Jon Anderson



John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944), known professionally as Jon Anderson, is an English singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he co-founded in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across three tenures between 1968 and 2008. 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 AndersonPonty Band. He has also appeared on albums by King Crimson, Tangerine Dream, and Iron Butterfly.

Anderson released his first solo album, Olias of Sunhillow (1976), while still a member of Yes in 1976, and subsequently released 13 more albums as a solo artist. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes.

Early life
John Roy Anderson was born on 25 October 1944 in Accrington, a town in Lancashire in north west 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, then the biggest export from Lancashire at the time. Together they became county champions in ballroom dancing, winning several awards. Anderson claimed 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 in nearby Baxenden, a Catholic school where he would organise 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, a lorry driver transporting bricks, and 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 dropped the "h" from his first name in 1970.

1962–1968: The Warriors and early singles
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 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 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 guitarist 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 Crunches, 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.

1968–1980: Forming Yes and start of solo career
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. In the following days, they developed "Sweetness", a song later recorded on the first Yes album. Anderson found himself on lead vocals for some Mabel Greer gigs afterwards, and talks of the formation of a new, full-time band developed. In June 1968, Anderson and Squire hired Bill Bruford to replace Hagger on drums, and Anderson secured £500 from John Roberts, owner of a paper manufacturer, to rent space in The Lucky Horseshoe cafe in Soho so a new, full-time band could rehearse. At their conclusion a month later, a line-up of Anderson, Squire, Bruford, Banks, who replaced a departing Bayley, and keyboardist Tony Kaye, who Anderson met in Leicester four years prior, was formed. They then renamed themselves Yes, originally Banks's idea. Anderson's first gig with Yes followed on 4 August 1968 at a youth camp in East Mersea in Essex.

Although the band had no formal leader, Anderson served as its main motivating force in their early days, doing most of the hustling for gigs and originating most of their songs. He played a key role in initiating their more ambitious artistic ideas, serving as the main instigator of some of the band's more popular songs, including "Close to the Edge", "The Gates of Delirium", and "Awaken", and the concept behind their double concept album Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). Despite his initial lack of instrumental skills, Anderson was strongly involved in the selection of successive Yes members chosen for their musicality - guitarist Steve Howe (who replaced Banks in 1970), Kaye's successive replacements Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz, and drummer Alan White, who replaced Bruford in 1972. Ambitious and nicknamed "Napoleon" by the rest of the band, Anderson was also fond of sonic and psychological creative experiments, and in so doing contributed to occasionally conflicted relationships within the band and with management. An example of this was his original desire to record Tales from Topographic Oceans in the middle of the woods. When the band voted to record in a studio, he decided to arrange hay and animal cut-outs all over the floor to create atmosphere. Anderson described the album's supporting tour as one of the low points of his career, as a portion of the audience and the band were unhappy with the album.

In addition to Yes, Anderson appeared as a guest singer on Lizard by King Crimson for "Prince Rupert Awakes", the first part of their 23-minute title track recorded in 1970. He was chosen for the part as the desired vocal range was unattainable by the group's then-lead vocalist, Gordon Haskell. In 1974, Anderson co-wrote "Pearly Gates" with Iron Butterfly drummer Ron Bushy on the band's album Scorching Beauty. This was followed by his first collaboration with Greek musician Vangelis, singing on "So Long Ago, So Clear", the last section of "Heaven and Hell Part I" on his 1975 album Heaven and Hell.

In August 1975, Yes took an extended break for each member to release a studio album. Anderson chose a concept album, Olias of Sunhillow, about an alien race of four tribes and their journey to a new planet as theirs is under threat from destruction. Olias, one of the three main characters, builds the Moorglade Mover, an aircraft formed of living organisms to transport everyone to their new home. Anderson gained inspiration from science fiction and fantasy novels, works by J. R. R. Tolkien, The Initiation of the World by Vera Stanley Alder, and the art work from Yes's Fragile. He recorded the music from his garage in six months, learning to play all instruments himself, including several types of drum, stringed, and percussion instruments associated with world or ethnic music, which took up as many as 120 track recordings in its original form. Anderson found the experience a valuable one in learning about music. Atlantic Records released the album in July 1976, and it reached number 8 in the UK and number 47 in the US.

