The legendary vocalist Jon Anderson co-founded the influential Progressive Rock band YES back in 1968 and was part of the group until 2008 when, according to him, the band decided to replace him. In an interview with Classic Rock, the singer said that at the time he was hospitalized with “respiratory failure following a severe asthma attack”. Then the band decided to replace him with the Canadian singer Benoît David.
Jon Anderson explains why he doesn’t expect to rejoin YES
“I didn’t leave the band, they got a new singer. So I said to my wife Jane, I’m going to go onstage with my guitar and tell stories, and we’re going to travel the world together.’ And we did that for two years. It was unbelievable. Yes got a singer and carried on going that way, and it’s never been the same.”
“No (Steve Howe didn’t call me). Not right now. I actually contacted him and got very little back, But think of the song ‘Still A Friend Of Mine’ (from True). So many people I’ve met, it didn’t quite work out, and eventually you say, ‘Okay, I’ve got to move on, you’ve got to move on, do your own thing, it’s okay. But you’re still a friend of mine because we went through so much together at a certain time.’ Me and Steve, we wrote ‘Close To The Edge’.”
The last time that Anderson performed with YES was during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction back in 2017. The current line-up of the band doesn’t have any original members, but the classic member Steve Howe (Guitar) and the Prog Rock veteran Geoff Downes (Keyboards). They are accompanied by Billy Sherwood (Bass), Jon Davidson (Vocals) and Jay Schellen (Drums).
The group released four studio albums after they fired Jon Anderson in 2008. They are: “Fly From Here” (2011), “Heaven & Earth” (2014), “The Quest” (2021) and “Mirror to the Sky” (2023).
Since then Anderson released three studio albums: “Survival & Other Stories” (2011), “1000 Hands: Chapter One” (2019) and “True” (2024).