Tony Kaye (musician)

Tony Kaye, 1994

Anthony John "Tony" Kaye (born January 11, 1946 in Leicester ) is a British rock musician . He is a pianist and keyboard player . In addition to other keyboard instruments , he mainly plays the piano and Hammond organ .

Early years

Kaye started taking piano lessons when she was just four years old. At twelve he was already playing concerts and went to the London School of Music to become a concert pianist. At 15 he became interested in jazz and young pop music and joined the Danny Rogers Orchestra . He ended his career as a concert pianist three years later.

Yes

He played with the Johnny Taylor's Star Combo in the 1960s and later recorded a few singles with at least three different groups before being invited by Chris Squire in 1968 to join his new band Yes . The five musicians of the Yes original line-up (Tony Kaye, guitarist Peter Banks , bassist Chris Squire, singer Jon Anderson and drummer Bill Bruford ) initially released two albums ( Yes and Time and a Word ), as well as some singles. For the second album, classical musicians were hired, young students from a nearby conservatory, who mostly replaced the guitar parts or superimposed them note by note, which led to guitarist Banks leaving the band. 1971 Yes released the third album The Yes Album with the new guitarist Steve Howe . The first piece, Yours Is No Disgrace , was the first piece Kaye co-composed. But after the last concert of the year at the Crystal Palace , Kaye was asked to leave the group. Personal and musical problems with Steve Howe as well as his aversion to the new, popular instrument synthesizer and the Mellotron were the decisive factors. Kaye also rehearsed some of the songs on the next album Fragile , such as the epic piece Heart of the Sunrise , but the keyboard parts were re-recorded by Kaye's successor Rick Wakeman .

Other bands

He first played as a guest musician on Flash's first album , Peter Banks' band . Then he put together his own band Badger , with whom he first released a live album called One Live Badger (1973), which Jon Anderson co-produced, and then the studio album White Lady (album) (1974) with Jackie Lomax .

After a brief tour with David Bowie 1975-1976, Kaye formed Detective , a band with slightly funky arrangements that released three albums: Detective (1977), It Takes One To Know One (1978) and Live (1979). Living in Los Angeles , he joined the band Badfinger in 1981 . Just as he was about to record a solo album, he ran into Chris Squire at a party and was invited by him to come to a no-obligation studio session. This led Kaye to join the band Cinema , founded by Squire, Alan White and the South African guitarist, keyboardist and singer Trevor Rabin .

Unintentional reunion

Some sessions were produced by Trevor Horn and an album was prepared when Chris Squire invited Jon Anderson to listen to the pieces. Anderson was so taken with the material that he returned as lead singer and Yes was reborn as a result.

90125, Big Generator

Kaye was absent from the last few recordings and from the video owner of a Lonely Heart (he was briefly replaced by Eddie Jobson , who can also be seen in the video), but returned shortly before the album was released. The band's 90125 album was the band's best-selling (it includes their only number one single in America, Owner of a Lonely Heart , as well as the track Cinema , which received a Grammy for best rock instrumental piece of the year.) The world tour that followed lasted until January 1985. From this successful tour, the mini-LP 9012Live: The Solos and a video were released, which was also nominated for a Grammy.

The next album was released in 1987 under the title Big Generator . Kaye had some co-composer credits on this album, working closely with Rabin while Jon Anderson was presented with a fait accompli when he recorded the voice. Dissatisfied with this situation, Anderson left the band after the end of the subsequent tour to record an album with the classic Yes line-up Bill Bruford, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman.

Squire, White, Rabin and Kaye worked on new songs in the meantime and in 1991 the two bands merged to form an 8-piece line-up. An album called Union was released , on which songs from both bands were thrown together, Anderson added his signature voice to all songs, while Squire played bass on a piece of the classic line-up. With the album in their luggage, they toured "Around the World in 80 Dates" in 1991 and 1992.

In 1994, the 90125 cast released the final Talk album that Kaye played on. Although he only played Hammond organ on the album himself, he used a wide range of different keyboards on the subsequent tour.

Current

After retiring from the music business a few years ago, he has been more active for a few years. He occasionally contributes to other musicians' projects, such as the Neil Young tribute band called The Neil Deal , some studio recordings with Billy Sherwood , who inherited Trevor Rabin on Yes, and Pink Floyd tribute albums.

Several (former) Yes musicians formed a new band under the name Circa: in 2006 : Billy Sherwood (bass, vocals), Alan White , Tony Kaye (Hammond, keyboards) and Jimmy Haun (guitar, vocals), before that on Union and the Chris Squire Experiment . While the lineup has changed, Tony remains an integral part of the band.

Kaye founded the band Yoso together with Billy Sherwood and Bobby Kimball (ex Toto ) . The band's current album is called "Elements" (2010). A promotion tour also took the band through Europe in September / October. In addition to the songs from "Elements", songs by Yes and Toto were also played.

During the tour with Yoso, Kaye announced that he would like to release the solo album "9/11" in the near future. It should be available as a free download on the Internet. Another Circa: album has been announced for 2011.

Discography

With Yes see Yes

With badger

• One Live Badger, 1973
• White Lady, 1974
• Various artists: Affirmative: The Yes Solo Family Album, 1993

With detective

• Detective, 1977
• It takes one to know one
• live

With bad fingers

• Badfinger: Airwaves, 1979
• Various artists: Hits Reunion
• Various artists: The Legendary Sixties
• Badfinger: Say No More, 1981

With approx:

• CIRCA: 2007 (CD)
• CIRCA: LIVE 2008 (DVD)
• CIRCA: HQ 2009 (CD)
• CIRCA: Overflow 2009 (iTunes Download Audio)

With YOSO

• YOSO: Elements 2010 (CD)

Guest appearances / other

• Flash : Flash, 1972
• The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band : Let's Make Up and be Friendly
• Eddie Harris : EH in the UK, 1974
• Various artists: Pigs & Pyramids — An All Star Lineup Performing the Songs of Pink Floyd , 2002
• Various artists: Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, 2006

Compilations

• Eddie Harris : In the UK / Is It In, 1999
• Various artists: Nuggets II, 2001
• The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: New Tricks, 2001?
• Produced by Trevor Horn , 2004
• Badfinger : No Dice / Say No More, 2004
• Various artists: Back Against the Wall, 2005

Promos and rarities

• Small Beginnings: Flashback: Small Beginnings: Flashback, 2002

Web links

• Tony Kaye (musician) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Tony Kaye discography (English)