Yes Should Have Ended With Chris Squire's Death Says Wakeman

William Lee | 10-16-2019

Rick Wakeman believes that the band name of Yes should have been retired following the death of Chris Squire in 2015 and he was in favor of the use of the name Yes featuring ARW.

The keyboard legend was asked by Rolling Stone if it was true that he objected to the Yes featuring ARW name and he responded, "No. I didn't. I'm a funny old fellow. I have quite moralistic views. When Chris died, he was the only founding member still left in the band. He's the only guy that had been in every incarnation of Yes, through thick and thin.

"I felt with so many different band members in and out that when Chris passed away, the decent thing to do would be to say, 'OK, we're putting the name Yes on the shelf. That's it.'

"We can still play Yes music. Steve Howe, if you want to have a band, play Yes music. Jon Anderson, you can too. Anyone that has been in the band is fully entitled to play Yes music, but do it under a different name.

"There's nothing wrong with it, but it degraded the name and the word and the music by what happened after Chris died." He added, "We did end up going out because promoters wanted it as Yes featuring ARW, but it just confused people. They had no idea who they were going to see and what was going on.

"It was wrong and I was very against it, I will admit. But we're going to do some farewell shows next year and they are going to be ARW. It may be 'ARW Performing an Evening of Yes Music.' That's fine. But not Yes in the name of the band."