Chris Squire

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Chris Squire (2013)
Chris Squire at a Yes concert in 1977

Christopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire (born March 4, 1948 in Kingsbury , London , † June 27, 2015 in Phoenix , Arizona ) was a British rock musician . He became known to a worldwide audience as the bassist of the progressive rock formation Yes, which he co-founded in 1968 .

Career

Youth (1948–1965)

Christopher Russell Edward Squire grew up in the English Haberdashers 'Aske', attended public school in Elstree and soon joined the church choir of St. Andrew's in Kingsbury at. He also sang at Guildford Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral .

In 1964 he was expelled from school for having too long hair. Shortly afterwards he bought his first bass, a Futurama. In January 1965 he started working at the Boosey & Hawkes LTD music store in London's West End. In the same year he replaced his Futurama with a Rickenbacker 1999 (that was the name of the English importer Rose Morris for the Rickenbacker 4001S, which is a simpler version of the well-known model 4001 ) - the fourth to be sold in England has been.

With The Syn and Mabel Greer's Toyshop (1965–1968)

Squire started his musical career as a member of numerous local bands in London in the 1960s. The best known was the psychedelic band The Syn (1966/67, with Gunner Hakanarsson (drums), Andrew Jackman (keyboards), Steve Nardelli (vocals), Chris Squire (bass), Peter Banks (guitar), Chris Allen (drums) , Ray Steele (drums)). The band produces some quite successful singles, including the tracks 14 Hour Technicolor Dream and Created by Clive (both 1967), but no major successes.

In 1967 Squire and the later Yes guitarist Banks founded the band Mabel Greer's Toyshop (Peter Banks (guitar), Clive Bailey (guitar, vocals), Chris Squire (bass), Bob Hagger (drums)). Later that year, Squire met singer Jon Anderson at the La Chasse Club in London , who was doing a part-time job there. The two discovered that they had similar preferences ( The Fifth Dimension , Simon & Garfunkel ) and began writing songs (including Sweetness , which would later be featured on the first Yes album, Yes ). Anderson joined Mabel Greer's Toyshop, and the line-up, Squire, Anderson (vocals), Banks, Tony Kaye (organ) and Bill Bruford (drums), changed their names to "Yes" at the suggestion of Peter Banks.

Own projects during the time with Yes (1968–1990), XYZ

Squire is the only Yes musician to be heard on every album by the band. He's the only one who never left the band. In addition to his bass playing, his singing can also be heard on many Yes pieces.

Squire was a member of the band until his death in June 2015, the following projects were realized in the many breaks that Yes took after 1975 and especially after 1984.

In 1975 Squire published his only solo album in collaboration with some other Yes musicians such as Bill Bruford or Patrick Moraz : Fish Out of Water .

After Yes broke up in 1980, Squire started the short-lived band project XYZ (e X - Y es - & - Z eppelin) together with Yes drummer Alan White and ex Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page . They met in Squire's studio in April 1981 and tried out a few ideas, but Robert Plant , who joined us after a while, decided after just one rehearsal to leave XYZ again. Since the mid-1990s, some of the XYZ ideas have appeared on albums by Yes ( Mind Drive on Keys to Ascension 2 from 1997, Can You Imagine on Magnification ) and The Firm (Fortune Hunter), as well as bootlegs .

Squire and White then recorded the Christmas single Run With the Fox in December 1981 and then formed the band Cinema with guitarist Trevor Rabin and former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye , which at the instigation of Jon Anderson , who joined them some time later, in "Yes" was renamed.

In 1987 Esquire was released , the debut of the pop-rock band of the same name around Squire's then wife Nikki. He can be heard as a background singer and produced some of the pieces.

Squire, who owned the rights to the band name "Yes", prevented a lawsuit in 1989 that Jon Anderson , Bill Bruford , Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe could call themselves "Yes" without him. The band went by the name of Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe , went on tour as such (but also announced as "an evening with Yes-music") and brought out the album Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe , until they got together in 1990 with the remaining Yes members to Squire to form the eight-member Union line- up.

Collaboration with Billy Sherwood: The Chris Squire Experiment and Conspiracy (1992-2003)

In August 1992 Squire appeared in California with a new band called "The Chris Squire Experiment", which also included Yes drummer Alan White and later Yes member Billy Sherwood . Other musicians involved were Jimmy Haun , who had previously played guitar on the Yes album Union , and Steve Porcaro , keyboards. The band played songs by Union and new pieces that were created in collaboration with Sherwood and later appeared in part on the first Conspiracy album and on Yes' long player Open Your Eyes , released in 1997 . The set list for the August 25, 1992 concert in San Jose, California read: Open Your Eyes (later on the Yes album of the same name), The Lonesome Trail , You're the Reason , One World Going Round , Days of Wonder and Follow Our Dreams . Occasionally, the Yes classic Long Distance Runaround (from the album Fragile ) was played.

In 1995 he worked with Sherwood on two songs for the Neoprog album Euphoria , the second album by the Sherwood band World Trade . In the 1990s and 2000s he also ran the melodic rock project Conspiracy together with Sherwood, which released two albums: Conspiracy (2000) and The Unknown (2003), plus the live DVD Conspiracy live . On Conspiracy , actually a compilation, there are various pieces that were created in the course of the nineties, including alternative versions of Yes songs (especially Union and Open Your Eyes ), but also hitherto unknown. Only the successor can be considered a closed, independent album. Conspiracy continued the Yes style of the 80s ( 90125 , Big Generator (especially the song of the same name), Union , (especially The More We Live - Let Go )).

