Jon Anderson

Born and raised in Accrington in northern England, Anderson gave up manual labour in the early 1960s in favour of singing in The Warriors with his brother. He moved to London and after several unsuccessful singles as a solo artist and co-formed Yes with Squire. Anderson left the band in 1980 due to growing internal friction and continued his solo career, which he had started in 1976 with his debut album, Olias of Sunhillow. He went on to collaborate with other musicians, including Greek keyboardist and composer Vangelis as Jon and Vangelis, Roine Stolt as Anderson/Stolt, Jean-Luc Ponty as the Anderson Ponty Band, and The Band Geeks as Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks, with whom he has toured repeatedly and released two albums in recent years. He has appeared on albums by King Crimson, Toto, Lawrence Gowan, Tangerine Dream, Iron Butterfly, Milton Nascimento, Battles, Mike Oldfield and Kitaro. Anderson was a member of the offshoot Yes groups Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman.
In 2009, Anderson acquired American citizenship. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes. In 2026, Loudwire ranked him as the greatest progressive rock singer of all time.