Squire, Chris

Christopher Edward Russell Squire, known popularly as Chris Squire, was born in the Kingsbury neighborhood of London, England, on March 4, 1948.  He is best known as a founding member and only bassist of the progressive rock band YES.

Chris picked up the bass for the first time at the age of 16.  His prior musical experience included singing in his church choir and listening to his father's Ella Fitzgerald records.  Among the influences for him picking up the bass was the debut of The Beatles.

In his early performing career he was a member of the Selfs, and later The Syn, which performed psychadelic rock.  The Syn earned a weekly gig at the Marquee Club in Soho.  In 1968, Squire joined Mabel Greer's Toyshop, a band described as "very good, but it was obvious they weren't going anywhere," by Jack Barrie, owner of La Chasse, a bar down the street from the Marquee.  Barrie introduced Squire to John Anderson, who was working at La Chasse while trying to get his singing career off the ground.  The two found they had many overlapping musical interests and influences.  They brought together other musicians and began practicing together.  They called themselves YES.

The first performance by YES was at a youth camp on August 4, 1968.  One year later, they released their first album, the self-titled YES album.  It was the first of over 20 studio albums that Squire would produce with the band.  YES also produced 14 live albums during Squire's time with them.

Squire, who had a unique bass sound often called aggressive, dynamic, and melodic, ventured off on various projects during his career.  He released several solo singles and albums.  He also released albums with YES bandmates under other band names, including XYZ (with Alan White and Jimmy Page), Cinema, Conspiracy.  He also joined a reunion of The Syn in 2004.

Squire moved to Chandler, Arizona, in 2008 with his third wife, Scotland Squire.  In May 2015, he was diagnosed with leukemia.  At that time, he announced that he'd be taking a break from performing with YES in order to receive treatment.  But after only about a month he passed away on June 27, 2015.

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