Yes are an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by vocalist Jon Anderson and bassist Chris Squire, widely regarded as one of the defining acts of the progressive rock movement and one of the most musically ambitious and influential bands in the history of rock music. Along with Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and King Crimson, Yes helped establish progressive rock as a serious artistic movement in the early 1970s — pushing the boundaries of rock composition through extended suites, complex time signatures, sophisticated harmonic language, and a commitment to musical virtuosity that elevated the genre to new levels of ambition and craftsmanship.
The classic lineup of Anderson, Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and drummer Bill Bruford produced a string of landmark albums between 1971 and 1974 that remain among the most celebrated in progressive rock history. The Yes Album (1971) announced the arrival of a fully formed creative vision, but it was Fragile (1971) — featuring Wakeman's elaborate keyboard arrangements and the hit single Roundabout — that introduced them to a mainstream audience. Close to the Edge (1972) is widely considered their masterpiece and one of the greatest progressive rock albums ever recorded, its three tracks — including the side-long title suite — demonstrating a compositional ambition and musical execution of extraordinary sophistication. Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) and Relayer (1974) continued their creative peak before lineup changes began the pattern of departures and returns that would define the band for the next five decades.
Yes achieved their greatest mainstream commercial success with the Trevor Rabin-era lineup of the 1980s, when the album 90125 (1983) produced the massive pop hit Owner of a Lonely Heart — which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became their biggest American single — demonstrating that the band could adapt to the synthesizer-driven pop rock of the decade without entirely abandoning their identity. The band has continued in various configurations through the decades, with Anderson's absence in later years a persistent source of fan debate. Chris Squire's death from leukemia on June 27, 2015 was a profound loss — the only member to appear on every Yes album — and the remaining members have continued under the Yes name with bassist Billy Sherwood. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, a recognition of a legacy that had fundamentally shaped the possibilities of rock music.
