Yes drummer Alan White

2022 - 5 - 26

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Alan White, drummer with prog rock band Yes, dies aged 72 (The Guardian)

Drummer who joined in 1972 also played on albums by John Lennon and George Harrison.

“You want to keep the Yes name going to keep that high standard of musicianship and then carry it forward,” he said in 2015. Despite the brief addition of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes (AKA the Buggles) to the group, Yes split in 1981. White formed another new band, Cinema, with Squire, Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye and guitarist Trevor Rabin, whose demos wooed Jon Anderson back to the fold – they soon relaunched the Yes name.

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Image courtesy of "BBC News"

Yes drummer Alan White dies aged 72 (BBC News)

The drummer with seminal prog-rock band Yes, Alan White, has died. The 72-year-old, who was born in Pelton, County Durham, died peacefully at home after a ...

He worked with a variety of bands in the 1960s and then in 1969 received what he thought was a prank phone call pretending to be Lennon. "Throughout his life and six-decade career, Alan was many things to many people: a certified rock star to fans around the world, band mate to a select few, and gentleman and friend to all who met him." In a social media post, the band said: "Alan White, our beloved husband, dad, and grandpa, passed away at the age of 72 at his Seattle-area home on May 26, 2022, after a brief illness.

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Image courtesy of "Pitchfork"

Yes Drummer Alan White Dies at 72 (Pitchfork)

Alan was many things to many people: a certified rock star to fans around the world; bandmate to a select few, and gentleman and friend to all who met him”

After the death of Squire in 2015, White became the longest continuously serving Yes band member. He soon performed on the 1973 live record Yessongs and that same year’s studio album Tales From Topographic Oceans. White would go on to perform on many of Yes’ biggest hits, including “Love Will Find a Way,” “Changes,” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” In 1976, he released his only solo album, Ramshackled. After Yes broke up in the early 1980s, White and founding bassist Chris Squire formed a project with Jimmy Page called XYZ; the band only produced a few demos.

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Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

Alan White, longtime drummer for prog rock band Yes, dies (Los Angeles Times)

Alan White, the longtime drummer for progressive rock pioneers Yes who also played on projects with John Lennon and George Harrison, has died at 72.

White played with bands in England throughout the 1960s. His family said he began piano lessons at age 6 and took up the drums when he was 12. In 1983 Yes released the smash hit album “90125.”

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Image courtesy of "WOKV"

Yes drummer Alan White dead at 72 (WOKV)

SEATTLE — Alan White, the longtime drummer for Yes who also played for John Lennon and George Harrison, died at his Seattle home on Thursday, ...

“I thought it was a friend trying to joke with me, so I put the phone down,” White told Rolling Stone in 2019. He last played with Yes on July 28, 2019, at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga Springs, California, Rolling Stone reported. It was all kind of a flash in a pan.” “Throughout his life and six-decade career, Alan was many things to many people,” his family wrote in a statement confirming his death. White was born in Pelton, County Durham, England, on June 14, 1949. “Eventually I got a call back and he told me he was doing a gig in Toronto and was I available to play drums and can he send a car to pick me up the next morning.”

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Image courtesy of "Loudwire"

Yes Drummer Alan White Has Died at 72 (Loudwire)

Legendary drummer Alan White, most known for his time spent behind the kit for progressive rock icons Yes, had died at the age of 72.

Then he returned to the band again in 2008 and was still part of the group's lineup in present day. Alan is preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and May White (née Thrower), his sister-in-law, Mindi Hall, and many loyal furry companions. Alan joined YES on July 27, 1972, and with only three days to learn the music, YES opened their US tour before 15,000 fans in Dallas, Texas on July 30, 1972.

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Image courtesy of "Deadline"

Alan White Dies: Drummer For Yes, Plastic Ono Band Was 72 (Deadline)

Alan White, longtime drummer prog-rock band Yes, has died at 72. He also played with John Lennon and and on George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass'

He and the band followed during the next decade with Relayer, Going for the One, Tormato — all of which made the Top 10 in the U.S. and UK and went gold or platinum. Born in Pelton, County Durham, England on June 14, 1949, White began piano lessons at age 6, according to his family, and began playing the drums at 12. White’s first album with Yes was 1973’s Tales from Topographic Oceans, which topped the UK chart and made the U.S. Top 10. After a live set and compilation album, the band scored its best-selling U.S. album with 90125, which spawned the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” The set went triple-platinum and was a mainstay on American FM rock stations — and MTV — with subsequent singles “Changes,” “It Can Happen” and “Leave It.” The 1987 follow-up album Big Generator went platinum and featured a pair of FM smash singles in “Love Will Find a Way” and “Rhythm of Love.” Although best known for his drumming with Yes — a band he joined in 1972 and with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 — White also played with the John Lennon & Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band in 1969, performing on the smash Lennon singles “Imagine” and “Instant Karma (We All Shine On).” He performed with Lennon, Ono and Eric Clapton in the famous Live Peace in Toronto concert. “Throughout his life and six-decade career,” White’s family posted on Facebook, “Alan was many things to many people: a certified rock star to fans around the world, band mate to a select few, and gentleman and friend to all who met him.”

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Image courtesy of "KRMG"

Yes drummer Alan White dead at 72 (KRMG)

SEATTLE — Alan White, the longtime drummer for Yes who also played for John Lennon and George Harrison, died at his Seattle home on Thursday, ...

“I thought it was a friend trying to joke with me, so I put the phone down,” White told Rolling Stone in 2019. He last played with Yes on July 28, 2019, at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga Springs, California, Rolling Stone reported. It was all kind of a flash in a pan.” “Throughout his life and six-decade career, Alan was many things to many people,” his family wrote in a statement confirming his death. White was born in Pelton, County Durham, England, on June 14, 1949. “Eventually I got a call back and he told me he was doing a gig in Toronto and was I available to play drums and can he send a car to pick me up the next morning.”

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