Between 1976 and 1979, Anderson recorded Going for the One and Tormato with Yes and completed their supporting tours. In February 1979, he reconvened with Vangelis to start recording as Jon and Vangelis. Their first album, Short Stories, was recorded in a matter of weeks with minimal preconceived ideas which Anderson found to be a refreshing experience. Released in January 1980, Short Stories went to number 4 in the UK. In 1979, Anderson played the harp on "Flamants Roses" on Vangelis's album Opéra sauvage and wrote music for Ursprung, an act for a three-part modern ballet named Underground Rumours performed by the Scottish Ballet company, that also featured music by Ian Anderson. The choreographer was Royston Maldoom and the lighting designer was David Hersey.

In October 1979, Anderson travelled to Paris to record a new Yes album with producer Roy Thomas Baker. Progress staggered early into the sessions following disputes over the band's musical direction; material prepared by Anderson and Wakeman was not met with enthusiasm by their bandmates, who started to put down tracks without them that was released on Drama. "Very quickly", recalled Anderson, "the mood changed from enthusiasm to frustration and then complete confusion". Matters failed to improve when they reconvened in February 1980, and Anderson and Wakeman left in the following the month. They were replaced by Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes of the Buggles.

1980–1990: Solo career, return to Yes, and ABWH
Anderson acquired Jannis Zographos as his new manager, who also handled Vangelis, and sung on "Suffocation" and "See You Later" for Vangelis's album See You Later, released in 1980. In 1979 he recorded his first album in collaboration with Vangelis, Short Stories, which was released in 1980. After he secured a recording deal with Virgin Records, Anderson retreated to southern France to write material for a solo album. His proposals for albums based on the Russian-French artist Marc Chagall and the book A True Fairy Tale by Daphne Charters were not enthusiastically received by the label's management, who lost interest and requested their advance back. Anderson spent much of 1980 recording a collection of songs for Song of Seven with a group of musicians he named the New Life Band, which Atlantic agreed to release. When it was put out in November, it reached number 38 in the UK and number 143 in the US. Anderson completed his first solo tour with the band, performing a mix of solo and Yes material in Germany and England.

In 1981, Anderson played on Wakeman's concept album 1984 and released his second album with Vangelis in July 1981, The Friends of Mr Cairo. The album produced two singles, "I'll Find My Way Home" and "State of Independence". The album was also notable for the title track, which was an ode to classic Hollywood gangster films of the 1930s and 1940s with voice impressions of Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and James Stewart which paid homage to The Maltese Falcon (1941). In 1982, Anderson released Animation and in 1983, appeared on "In High Places" and "Shine" from Crises by Mike Oldfield. Also that year, he performed with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and attempted to form a band with Wakeman and Keith Emerson, but it fell through.

In early 1983, Anderson was contacted by Phil Carson of Atlantic Records who suggested that he hears a tape of demos that Cinema, a new group formed of Squire, White, Kaye, and guitarist Trevor Rabin, with Horn as producer, had developed for a new album. Anderson was invited to sing lead vocals on the album and join the group, which he accepted. Cinema then changed their name to Yes, and 90125, released in November 1983, became Yes's highest selling album. In 1987, the group released its successor, Big Generator.

Anderson appeared on the song "Cage of Freedom" from the 1984 soundtrack for a re-release of the Fritz Lang film Metropolis. In 1985, his song "This Time It Was Really Right" was featured on the soundtrack for St. Elmo's Fire. He also sang "Silver Train" and "Christie" on the soundtrack to Scream for Help by John Paul Jones. Along with Tangerine Dream, he appeared on the song "Loved by the Sun" for Legend (1985). Anderson released a Christmas-themed solo album, 3 Ships (1985). Biggles: Adventures in Time (1986) features a song sung by Anderson. During this year, he recorded some demo tracks that would later be reworked. He and Vangelis also started writing new songs and recording demos for another album. Though the album was not made, they performed live together on 6 November 1986. The last three years of the 1980s saw Anderson sing on "Moonlight Desires" on Gowan's album Great Dirty World (1987), record his fifth solo album In the City of Angels, sing on "Stop Loving You" on the Toto album The Seventh One (1988), and recorded an album that would later be released as The Lost Tapes of Opio. He also sang on the songs "Within the Lost World" and "Far Far Cry" for the Jonathan Elias album Requiem for the Americas.

In 1988, after Yes' Big Generator tour, Anderson reunited with Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe to form Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (ABWH) with bassist Tony Levin, who recorded one album and supported a successful world tour.

1990–2004: Return to Yes and solo career
In 1990, after the ABWH tour, a series of business deals caused ABWH to reunite with the then-current members of Yes, who had been out of the public eye while searching for a new lead singer. The resulting eight-man band assumed the name Yes, and the album Union (1991) was assembled from various pieces of an in-progress second ABWH album, as well as recordings that Yes had been working on without Anderson. A successful tour followed.

