Alan White, longtime drummer of progressive rock pioneers Yes, who also played with John Lennon, George Harrison and others, has passed away. He was 72.
His family announced White’s passing on his Facebook page. After a short illness, White died at home in Seattle. White had already announced that he would not be participating in the band’s forthcoming tour of the United Kingdom, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary the album “Close To the Edge.”
White replaced Bill Bruford as the original drummer of Yes in 1972. White, a member of Yes, was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as a member of Yes.
Although he did not play on “Close to the Edge”, he played on almost every subsequent Yes studio album for nearly fifty years, including the band’s most recent release, “The Quest”, which was released last year.
White was there through all of the band’s many iterations. Yes was a pioneer in the English progressive rock scene. They were popular in the 1970s alongside Pink Floyd, Genesis and Jethro Tull.
Many of the bands that were associated with progressive rock failed when it was no longer fashionable in the late 1970s.
After another lineup change, Yes with White behind the drums, reinvented itself as a hardier band in the 1980s that appealed more to younger listeners who were more sensitive to heavy metal and the visual cues provided by music videos. The smash hit album “90125” was released by Yes in 1983.