Furthermore, Chris Squire was to be heard as a guest musician on various albums by other artists.

The Syn reunification, second solo album and collaborations with Steve Hackett (2004–2015)

In spring 2004 Squire reformed his 1960s band The Syn with Stephen Nardelli, Martyn Adelman, Gerard Johnson and Peter Banks , but left them again in 2006. He then worked with Gerard Johnson ( Funky Monkey , St. Etienne , ex-Peter Banks) and Paul Stacey ( Oasis , The Black Crowes , ex- The Lemon Trees ) on his second solo album, which was recorded in Stacey's Strangeways Studio . The album was originally due to be released in December 2007, but has not yet been released. Stone Ghost Records also released a CD / DVD Special Deluxe Edition (5.1 mix with bonus tracks) of his previously published solo album Fish Out of Water in August 2007 . The DVD contains the promo videos for the songs Hold Out Your Hand and You by My Side , an interview with Squire and an audio commentary by Squire.

In November 2007 a Christmas album called Chris Squire's Swiss Choir was released , on which Squire reinterpreted several traditional British Christmas chorals in a more modern rock / pop costume with choral support. In addition to the syn musicians Gerard Johnson, Jeremy Stacey and Paul Stacey, the former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett was also involved in this album. Together with Hackett, Squire launched the joint project Squackett (a play on their surnames "Squire" and "Hackett") in 2009 . As a squackett , they released the album A Life within a Day in June 2012 . Squire also made guest appearances on Steve Hackett's solo albums Out of the Tunnel's Mouth (2009), Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (2011) and Wolflight (2015).

Playing technique and style

Squire generated its bass sound with a Rickenbacker bass played with a pick . He mostly played a Rickenbacker 4001, which he had owned since 1965. It is the fourth model of this type introduced to Great Britain from the United States. Squire achieved its bass sound through what is known as bi-amping : it separated the stereo signal from its bass into two parts. He amplified the lower frequencies with a conventional bass amplifier, but the higher frequencies with an amplifier for lead guitars . As a result, he achieved a sound that is unusual for the electric bass and is located between guitar and bass. In addition, the self-taught Squire also used some electric guitar effects such as tremolo, phasing or a wah-wah pedal.

He cited Paul McCartney and John Entwistle as influences .

Squire was named Bassist of the Year several times by the music press in the 1970s and 1980s.

death

Chris Squire died of leukemia on June 27, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona, aged 67 .

Discography

With yes

solo

  • 1975: Fish Out of Water (UK: silversilver)
  • 2007: Chris Squire's Swiss Choir

With Alan White

  • 1981: Run with the Fox (single)

With Conspiracy

  • 2000: Conspiracy
    • This album contains three hidden tracks: Open Your Eyes (Wish I Knew) , Man in the Moon & Say Goodbye . The first two are the basic versions of the songs of the same name that were released on the Yes album Open Your Eyes in 1997 .
  • 2003: The Unknown

With The Syn

  • Created by Clive , 1967 (single)
  • 14 Hour Technicolor Dream , 1967 (single)
  • Various artists: The Psychedelic Scene
  • Various artists: The Freakbeat Scene
  • Various artists: Rubble Collection 3
  • Various artists: Nuggets II , 2001
  • Original Syn, 2004 / Original Syn 1965-2004 , 2005
  • Cathedral of Love , 2005 (Promo)
  • Cathedral of Love , 2005 (single)
  • Syndestructible , 2005

Squackett (with Steve Hackett)

  • 2012: A Life Within a Day

Guest appearances

  • Rick Wakeman : The Six Wives of Henry VIII , 1973
  • Eddie Harris : EH in the UK , 1974
  • Rick Wakeman: Criminal Record , 1977
  • The Buggles : Adventures in Modern Recording , 1981
  • Esquire : Esquire , 1987
  • World Trade : World Trade , 1989
  • Rock Aid Armenia : The Earthquake Album , 1990
  • Various artists: Pop Dreams and Rock Track , 1992
  • Rick Wakeman: The Classical Connection II , 1992
  • World Trade: Euphoria , 1995
  • Peter Banks : Can I Play You Something? , 1999
  • Various artists: Pigs & Pyramids - An All Star Lineup Performing the Songs of Pink Floyd , 2002
  • Gov't Mule : The Deep End Volume 2 , 2002

Compilations

  • Various artists: Affirmative: The Yes Solo Family Album , 1993
  • Rick Wakeman: Voyage - The Very Best of Rick Wakeman , 1996
  • Eddie Harris: In the UK / Is It In , 1999
  • Rick Wakeman: Recollections - The Very Best of Rick Wakeman (1973–1979) , 2000
  • Gov't Mule: The Deep End Volume 1 & Volume 2 , 2002
  • Produced by Trevor Horn , 2004
  • Various artists: Back Against the Wall , 2005
  • The Syn / White / Steve Howe : The More Drama Tour Special Limited Edition CD , 2005

Cover

  • Brenda Carol & ClaireVoyance: Live at HotHouse Cafe , 2005?

Web links

Commons : Chris Squire  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , p. 102.
  2. ^ Peter Keepnews: Chris Squire, Bassist With the Rock Band Yes, Dies at 67. In: The New York Times . June 28, 2015, accessed June 29, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK
personal data
SURNAME Squire, Chris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Squire, Christopher Russell Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rock musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 4, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingsbury , London , England , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 2015
Place of death Phoenix , Arizona , United States