Jon and Vangelis released their fourth album, Page of Life, in 1991. In 1992 Anderson appeared on Kitaro's album Dream, adding both lyrics and vocals to three songs: "Lady of Dreams", "Island of Life" and "Agreement". He also toured South America with a band that included his daughters, Deborah and Jade. He appeared on the song "Along the Amazon" which he co-wrote for violinist Charlie Bisharat's album of the same name. In 1993, Anderson started work on Change We Must, his seventh solo album, featuring a mixture of original and orchestrated versions of songs he sung with Yes, Vangelis, and his solo career. It was released in October 1994 on EMI and Angel Records.

From 1992 to 1994, Anderson recorded the Yes album Talk (1994). "Walls", written by Rabin and Roger Hodgson, reached number 24 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In July 1994, Anderson released Deseo, a solo album of Latino-influenced music. There were plans to release a live album called The Best of South America, but it was not released due to management issues (though some copies were already released by Yes Magazine). Anderson sang on the 7th Level children's video game Tuneland. Also, his son Damion released a single called "Close 2 the Hype", which featured him and Jon on vocals.

In August 1995, Anderson relocated to San Luis Obispo in California. His eighth studio album, Angels Embrace, was released on 26 September 1995 on the Higher Octave Music label. His first primarily instrumental album, it displays Anderson performing ambient music with assistance from Steve Katz and Keith Heffner on keyboards and his two daughters on vocals. Anderson followed this with Toltec, a concept album released on 30 January 1996 on Windham Hill Records that tells the story of Toltec, "a Native American concept of a group of people who have been all over the Earth, existing within different cultures throughout the centuries". The album was meant to be released in 1993 as The Power of Silence, minus the sound effects and narration added later, but it was cancelled following issues with Geffen Records.

In the mid-1990s, Anderson had planned to tour and record in China, but abandoned the idea in favour of writing and recording new music with Yes after Wakeman and Howe rejoined the band. Anderson's move to San Luis Obispo influenced the decision for Yes to record their three-night stint at the town's Fremont Theater in March 1996, as part of their subsequent studio and live album sets Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2, released in 1996 and 1997, respectively. On 12 May 1996, Anderson performed an 80-minute set at a Mother's Day concert in Paso Robles, California formed of Yes, Jon and Vangelis, and solo material. Anderson's next album, Lost Tapes of Opio, was released in 1996 on audio cassette through his Opio Foundation. Formed of songs recorded since the 1980s, proceeds from the release were donated to UNICEF.

In 1997, Anderson released the Celtic-influenced The Promise Ring with his second wife, Jane Luttenburger, sharing vocals. The album is a live recording of music performed by them and members of the Froggin' Peach Orchestra, the name given to a group of 28 musicians based in the Frog & Peach pub in San Luis Obispo. During their honeymoon in 1997, Anderson and Luttenburger recorded Earthmotherearth which was followed by The More You Know in 1998, recorded in Paris with French artist Francis Jocky. It was Anderson's last studio release for 13 years. Anderson appeared on the song "The Only Thing I Need" by act 4Him in 1999; it was recorded for Streams, a multi-group album. Steve Howe's tribute album Portraits of Bob Dylan also featured a cover of the Bob Dylan song "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" with Anderson's vocals. He also recorded with The Fellowship on their album In Elven Lands, inspired by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

In 2000, Anderson had started work on a sequel album to Olias of Sunhillow named The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias. Development on the project slowed since then; in 2011, he reasoned the delay as it spans up to three hours in length, of which he has written the majority of it, but needs additional time "to figure out how to recreate it correctly". Anderson expressed a wish of putting out an interactive album with "an app that allows people to go on a journey, [to] choose a new journey every time they open it up, and hear it in a different way every time".

Solo tours, Anderson & Wakeman
In 2004, he appeared with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland and returned in 2010 for a second performance. A show broadcast from Washington D.C. on satellite radio was released on a DVD called Tour of the Universe in 2005. This release coincided with the release of Jon Anderson's single "State of Independence".

Anderson's earlier albums Olias of Sunhillow and Song of Seven were re-issued in 2006.

Animation was tardily released on CD to complaints about the professionalism of the sound. To some ears, a later pressing used a better master, although the label Voiceprint denies any differences between the pressings.

In Elven Lands, an album containing Anderson's recordings with The Fellowship, was also released as were the first seven volumes of a box set called The Lost Tapes. Also in 2006, Anderson appeared with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (East Coast Troupe) during two show of 16 Decembers in Philadelphia to play "Roundabout". In Fall 2006, Anderson and Rick Wakeman embarked on an tour of the UK billed as "Anderson / Wakeman".

