Credit: Deborah AndersonFounding Yes frontman Jon Anderson has announced plans to release an autobiography titled Survival and Other Stories.
Anderson says the book will be published “in the near future,” although the release date is still “to be determined.” The memoir shares its title with a solo album Jon put out in 2011.
The 74-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has given fans a preview of the book by posting its first chapter online. The segment includes anecdotes about Anderson’s early rock bands and how Yes came together after a friend introduced him to fellow founding member Chris Squire.
“After meeting Chris at the club, him and I were now joined at the hip,” Jon recalls. “That first evening back at his flat, we talked, smoked, sang, and played music together, conjuring all sorts of ideas.”
“We wrote a few songs that night and planned so many things,” he continues. “We were both emotionally hungry to express our thoughts and for many years we were always able to push each other’s buttons in so many ways. Our relationship is what kept Yes surviving.”
Anderson also shares how Yes, which originally was called Mabel Greer’s Toy Shop, got its name.
Jon explains that he wanted the group to have a short, memorable name and he pressed the other members to come up with ideas.
He recalls that after he suggested the moniker Life, Squire offered World, before original guitarist Peter Banks put in his two cents.
“Peter Banks, bless him, said, ‘Yes,'” Anderson writes. “‘Hold on,’ said Chris, ‘you mean you like World?’ ‘Uh, no,’ Peter said. ‘Just Yes.’ The room went silent and then we all said, ‘What?’ ‘Not What!’ Pete replied. ‘Yes! We call the band Yes.’ And that was that.”
Expect more details about Anderson’s book soon.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.