Yes are an English rock band that first achieved success in the 1970s with a progressive, art, pop, 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. Nine of their twenty studio albums have reached the top ten in either the UK or US, with two reaching number one in the UK. They have sold 13.5 million certified units in the US. The band's 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 lineup. The 1970s saw Yes release the albums widely viewed as their creative peak: The Yes Album, Fragile (both in 1971), Close to the Edge (1972), Tales from Topgraphic 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 relative failure of Tormato (1978) and rise of punk rock, Anderson and Wakeman left in 1980; Squire, Howe and White recorded Drama with Downes and new vocalist Trevor Horn, both also members of The Buggles. Yes disbanded in 1981, with Howe and Downes subsequently creating Asia.
Yes reformed in 1982 with Anderson, Squire, White, a returning Kaye, and singer and guitarist Trevor Rabin, adopting a more pop rock sound. This quickly became the most commercially successful Yes lineup 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 anright-man line-up (instead of a quintet). Subsequent albums and singles have sold less well.
The band toured almost constantly between 1996 and 2004, including both 30th and 35th anniversary shows, also releasing the albums Keys to Ascension (1996), Keys to Ascension 2 (1997), Open Your Eyes (1997), The Ladder (1999), and Magnification (2001) during this period. After a four-year hiatus, Yes resumed touring, replacing Anderson with Benoit 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.