In 2007, Anderson contributed vocals to an album Culture of Ascent by American progressive rock group Glass Hammer; and appeared as part of a vocal ensemble on the track "Repentance" from the Dream Theater album Systematic Chaos. During that year, Anderson also toured both the USA and England with The Paul Green School of Rock Music. Anderson's 1985 Christmas album 3 Ships was also released on CD with bonus tracks. The year 2008 saw an ambient album using Anderson's voice and bird song called From Me to You added to The Lost Tapes. Anderson appeared on the song "Sadness of Flowing" which he co-wrote for Peter Machajdík's album Namah and he made similar contributions to a re-mastering of Tommy Zvoncheck's album ZKG.

In 2009 Anderson played on a European tour called "Have Guitar, Will Travel". Later that year, his 1997 album EarthMotherEarth was re-released with bonus tracks. Rather than just have Jon Anderson's name, it was released under "Jon and Jane Anderson". In The City of Angels and Change We Must were also reprinted during this year. Anderson played a series of shows in Canada and the United States in 2010. He and Rick Wakeman began an autumn tour of the UK at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, on 9 October. A sample of Anderson's vocals from Mike Oldfield's "In High Places" is prominently featured in Kanye West's 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in the opening track "Dark Fantasy".

In October 2010, as Anderson/Wakeman, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman released a joint album entitled The Living Tree. Initially sold only as a souvenir during their "The Anderson Wakeman Project 360" UK tour in Autumn 2010, the album was later made available to the public in November 2010. In June 2011, Anderson released Survival & Other Stories, his 14th solo album.

In October 2011, Anderson released a single-track album entitled Open, featuring orchestration by Stefan Podell.

In late 2012, Anderson launched a site for Zamran Experience, his next concept album. It is to be a sequel of Olias of Sunhillow.

On 3 January 2013, Anderson confirmed still being working on his sequel to Olias of Sunhillow still entitled The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias.

On 28 March 2013, Anderson embarked on an 8-date Australia spring tour, 40 years since Yes' first tour down under in March 1973, followed by a one-off performance at a spring festival in Canada (Rouyn-Noranda, QC), a 4-date short Europe summer tour and 2 separate shows in fall 2013, one in Florida (Miami Beach) and the other in Iceland (Reykjavík) as his very first visit in this country.

On 15 February 2014, Anderson embarked on a 2-month North America tour including a "Progressive Nation At Sea 2014" cruise (50-minute) performance that ended on 24 April 2014. After two shows in the US (on 16 August 2014 in Chesterfield, Missouri and on 31 August 2014 in Avila Beach, California), Jon completed a 5-date South America tour in October 2014. Two North America shows are yet scheduled for November 2014 (in San Francisco, CA and Las Vegas, NV). In October 2014, Anderson announced the release on 19 October 2014 of a new Jon Anderson & Matt Malley charity single entitled "The Family Circle".

APB
On 25 July 2014, Anderson announced his collaboration with French violinist and jazz composer Jean-Luc Ponty named the AndersonPonty Band (APB), and news of their upcoming album, recorded with Jamie Dunlap on guitars, Wally Minko on keyboards, Baron Browne on bass and Rayford Griffin on drums and percussion. Initially Michael Lewis on guitar was involved but left the project. AndersonPonty aimed to record several new songs and revisit music the two had written in their careers with new arrangements. Ponty stated: "The idea is to keep our musical personalities and the original sounds, but the production will be more modern".

Following a period of rehearsals from May–July 2014, the group went in residence for three weeks at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado to rehearse, record and perform their debut show at the venue on 20 September 2014. During post-production, Dunlap left the band in January 2015 and replaced by Jamie Glaser who replaced Dunlap's guitar parts with his own. Production delayed further, and several shows were cancelled after Anderson had suffered from sinus issues. Their album Better Late Than Never was released in September 2015 for CD and DVD as the partial recording of their first concert on 20 September 2014 in Aspen, Colorado.

From October–November 2015 and April–May 2016, the group toured North America with a line-up of Anderson, Ponty, Rayford Griffin, Wally Minko, Keith Jones and Jamie Glaser.

Anderson/Stolt
On 16 March 2016, Anderson announced that he had been recording an album in the past year with Swedish musician Roine Stolt. Invention of Knowledge was released on 24 June 2016.

