and was advised by doctors to avoid touring for six months. In September 2008, the remaining three members, eager to resume touring regardless of Anderson's availability, announced the
In the Present Tour billed as Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes, with Canadian
Benoît David, the singer in a Yes cover band, and Oliver Wakeman on keyboards. According to Anderson, he was removed from the band against his will; he expressed wanting to rejoin the band after his recovery, and initially disputed the continuation of the band as "Yes".
2009–2015: Second reformation, Fly from Here, Heaven & Earth, and Squire's death In October 2009, Squire declared that the new line-up from the In the Present Tour "is now Yes", and the tour, with the band now billed as Yes, continued through 2010. Their 2010 studio sessions would yield material eventually to be released as
From a Page. In August 2010, it was announced that new material had been written for
Fly from Here, Yes's twentieth studio album. Yes signed a deal with
Frontiers Records and began recording in Los Angeles. Trevor Horn served as producer, and Geoff Downes was brought back to replace Oliver Wakeman on keyboards; much of the album material was extrapolated from a pair of songs written by Horn and Downes around the time that they had been Yes members. Asserting that all studio recording was to be carried out by "the line-up that actually ... does the work", Howe dispelled rumours that an invitation to sing on the record had been extended to Anderson, who subsequently announced a new project as an ongoing collaboration with former Yes members Wakeman and Rabin. Upon completion in March 2011, and post-production a month later,
Fly from Here was released worldwide in July, peaking at number 30 in the UK with
Styx and
Procol Harum supporting on select dates. The live Yes album and DVD,
In the Present – Live from Lyon, taken from the band's previous tour, were released in the same year. In February 2012, David contracted a respiratory illness and was replaced by
Glass Hammer singer
Jon Davison. Davison had been recommended to Squire by their common friend
Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the
Foo Fighters. Davison would join Yes to complete the band's scheduled dates across the year. According to Anderson, he was healthy enough to sing for the 2012 dates, and had offered to return to the band. In November 2013, Anderson again expressed a wish to return to Yes, saying "it's really great music, but it's going to feel different because… leading the band… I had this certain energy, and it's missing." On Anderson's potential return to Yes, Howe commented: “One never wants to say never, but basically I can’t see it. I love Jon. I'm a lot older now, and so is he, and the only terms I work on is that I'm happy working on this. I'm not going to take a sudden load on my back that I either don't need or want. My music’s always guided me, and it’s not telling me to do those things. It's telling me to go forwards." On 7 March 2013, founding guitarist
Peter Banks died of heart failure. From March 2013 to June 2014, Yes completed the
Three Album Tour (performing
The Yes Album,
Close to the Edge and
Going for the One in their entirety), a progressive-rock themed cruise titled "Cruise to the Edge", and a second cruise in April 2014. The show on 11 May 2014 in Bristol was released as a live video album,
Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome.
Heaven & Earth, the band's twenty-first studio album and first with Davison, was recorded between January and March 2014, at Neptune Studios in Los Angeles with
Roy Thomas Baker as producer and former band member
Billy Sherwood as engineer, backing vocals, and mixer. Squire described Baker as a "force in the studio" (Baker had previously worked with the group in the late 70s on a project that had ultimately been scrapped). Howe reflected that he "tried to slow down" the album production in hopes that "maybe we could refine it ..." and compared it to the success of the band's classic works in which they "arranged the hell out of" the material. He wrote later that Baker behaved erratically and was difficult to work with, and was dissatisfied with the final mixes of the album. To promote
Heaven & Earth, Yes toured between July and November 2014 in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The show in
Mesa,
Arizona was released as
Like It Is: Yes at the Mesa Arts Center. In May 2015, news of Squire's diagnosis with
acute erythroid leukaemia was made public. This resulted in former guitarist
Billy Sherwood replacing him for their
2015 summer North American tour with
Toto between August–September, and their third annual Cruise to the Edge voyage in November, while Squire was receiving treatment. His condition deteriorated soon after, and he died on 27 June at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. Downes first announced Squire's death on
Twitter. Squire asked White and Sherwood to continue the legacy of the band, which Sherwood recalled "was paramount in his mind ... so I'm happy to be doing that." Yes performed without Squire, for the first time in their 47-year history, on 7 August 2015 in Mashantucket, Connecticut. In November 2015, they completed their annual Cruise to the Edge voyage.
