Jon Anderson

Jon Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English-American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire.

John Roy Anderson was born on 25 October 1944 in Accrington, Lancashire, England.

His father Albert was from Glasgow, Scotland, and served in the army in the entertainment division and later worked as a salesman; his mother Kathleen was of Irish and French ancestry and worked in a cotton mill, cotton being the biggest export from Lancashire at the time.

Together they became county champions in ballroom dancing, winning several awards.

Anderson said they named him after an English singer who toured as "John Roy the Melody Boy" and the Scottish name Royston.

Anderson grew up on Norfolk Street with brothers Tony and Stuart, and sister Joy.

He is the third youngest.

As a youngster, Anderson became a fan of several musicians, including Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, The Everly Brothers, and Jon Hendricks.

Anderson attended St. John's School where he organised daily football matches during lunch break.

He was not a strong academic, and remembered he "was always getting into trouble for messing around and singing too loud".

There, he made a tentative start to a musical career, playing the washboard in Little John's Skiffle Group who performed songs by Lonnie Donegan, among others.

At fifteen, Anderson left school after his father became ill and took up work on a farm, as a lorry driver transporting bricks, and as a milkman to help support the family.

A keen football fan, he tried to pursue a career at Accrington Stanley F.C., but at 5 ft tall, he was turned down because of his frail constitution.

He remained a fan of the club, and was a ball boy and mascot for the team for one year.

Anderson is heard on their first two recorded songs, "You Came Along" and "Don't Make Me Blue", released in 1965.

After the Warriors split in Germany in late 1967, the band returned to England while Anderson stayed behind.

He briefly became singer in the Gentle Party, a band from Bolton who were in Germany.

After returning to London in March 1968, Anderson met Jack Barrie, owner of the La Chasse drinking club in Soho who befriended the rest of the Warriors after they had relocated to the city.

With no money or accommodation, Barrie allowed Anderson and Warriors keyboardist and vocals Brian Chatton to stay with him.

Anderson helped out by working at La Chasse; during this time he got talking to Paul Korda, a producer for EMI Records who took him on to sing several demos.

During the search for material to record, Barrie got in touch with Elton John and Bernie Taupin of DJM Records to put some music together, but felt Anderson did not like much of it.

Meanwhile, Anderson travelled to the Netherlands to join Les Cruches, a band he met in London, but promptly returned when he found out some of his demos were to be released as singles by Parlophone Records.

Released under his pseudonym Hans Christian, the first, an orchestrated cover of "Never My Love" by the Association with "All of the Time" on its B-side, received a positive reception from New Musical Express and Chris Welch for Melody Maker who wrote in March 1968, "A blockbuster of a hit from a young fairy tale teller with an emotion packed voice."

Anderson's second single, "(The Autobiography of) Mississippi Hobo"/"Sonata of Love", was released two months later; neither song was successful.

Barrie and Korda then took Anderson to see local group the Gun and together rehearsed for well received gigs at the UFO and Marquee clubs in London, the latter as an opener for the Who, which led to several gig offers.

However, the rest of the group believed they could reach success without a lead vocalist and sacked Anderson.

In May 1968, Barrie introduced Anderson to Chris Squire, bassist of the London-based rock band Mabel Greer's Toyshop, which had previously included guitarist Peter Banks.

The two talked, and found they shared common musical interests such as Simon & Garfunkel and the idea of vocal harmonies.

Anderson dropped the "h" from his first name in 1970.

Anderson had no particular desire to become a singer at first until his brother Tony took up singing and joined the Warriors, a local group also known as the Electric Warriors.

After one of the backing vocalists left the group, Anderson filled in the position, and found music more enjoyable and a better choice for money than manual labour.

The group performed mainly cover songs from several artists, including the Beatles, and performed across Lancashire and the club circuit in Germany for over a year.

Anderson released his first solo album, Olias of Sunhillow, in 1976, while still a member of Yes, and subsequently released 14 more albums as a solo artist.

Renowned for his alto tenor range, he was a member of the band across three tenures until 2008.

Anderson became an American citizen in 2009.

Anderson was also a member of ARW along with former Yes bandmates Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin from 2016 to 2020.

Together with bassist Lee Pomeroy and drummer Lou Molino III, they toured under the name Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman.

Anderson is also noted for his solo career and collaborations with other artists, including Vangelis as Jon and Vangelis, Roine Stolt as Anderson/Stolt, and Jean-Luc Ponty as the Anderson Ponty Band.

He has also appeared on albums by King Crimson, Lawrence Gowan, Tangerine Dream, Iron Butterfly, Milton Nascimento, Battles, Mike Oldfield and Kitaro.

In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes.