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Chris Squire

Chris Squire

Overview
Christopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire (born 4 March 1948), is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 musician, known as the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 group Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.
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Encyclopedia
Christopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire (born 4 March 1948), is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 musician, known as the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 group Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.

Before Yes


He was born in Kingsbury
Kingsbury
Kingsbury is an area in the London Borough of Brent, northwest London. The name Kingsbury means "The King's Manor".-History:Kingsbury was historically a small parish in the Hundred of Gore and county of Middlesex. Until the nineteenth century it was largely rural with only scattered settlements....

, a suburb of northwest London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, in England. His father was a cab driver, and his mother a housewife. He was trained in the St Andrew's church choir as a young boy, beginning his musical career with a group called the "Selfs" , along with his friend Andrew Jackman
Andrew Jackman
Andrew Pryce Jackman was a keyboard player and arranger. He was in The Syn with bassist Chris Squire . Jackman subsequently worked on Squire's solo album Fish Out of Water, on The Steve Howe Album and on the Yes album Tormato.-History:In the mid-1960s, Jackman was the keyboard player in The Selfs...

 who played the keyboards. The band had their own venue at the St Andrew's church hall where on Friday nights they played at their own club, called appropriately, the "Graveyard Club". This was run by a group of local Grammar School boys which included Jonathan Angell, Bill Mesley, Chris Mann and Colin Mallett.

When Squire was about sixteen, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 were the catalyst that prompted him to consider a career in music and to take up the bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

. In 1964, he was suspended from the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School is a British independent school for boys aged 4–19. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and of the Haileybury Group....

 for "having long hair", and given money to get a haircut. Instead he went home, used the money for other things, and never returned to school.

Squire was fond of experimenting with LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...

 in the 1960s, until an incident where he had a bad acid trip. He recalled that "it was the last time I ever took it, having ended up in St Stephen's Hospital in Fulham for a couple of days not knowing who I was, or what I was, or who anybody else was." He also recalled that he spent months inside his girlfriend's apartment, afraid to leave, and it was during this time that he developed his style on the bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

. He recovered and never used LSD again.

Squire's first bass was a Futurama, "very cheap, but good enough to learn on." He acquired his signature Rickenbacker 4001 bass
Rickenbacker 4001
The Rickenbacker 4001 is a bass guitar that was manufactured by Rickenbacker as a "deluxe model" of the 4000 between 1961 and 1981 before being replaced by an updated version, the Rickenbacker 4003...

 in 1965, while working at Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....

. His early influences were diverse, ranging from church and choral music to the Merseybeat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...

 sounds of the early 1960s and he studied the bass styles of John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

, Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...

, and Larry Graham
Larry Graham
Larry Graham, Jr. is an African American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station...

. Squire's first musical groups The Selfs, The Syn
The Syn
The Syn are an English band that were active from 1965 to 1967, and then reunited as a progressive rock band in 2004. Chris Welch, in his book, Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes wrote, "The Syn were very similar to Yes in fact...

 (both including Jackman), and later, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, would introduce him to his early Yes collaborators Peter Banks
Peter Banks
Peter Banks is an English guitarist. He was the original guitarist of the progressive rock band Yes.-Early career:When Banks was a young boy, his father bought him an acoustic guitar...

 and Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...

. In 1965, he made his first public appearance with the Selfs at "The Graveyard" club in St Andrew's Church Hall.

Yes


During his first conversation with Anderson, the pair broke the ice by discussing one of their favourite groups, Simon & Garfunkel (Yes later covered the duo's "America") and Squire discovered that he and Anderson were both into vocal groups. His other influences included The Fifth Dimension and The Beatles. Squire claimed Yes was formed with Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...

 and keyboardist Tony Kaye
Tony Kaye (musician)
Tony Kaye is a British musician.Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995...

 partly out of necessity. "I couldn't get session work because most musicians hated my style. They wanted me to play something a lot more basic. We started Yes as a vehicle to develop everyone's individual styles."

Yes released their first record in 1969, and though the band have had many personnel changes over the years, they have continued to record and tour for over 40 years. Squire is the only original member who has remained in the lineup throughout the band's recording tenure, with Jon Anderson only having been absent on 1980's Drama
Drama (Yes album)
Drama is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock group Yes. It is the first of two Yes albums without vocalist Jon Anderson. In early 1980, after rehearsing music for the follow-up to the tepidly-received Tormato, both Anderson and Rick Wakeman departed the band over creative and...

and 2011's Fly From Here
Fly from Here
-Reaction from Anderson:In an interview with Rolling Stone, Anderson stated that on hearing the single "We Can Fly" he felt it sounded "a bit dated" and that Horn's production "wasn't as good as I expected"...

. He has also been one of the main forces behind the band's music, as well as "perhaps the most enigmatic" group member.

While Anderson typically handled the lyrics, Howe and Squire co-wrote much of the band's music with Anderson. In addition, Squire and Howe would supply backing vocals in harmony with Anderson, which can be heard on songs like "South Side of the Sky
South Side of the Sky
"South Side of the Sky" is a song by progressive rock band Yes from their album Fragile. It is one of the relatively few group performances on the album....

" and "Close to the Edge
Close to the Edge (song)
"Close to the Edge" is the title track to progressive rock band Yes's album of the same name. The song is over 18 minutes in length and takes up the entire first side of the album. It consists of four movements.- Movements :-I...

".

During the band's formative years Squire was frequently known for his tardiness, a habit that drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

mer Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...

 often complained about. Because of this, Squire would frequently drive at unsafe speeds to get to gigs on time, once causing an accident on the way to a gig in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 after he fell asleep at the wheel, although nobody was injured.

As Squire, along with Alan White
Alan White (Yes drummer)
Alan White is an English rock drummer known for his work with the progressive rock band Yes. White was also a member of the Plastic Ono Band, playing live in 1969 at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, which was recorded and released three months later as Live Peace in Toronto 1969...

 and Steve Howe
Steve Howe (guitarist)
Stephen James "Steve" Howe is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes...

, co-owned the "Yes" name at the time, the 1989 ABWH
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe was a project of four progressive rock musicians, vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and guitarist Steve Howe . They had played together in Yes in the early 1970s...

 lineup without him (which contained Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

 and Howe) could not record under that name.

Squire has concentrated overwhelmingly on Yes' music over the years, and his solo works have been few and far between. His first solo record was 1975's Fish Out of Water, featuring Yes alumni Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...

 on drums and Patrick Moraz
Patrick Moraz
Patrick Philippe Moraz is a progressive rock keyboard player. He is best known as the keyboardist for the progressive rock band Yes, from 1974 to 1976, and the Moody Blues from 1978 to 1991...

 on keyboards and The Syn/The Selfs alumnus Andrew Jackman also on keyboards. Squire was later a member of the short-lived XYZ (eX-Yes/Zeppelin) in 1981, a group composed of Alan White
Alan White (Yes drummer)
Alan White is an English rock drummer known for his work with the progressive rock band Yes. White was also a member of the Plastic Ono Band, playing live in 1969 at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, which was recorded and released three months later as Live Peace in Toronto 1969...

 (Yes) on drums and Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

 (Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

) on guitar. XYZ recorded several demo tracks at Squire's home studio in Virginia Water
Virginia Water
Virginia Water is an affluent village, a lake and, originally, a stream, the village being in the Runnymede Borough Council in Surrey and the bodies of water stretching over the borders of Runnymede, Old Windsor and Sunninghill and Ascot, England....