2016–2023: 50th Anniversary, Hall of Fame induction, The Quest, and White's death in
New York on 18 July 2018 Following Squire's death, former Yes members Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman announced a new group, "Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman" (ARW) in January 2016 and began writing new material. They toured as
An Evening of Yes Music and More from 2016 to 2017, with drummer Lou Molino III and bassist Lee Pomeroy. Meanwhile, the main Yes group continued touring, performing
Fragile and
Drama in their entirety as well as other songs on their
2016 European tour. White stopped touring to recover from back surgery, and was replaced by American drummer
Jay Schellen for various periods of time until the following February. The 2016 tour was released as a live album,
Topographic Drama – Live Across America in late 2017 and was Yes's first album not to feature Squire. Yes toured in February, August, and September 2017, but the touring was cut short following the unexpected death of Howe's son
Virgil. Having been eligible to be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1994, Yes were inducted into the 2017 class by
Geddy Lee and
Alex Lifeson of
Rush in a ceremony held in New York City on 7 April 2017. The musicians inducted were Anderson, Howe, Rabin, Squire, Wakeman, Kaye, Bruford, and White, the same line-up featured on
Union and its
tour. Having failed to pass the nomination stage twice previously, the announcement of their forthcoming induction was made on 20 December 2016. In the ceremony, Anderson, Howe, Rabin, Wakeman, and White performed "Roundabout" with Lee on bass, followed by "Owner of a Lonely Heart" with Howe on bass. Bruford attended the ceremony but did not perform, while Kaye did not attend.
Dylan Howe (Steve's son) described how at the ceremony the two groups—Yes and ARW—were seated at adjacent tables but ignored each other. Prior to Squire's death, the name "Yes", had been owned jointly by Squire, White, and Anderson. With the permission of Squire's wife, and following Yes's induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 April 2017, Anderson, Rabin & Wakeman renamed themselves
Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman. Schellen continued to play as a second drummer to support White, who had a bacterial infection in his joints from November 2017. Yes continued touring between 2018 and 2020. Yes's 50th anniversary tour dates in London coincided with the release of
Fly from Here – Return Trip, a new version of the album with new lead vocals and mixes by Horn. The tour included guests
Dylan Howe (Steve's son),
Trevor Horn,
Tony Kaye,
Tom Brislin, and
Patrick Moraz, who had last performed with Yes in 1976. The live album
Yes 50 Live was released in 2019. Yes also headlined the Royal Affair Tour in 2019 with artists
Asia,
John Lodge,
Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy, and
Arthur Brown and was released as
The Royal Affair Tour: Live from Las Vegas. This was followed by the previously unreleased music release
From a Page, mostly written by Oliver Wakeman. Further planned 2020 tours were postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Later in 2020, Davison and Sherwood formed Arc of Life, a new group featuring Schellen and keyboardist
Dave Kerzner. Yes worked on new material for their twenty-second studio album
The Quest, from late 2019 through 2021. The lockdowns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in members recording their parts in separate studios and sending them to Howe and engineer Curtis Schwartz in England. In 2021, Howe, Davison and Downes got together and completed the album.
The Quest was released on 1 October 2021, and the opening two tracks, "The Ice Bridge" and "Dare to Know", were released as digital singles. The album reached No. 20 in the UK. in 2022 Yes announced that White would step down from touring due to health issues on 22 May 2022. White died four days later on 26 May. A tribute concert for White was held in Seattle on 2 October, featuring special guests and former Yes guitarist
Trevor Rabin. In January 2023,
Warner Music Group acquired the recorded music rights and associated income streams relating to 12 studio albums from 1969 to 1987, and several live and compilation releases. In February, Schellen (who had officially replaced White on drums) joined the band as a permanent member.
2023–present: Mirror to the Sky, Aurora and further touring in 2024. From left to right:
Steve Howe,
Geoff Downes,
Jon Davison,
Jay Schellen and
Billy Sherwood. The band's 2022 tour was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of
Close to the Edge, but after White's death, European dates for the tour were rescheduled for 2023 and the program changed. The tour was again delayed again to 2024 due to insurance incentives related to COVID-19 and
casus belli coverage; some dates were rescheduled and became The Classic Tales of Yes Tour 2024. Anderson toured North America in Spring 2023, Spring/Summer 2024, and Spring/Summer 2025 under the title "Yes Epics and Classics" with a setlist primarily devoted to early 70s Yes material backed by
The Band Geeks and expressed "In my mind… I'm still in Yes." While Anderson has stated a desire for a reunion multiple times since the band re-formed without him in 2008, following the 2024 release of
True said "I’ve got the Yes that I wanted" and described these activities in their
Live - Perpetual Change album liner notes as "keeping the true Yes flag flying." Yes released their new studio album,
Mirror to the Sky, on 19 May 2023, releasing the opening track, "Cut from the Stars" and "All Connected" as a digital singles. The album continued the creative process from
The Quest. The band began working on a follow-up album and continued touring under the "Album Series" banner, this time focusing on
Fragile – material which Howe describes as representative of a period when Yes was "at the height of our creativity, determined for success." On 11 March 2026, an expanded version of
From a Page was announced, for release on 24 April.. On 10 April 2026, the band announced the upcoming release on 12 June 2026 in multiple formats of their new studio album entitled
Aurora. The album debut single, "Aurora", was released the same day. Details including the album title, track listing, cover art, and product images were leaked prior to the announcement. == Musical style and influences ==