Chris Squire

As the bass player and founding member of 1970s prog rock titans Yes, Chris Squire spent 47 years creating fantastical, grandiose rock theatre and played on all 21 of the band's albums, including influential landmarks such as 'Close to the Edge', 'Tales from Topographic Oceans' and 'Fragile'. Born in Brent in North West London, Squire grew up singing in church choirs before discovering the music of Paul Simon, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Motown in his teenage years, first meeting singer Jon Anderson in a pub in 1969. He remained the only permanent member as the band ploughed on through numerous line-up changes and despite the excess and frequent sneering critics, they became known as a 'musicians band' who embarked on fantastical musical adventures. 1983's art-pop stomp '90125' proved their most commercially successful album selling over eight million copies worldwide, with lead track 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' becoming their only US number one single. Squire also released his first solo album 'Fish Out of Water' in 1975 on Atlantic Records, which was typically dramatic, choral and experimental yet funkier and more playful than many expected; he later collaborated with drummer Alan White on 1981 Christmas single 'Run With the Fox'. His second solo album 'Chris Squire's Swiss Choir' came in 2007 and featured the English Baroque Choir reinterpreting 15th century poems, traditional carols and ancient hymns. Along the way he also played in bands such as The Syn and Conspiracy and worked with ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett in 2012 under the name Squackett. Nicknamed 'The Fish' and synonymous with his Rickenbacker bass guitar and its treble, powerful, melodic tone (inspired by The Who's John Entwistle), he died in 2015 after suffering from a rare form of leukaemia at the age of 67. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Yes in 2017.

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