, but never produced anything formal, though two of the demos provided the basis for two later Yes tracks, "Mind Drive" and "Can You Imagine?". Squire also played a role in bringing Trevor Rabin
Trevor Rabin
Trevor Charles Rabin is a South African born musician, best known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British progressive rock band Yes from 1983–1994, and since then, as a film composer.- Early years :...

 into the Cinema
Cinema (band)
Cinema yes were a short-lived band started in 1982 by former Yes members Alan White and Chris Squire, with guitarist Trevor Rabin. They had plans to release their debut album in 1983, and were working on a number of songs, most of which had been written by Rabin.Eventually, these musicians were...

 band project, which became the 90125
90125
-Yes:*Jon Anderson – lead vocals*Tony Kaye – keyboards*Trevor Rabin – guitars, additional keyboards, backing vocals*Chris Squire – bass, backing vocals*Alan White – drums, percussion, backing vocals- Studio personnel :...

lineup.

Conspiracy and beyond


Later, Squire would join with Yes guitarist Billy Sherwood
Billy Sherwood
William "Billy" Wyman Sherwood is a musician, record producer, and engineer.-Family:Sherwood comes from a musical family which includes his father Bobby Sherwood, who was an actor, musician, and big band leader, his mother Phyllis, a singer and drummer, and brother Michael, a keyboardist and...

 in a side project called Conspiracy
Conspiracy (band)
Conspiracy was a progressive rock band founded by Billy Sherwood and Chris Squire . The band released two albums: Conspiracy and The Unknown , and a live DVD...

. This band's self-titled debut album contained the nuclei of several songs that had appeared on Yes' recent albums. Conspiracy's second album, The Unknown, was released in 2003.

In late 2004, Squire joined a reunion of The Syn
The Syn
The Syn are an English band that were active from 1965 to 1967, and then reunited as a progressive rock band in 2004. Chris Welch, in his book, Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes wrote, "The Syn were very similar to Yes in fact...

, subsequently leaving the band in May 2006. He worked on two solo projects with other former Syn collaborators Gerard Johnson, Jeremy Stacey
Jeremy Stacey
Jeremy Stacey is a British drummer. His early work included the 1990s band, The Lemon Trees and Denzil...

 and Paul Stacey
Paul Stacey
Paul Stacey is a British guitarist and producer, best known for his work with Oasis and The Black Crowes.Paul Stacey's early work included the 1990s band, The Lemon Trees and Denzil....

. A Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 album, Chris Squire's Swiss Choir, was released in 2007 (with Johnson, J. Stacey and Steve Hackett
Steve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...

).

On 9 February 2009, Squire was rushed to a hospital to treat an aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...

 in his leg, leading ultimately to the cancellation of the remaining dates of a leg of the In the Present tour. He has since fully recovered, and touring resumed.

Style


Squire's bass playing is noted for being aggressive, dynamic, and melodic. Squire's main instrument is a Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...

 bass (model RM1999, serial number DC127), which he has owned and played since 1965—the year it was first introduced. In many ways, the Rickenbacker was the polar opposite of the then commonly used Fender bass. (In fact, the electric bass at the time was often referred to as the "Fender.") The RM1999 was a budget, monophonic
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...

 version of Rickenbacker's 4001 stereo bass. This model was imported into the UK by Rose Morris Ltd (hence the RM prefix on the model number) and, according to Squire's official website, was only the fourth bass of its type to be imported into Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 from the United States.

Squire mentioned in a 1979 interview with Circus Weekly that he acquired this bass while working at the Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....

 music store in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. This instrument, with its warmth and distortion, is a significant part of Squire's unique sound. Due to its distinct high/mid tone, it allowed the bass to take on a more "lead" role, which suited Squire perfectly. Unlike the grooving low end thump established by James Jamerson
James Jamerson
James Lee Jamerson was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of Motown Records' hits in the 1960s and early 1970s , and he is now regarded as one of the most influential bass players in modern music history...

 and imitated throughout the world of rock and R&B, Squire constructed contrapuntal lines reminiscent of a "Bach/Baroque" style where the bass played a separate melody from the main theme. The fact that the Rickenbacker had a "harpsichord-like" sound suited this approach perfectly.