2016–present: ARW
In January 2016, Anderson announced he had joined forces with Yes veterans Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman under the name Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman (ARW), revealing the three had been writing new material for an album. The new band is a Yes-spin-off band. ARW have announced an Autumn 2016 US tour and a Spring 2017 European tour named An Evening of Yes Music and More. Besides Jon Anderson on vocals, Trevor Rabin on guitar and Rick Wakeman on keyboards, the touring line-up includes Lee Pomeroy on bass and Lou Molino III on drums.

Musical style
It is a commonly held misconception that Anderson sings falsetto, a vocal technique which artificially produces high, airy notes by using only the ligamentous edges of the vocal cords; however, this is not the case. Anderson's normal singing/speaking voice is naturally above the tenor range. In a 2008 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Anderson stated, "I'm an alto tenor and I can sing certain high notes, but I could never sing falsetto, so I go and hit them high."

Anderson is also responsible for most of the mystically themed lyrics and concepts which are part of many Yes releases. The lyrics are frequently inspired by various books Anderson has enjoyed, from Tolstoy's War and Peace to Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. A footnote in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi inspired an entire double album Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). Recurring themes include environmentalism, pacifism and sun worship.

Family
Anderson married Jennifer Baker on 22 December 1969; they divorced in 1995. They have three children: Deborah (b. 1970), Damion (b. 1972) and Jade (b. 1980). Deborah is a photographer and sang on her father's solo album Song of Seven (1980), Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (1989), and Angel Milk (2005) by the French electronica band Télépopmusik. Damion is a musician and spoke the final lines on the Yes song "Circus of Heaven" on Tormato (1978) when he was six years old. He released the EP Close to the Hype (1994) with his father. Jade's birth is celebrated in her father's song "Animation" on his album of the same name. She sang backing vocals on many of his later albums and released a solo album in Japan.

In 1997, Anderson married American Jane Luttenberger. In 2009, Anderson became an American citizen.

Health and spirituality
Anderson was a smoker in the 1960s and 1970s and once tried cocaine, but "didn't like it." He now lives a much healthier lifestyle, particularly in his later life, with vitamin supplements and meditation. In the mid-1970s, Anderson became a vegetarian, as did most members of Yes; however, in an interview he stated, "I was a veggie for a while, but again I grew out of that. But I do eat very healthy." In a 16 August 2006 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Anderson said he eats meat, mostly fish, on occasion. In the interview, he also stated he had a spiritual adviser that "helped him see into the fourth dimension". Before live performances, he often meditates in a tent with crystals and dreamcatchers, a practice he started in the 1980s. Anderson's religious beliefs are syncretic and varied, including respect for the Divine Mother Audrey Kitagawa.

One of Anderson's passions is painting, and he uses his art as another channel for his creativity and self-expression. His artwork is available to view on his official website. He lived in France with Jennifer Baker at a farm in Saint-Paul de Vence for over five years from the very late 1970s, becoming friend of painters Marc Chagall and André Verdet, nearest neighbours (inspiring some of his songs and musical themes). In 1990 he returned in France to record demos between Le Domaine de Miraval still in Provence at Le Val and Paris, this time with ABWH for the perspective of an hypothetical second album.

On 13 May 2008, Anderson suffered a severe asthma attack which required a stay in hospital. According to Yes' website, he was later "at home and resting comfortably." Yes' planned summer 2008 tour was subsequently cancelled, with the press release saying, "Jon Anderson was admitted to the hospital last month after suffering a severe asthma attack. He was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure and was told by doctors to rest and not work for a period of at least six months." Further health problems continued through 2008. In September 2008, Anderson wrote that he's "so much better...so grateful and so blessed...I look forward to 2009 for the "Great Work" to come." He started singing again in early 2009. In 2009, he returned to touring (solo), performed along with Peter Machajdík and an ensemble of Slovakian musicians on Tribute To Freedom, an event to commemorate the fall of the Iron Curtain in former Czechoslovakia at Devin Castle near Bratislava, Slovakia, and continued touring in 2010 and the autumn of 2011, with Rick Wakeman for a UK tour (2010) and the eastern US (2011).

Discography

 * Solo albums
 * Olias of Sunhillow (1976)
 * Song of Seven (1980)
 * Animation (1982)
 * 3 Ships (1985)
 * In the City of Angels (1988)
 * Deseo (1994)
 * Change We Must (1994)
 * Angels Embrace (1995)
 * Toltec (1996)
 * Lost Tapes of Opio (1996)
 * The Promise Ring (1997)
 * Earth Mother Earth (1997)
 * The More You Know (1998)
 * Survival & Other Stories (2011)