{"id":32971,"date":"2015-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=32971"},"modified":"2020-06-27T18:16:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-27T17:16:39","slug":"news-yes-bassist-chris-squire-dies-of-leukaemia-aged-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/news-yes-bassist-chris-squire-dies-of-leukaemia-aged-67\/","title":{"rendered":"YES Bassist Chris Squire Dies Aged 67 (June 27th, 2015) | News @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

YES Bassist Chris Squire Dies Aged 67<\/strong><\/span>
\nJune 27th, 2015<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Chris Squire, bassist, backing vocalist, and founding member of English progressive rock group Yes, died on June 28th, 2015 at the age of 67 following a battle with acute erythroid leukaemia (AEL), an uncommon form of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Squire had been receiving treatment in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona since being diagnosed with the disease in May of the same year.<\/p>\n

Yes issued the following statement: \u201cIt\u2019s with the heaviest of hearts and unbearable sadness that we must inform you of the passing of our dear friend and Yes co-founder, Chris Squire. Chris peacefully passed away last night in Phoenix, Arizona, in the arms of his loving wife Scotty.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the entirety of Yes\u2019 existence, Chris was the band\u2019s linchpin and, in so many ways, the glue that held it together over all these years. Because of his phenomenal bass-playing prowess, Chris influenced countless bassists around the world, including many of today\u2019s well-known artists. Chris was also a fantastic songwriter, having written and co-written much of Yes\u2019 most endearing music, as well as his solo album, Fish Out Of Water<\/em>. Outside of Yes, Chris was a loving husband to Scotty and father to Carmen, Chandrika, Camille, Cameron, and Xilan. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith his gentle, easy-going nature, Chris was a great friend of many\u2026 including each of us. But he wasn\u2019t merely our friend: he was also part of our family and we shall forever love and miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Yes vocalist Jon Anderson shared the following words, meanwhile: \u201cChris was a very special part of my life; we were musical brothers. He was an amazingly unique bass player \u2013 very poetic \u2013 and had a wonderful knowledge of harmony. We met at a certain time when music was very open, and I feel blessed to have created some wonderful, adventurous, music with him. Chris had such a great sense of humour… he always said he was Darth Vader to my Obiwan. I always thought of him as Christopher Robin to my Winnie the Pooh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe travelled a road less travelled and I\u2019m so thankful that he climbed the musical mountains with me. Throughout everything, he was still my brother, and I\u2019m so glad we were able to reconnect recently. I saw him in my meditation last night, and he was radiant. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

And erstwhile Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman supplied the following quote: \u201cThanks for your life Chris. You may be gone but the music lives on for ever. You\u2019ve personally left me with great memories and great music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Russell Edward Squire was born on March 4th, 1948 in Kingsbury, a suburb of northwest London, England. His father\u2019s occupation was a cab driver, while his mother was a housewife. As a young boy, Squire was trained in the St. Andrew\u2019s church choir, singing in the Haberdashers\u2019 Aske\u2019s Boys\u2019 School choir as well.<\/p>\n

Squire\u2019s first musical groups included The Selfs, The Syn, and Mabel Greer\u2019s Toyshop.<\/p>\n

Yes formed in 1968 following a meeting between vocalist Jon Anderson and self-taught bassist Squire at a London music industry bar. Guitarist Peter Banks, keyboardist Tony Kaye, and drummer Bill Bruford rounded out the line-up, although more prominent alumni in guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Rick Wakeman replaced the latter pair in 1970 and 1971 respectively. A self-titled full-length arrived in 1969, Squire performing on that debut jaunt. In addition, Squire performed on all of Yes\u2019 21 full-length albums, including Fragile<\/em> (1971), Close To The Edge<\/em> (1972), Going For The One<\/em> (1977), and 90125<\/em> (1983), the latter boasting Billboard Hot 100 number one single \u2018Owner Of A Lonely Heart\u2019. As well as co-writing the latter track, Squire co-penned the likes of \u2018I\u2019ve Seen All Good People\u2019, \u2018Starship Trooper\u2019, \u2018Yours Is No Disgrace\u2019 and \u2018Heart Of The Sunrise\u2019.<\/p>\n

At the time of his passing, Squire was Yes\u2019 sole remaining original member, his tenure lasting from 1969 until 2015.<\/p>\n

Solo outing Fish Out Of Water<\/em> arrived in 1975, Squire also teaming with Yes part time guitarist Billy Underwood for the project Conspiracy during 2000. With Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, lone Squackett affair A Life Within A Day<\/em> surfaced in 2012.<\/p>\n

In light of his leukaemia diagnosis, Squire was replaced in Yes\u2019 touring line-up by Billy Sherwood. An intermittent member as referenced, Sherwood played guitar and keyboards as a touring member of Yes in 1994 and as a full member from 1997 until 2000.<\/p>\n

Squire was survived by his wife Scotty and children Carmen, Chandrika, Camille, Cameron, and Xilan.<\/p>\n

Promotional live photograph by Jerry and Lois Photography.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YES Bassist Chris Squire Dies Aged 67 June 27th, 2015 Chris Squire, bassist, backing vocalist, and founding member of English progressive rock group Yes, died on June 28th, 2015 at the age of 67 following a battle with acute erythroid leukaemia (AEL), an uncommon form of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Squire had been receiving treatment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2295],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yes-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32971"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84362,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32971\/revisions\/84362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}