According to his interview in Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...

magazine in October 1973, Squire obtained his distinctive tone at the time by rewiring his RM1999 into stereo and sending the bass and treble pickups each into a separate amplifier. By splitting the signal from his bass into dual high and low frequency outputs and then sending the low frequency output to a conventional bass amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...

 and the high-frequency output to a separate lead guitar amplifier, Squire produced a tonal 'sandwich' that added a growling, overdrive edge to the sound while retaining the Rickenbacker's powerful bass response. This gave his bass sound bright, growling higher frequencies and clean, solid bass frequencies. This technique allowed Squire to utilize harmonic distortion on his bass while avoiding the flat, fuzzy sound, loss of power and poor bass response that typically occurs when bass guitars are overdriven through an amplifier or put through a fuzz box. During an interview to Bass Player
Bass Player (magazine)
Bass Player is a popular magazine for bassists. Each issue offers a variety of artist interviews, lessons, equipment reviews, and a complete transcribed bass line from a popular song...

magazine in January 2009, Squire claimed to have rewired his bass to stereo, even before Rickenbacker introduced the Rick-O-Sound feature, so he could send the output of the bass (neck) pickup through a fuzz box, while keeping the treble (bridge) pickup clean, because the last sounded "horribly nasal" when used with the fuzz effect. He also plays with a pick which contributes to the sharp attack as well as using fresh Rotosound Swing Bass strings for every show. Squire's intricate and complex bass playing style has influenced subsequent bassists such as Billy Sheehan
Billy Sheehan
William "Billy" Sheehan is an American bassist known for his work with Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, and Niacin. Sheehan has won the "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll from Guitar Player Magazine five times for his "lead bass" playing style...

, Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...

 of Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...

, Steve Harris
Steve Harris (musician)
Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975...

 of Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...

, Les Claypool
Les Claypool
Leslie Edward "Les" Claypool is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead vocalist and bassist in the band Primus. Claypool's playing style on the electric bass mixes tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends and slapping.Claypool has also self produced and engineered his...

 of Primus
Primus (band)
Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by Lane, though the latter two departed...

, John Myung
John Myung
John Ro Myung is an American bassist, Chapman Stick player and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is considered a virtuoso player who is widely recognized for his technical proficiency....

 of Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...

, and Robert DeLeo
Robert DeLeo
Robert Emile DeLeo is an American bass player, songwriter, and harmony vocalist for the rock band Stone Temple Pilots. He has also played in Talk Show and Army of Anyone...

 of Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots
Stone Temple Pilots is an American rock band from San Diego, California that consists of Scott Weiland , brothers Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo , and Eric Kretz ....

.

In addition to his back-up vocals, Squire is featured as lead vocalist on two Yes songs: "Can You Imagine?" from Magnification and "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be" from Fly From Here
Fly from Here
-Reaction from Anderson:In an interview with Rolling Stone, Anderson stated that on hearing the single "We Can Fly" he felt it sounded "a bit dated" and that Horn's production "wasn't as good as I expected"...

. He also has a more prominent vocal role on parts of the Drama album.

Nickname


Chris Squire is commonly known by his nickname "Fish", and the name is associated with many of his works (including his solo record, Fish Out of Water, and the solo piece "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)
The Fish
"The Fish " is a mostly instrumental rock song by progressive rock band Yes from their 1971 album Fragile. It was written by Chris Squire....

" from the 1971 Yes record Fragile
Fragile (Yes album)
Fragile is the fourth studio album from the English progressive rock band Yes, released on Atlantic Records. It is the first to feature keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who replaced Tony Kaye in 1971, and the first to feature cover art by Roger Dean, who would design many of the band's records.Upon its...

). The name has multiple origins. First, his astrological sign is Pisces. Second, in the early days of Yes' career, he once accidentally flooded a hotel room in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, while taking a shower, and Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...

 gave him the nickname. He may also have acquired this nickname because of the alleged amount of time he spends in the bath. On the 2007 documentary "The Classic Artists Series 3: Yes", Bruford says that the nickname arose because Squire spent long periods in the bathroom while they shared a house together in Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

.

