YES - Short Version

  Founded in 1968, the impressively extensive and always evolving career YES is known as the most successful and longest lasting progressive rock group of all time.

From the 1969 release of theirground-breaking self-titled album, YES, to their critically acclaimed 2001 release Magnification, YES have created visionary music derived from futuristic thinking and musicianship of the highest caliber.

The founders of the group are Jon Anderson (vocalist) and Chris Squire (bassist).

 The first album was released on 25 July 1969. The harmony vocals of Anderson, Banks, and Squire were an immediate trademark of the Yes sound. Tracks included cover versions of The Beatles' "Every Little Thing" and The Byrds' "I See You" as well as original material. Lester Bangs gave the album a favourable review in Rolling Stone magazine, describing the band as promising and the album as displaying a "sense of style, taste, and subtlety"

 The band's next release, The Yes Album, was the first Yes record to be entirely made up of original compositions, which the band had written collectively in a rented house in the Devon countryside and were noticeably longer than the tracks on the two previous albums. Howe had quickly established himself as an integral part of the Yes sound, adding to compositions and expanding the band's guitar influences to include classical and country stylings as well as playing a wider variety of instruments, such as the 12-string Portuguese vihuela. The Yes Album also united Yes with their long-serving producer and engineer Eddie Offord.

  The first album released with the new lineup was 1971's Fragile (a Top 10 album in America). Musically, the album continued to develop Yes' growing interest in the sounds and structures of classical music, notably the work of Sibelius and Stravinsky. Wakeman also contributed an all-keyboard arrangement of the third movement of a Brahms symphony, as part of the album's presentation of the work of each member in a series of solo (or near-solo) showcases, including Howe's classical-guitar composition "Mood for a Day" and Squire's multiple-overdub bass- guitar piece "The Fish." Fragile also marked the beginning of the band's long collaboration with artist Roger Dean, who designed the group's logo and their album covers, as well as (along with brother Martin Dean) their stage sets.

  YES has created some of rock's most enduring and compelling hits and has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.

The group has defined music history with their dynamic instrumental contrasts, extended song lengths and abstract lyrics.

Their celebrated discography includes hits like: "Owner of A Lonely Heart", "I've Seen All Good People" and "Roundabout."

source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_%28band%29