Family


Chris Squire married Nikki, whom he had met in 1970. She sang on the 1981 Christmas single "Run with the Fox" and also the track "Hold Out Your Hand" from Fish Out Of Water. In 1983, she formed Esquire, on whose first album Chris, Alan White and Trevor Horn assisted. Their family included Carmen Squire (Chris's stepdaughter), Chandrika and Camille Squire. The couple divorced after fifteen years of marriage.

Squire married actress Melissa Morgan on 8 May 1993. She was well-known for her role as Brittany Norman on "The Young and The Restless" and later returned to the daytime program as Agnes Sorensen. They have a son, Cameron. The two have since divorced.

Scotland became Squire's third wife. She gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Xilan, on 19 December 2008. They reside in the Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

 neighborhood of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Solo

  • Fish Out of Water (1975) - UK
    UK Albums Chart
    The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

     #25
  • Chris Squire & Alan White
    Alan White (Yes drummer)
    Alan White is an English rock drummer known for his work with the progressive rock band Yes. White was also a member of the Plastic Ono Band, playing live in 1969 at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, which was recorded and released three months later as Live Peace in Toronto 1969...

     - Run With the Fox (1981)
  • Chris Squire's Swiss Choir (2007)

Guest appearances

  • Eddie Harris - E.H. In the U.K. (1974)
  • Esquire - Esquire (1987) (only backup vocals)
  • Rock Aid Armenia
    Rock Aid Armenia
    Rock Aid Armenia was a humanitarian effort by the British music industry to raise money to help those affected by the Leninakan Earthquake of 1988 that struck Armenia....

     - The Earthquake Album (1990)
  • Rick Wakeman
    Rick Wakeman
    Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

     - The Six Wives of Henry VIII
    The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album)
    The Six Wives of Henry VIII is the debut studio album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman, released in January 1973 on A&M Records. It is an instrumental progressive rock album with its concept based on his interpretations of the musical characteristics of the six wives of Henry...

    (1973)
  • Rick Wakeman - Criminal Record (1977)
  • Rick Wakeman - The Classical Connection II (1992, material recorded in 1971)
  • World Trade
    World Trade (band)
    World Trade was a U.S. progressive rock band that featured Billy Sherwood on bass and vocals and Bruce Gowdy on guitar. Yes's Chris Squire performed on their second album, Euphoria.-History:...

     - Euphoria (1995 - cowriter of the third and nine songs The Evolution Song & Say Goodbye, with Billy Sherwood
    Billy Sherwood
    William "Billy" Wyman Sherwood is a musician, record producer, and engineer.-Family:Sherwood comes from a musical family which includes his father Bobby Sherwood, who was an actor, musician, and big band leader, his mother Phyllis, a singer and drummer, and brother Michael, a keyboardist and...

    )
  • various artists - Pigs & Pyramids—An All Star Lineup Performing the Songs of Pink Floyd (2002)
    • material re-used on Billy Sherwood's Back Against the Wall
      Back Against The Wall
      Back Against the Wall is an album released in 2005 by Billy Sherwood in collaboration with a number of progressive rock artists as a tribute to Pink Floyd's album The Wall...

      (2005)
  • Gov't Mule
    Gov't Mule
    Gov't Mule is a Southern rock jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project by Warren Haynes and Allen Woody.The band released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995...

     - The Deep End, Volume 2
    The Deep End, Volume 2
    After the death of founding member and bassist Allen Woody, Gov't Mule began recording tracks using bass players that Woody had admired. Originally, there was to be one disc, but so many wanted to be part of the sessions that over 160 minutes of music was recorded. At this point, the remaining...

    (2002)
  • Steve Hackett
    Steve Hackett
    Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...

     - Out of the Tunnel's Mouth
    Out of the Tunnel's Mouth
    Out of the Tunnel's Mouth is an album by musician Steve Hackett. It is his first album on his new vanity label Wolfwork after leaving his previous label Camino. It is also his first prog release since 2006's Wild Orchids...

    (2009)

External links