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Chris Squire

Christopher Russell Edward "Chris" Squire (born March 4, 1948), is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for the progressive rock group Yes. He is the only member of the group to appear on every album.

Biography

He was born in Kingsbury, a suburb of northwest London, in England, and was trained in the church choir as a young boy, beginning his musical career in the church's basement, along with his friend Andrew Jackman. In 1964, he was suspended from school for "having long hair", and given money to get a haircut. Instead he went home, used the money for other things, and never returned to school.

Squire was fond of experimenting with LSD in the 1960s, until an incident where he had a bad acid trip. He recalls that he spent months inside his girlfriend's apartment, afraid to leave, and it was during this time that he developed his style in the bass. He recovered and never used LSD again.

Squire's early influences were diverse, ranging from church and choral music to the Merseybeat sounds of the early 1960s. Squire's first musical groups The Selfs, The Syn (both including Jackman), and later, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, would introduce him to his early Yes collaborators Peter Banks and Jon Anderson.

During his first conversation with Anderson, the pair broke the ice by discussing one of their favourite groups, Simon & Garfunkel (Yes later covered the duo's "America") and Squire discovered that he and Anderson were both into vocal groups.

Yes released their first record in 1969, and though the band have had many personnel changes over the years, they have continued to record and tour for nearly 40 years. Squire is the only original member who has remained in the lineup throughout the band's tenure, with Jon Anderson only having been absent on Drama.

During the band's formative years Squire was frequently known for his tardiness, a habit that drummer Bill Bruford often complained about. Because of this, Squire would frequently drive at unsafe speeds to get to gigs on time, once causing a horrific accident on the way to a gig in West Germany after he fell asleep at the wheel, although miraculously nobody was injured.

As Squire, along with Alan White and Steve Howe, co-owned the "Yes" name at the time, the 1989 ABWH lineup without him (which contained Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe) could not record under that name.

Squire has concentrated overwhelmingly on Yes' music over the years, and his solo works have been few and far between. His first and only true solo record was 1975's Fish Out of Water, featuring Yes alumni Bill Bruford on drums and Patrick Moraz on keyboards and The Syn/The Selfs alumnus Andrew Jackman also on keyboards. Squire was later a member of the short-lived XYZ (eX-Yes/Zeppelin) in 1981, a group composed of Alan White (Yes) on drums and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) on guitar. XYZ recorded several demo tracks at Squire's home studio in Virginia Water, but never produced anything formal (ostensibly because vocalist Robert Plant, still mourning for John Bonham, failed to get interested). XYZ never officially released any material, though two of the demos provided the bases for two later Yes tracks, "Mind Drive" and "Can You Imagine?". Squire also played a role in bringing Trevor Rabin into the Cinema band project, which became the 90125 lineup. Later, Squire would join with Yes guitarist Billy Sherwood in a side project called Conspiracy. This band's self-titled debut album contained the nuclei of several songs that had appeared on Yes' recent albums. Conspiracy's second album, The Unknown, was released in 2003.

In late 2004, Squire joined a reunion of The Syn, subsequently leaving the band in May 2006. He is now working on two solo projects with other former Syn collaborators Gerard Johnson, Jeremy Stacey and Paul Stacey. A Christmas album, Chris Squire's Swiss Choir, was released in 2007 (with Johnson, J. Stacey and Steve Hackett), while a second solo album is expected in 2008.

Style

Squire's bass playing is noted for being aggressive, dynamic, and melodic. Squire's main instrument is a Rickenbacker bass (model RM1999, serial number DC127), which he has owned and played since 1965. The RM1999 was a budget, monophonic version of Rickenbacker's 4001 stereo bass. This model was imported into the UK by Rose Morris Ltd (hence the RM prefix on the model number) and, according to Squire's official website, was only the fourth bass of its type to be imported into Britain from the United States. This instrument, with its warmth and distortion, is a significant part of Squire's unique sound. According to his interview in Guitar Player magazine in October 1973, Squire obtained his distinctive tone at the time by rewiring his RM1999 into stereo and sending the bass and treble pickups each into a separate amplifier. This technique is known as "bi-amping". By splitting the signal from his bass into dual high and low frequency outputs and then sending the low frequency output to a conventional bass amplifier and the high-frequency output to a separate lead guitar amplifier, Squire produced a tonal 'sandwich' that added a growling, overdriven edge to the sound while retaining the Rickenbacker's powerful bass response. This gave his bass sound bright, growling higher frequencies and clean, solid bass frequencies. This technique allowed Squire to utilise harmonic distortion on his bass while avoiding the flat, fuzzy sound, loss of power and poor bass response that typically occurs when bass guitars are overdriven through an amplifier or put through a fuzz box. He also uses fresh Rotosound Swing Bass strings for every show.

Squire's vocals are also key to Yes' music, providing important harmonisation with Jon Anderson's distinctive countertenor.

Nickname

Chris Squire is commonly known by his nickname "Fish", and the name is associated with many of his works (including his solo record, and the solo piece The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) from the 1972 Yes record Fragile). The name has multiple origins. First, his astrological sign is Pisces, and he is apparently a believer in astrology. Second, in the early days of Yes career, he once accidentally flooded a hotel room in Oslo, Norway while taking a shower, and Bill Bruford gave him the nickname. He may also have acquired this nickname because of the alleged amount of time he spends in the bath tub. On the 2007 documentary "The Classic Artists Series 3: Yes", Bruford says that the nickname arose because Squire spent long periods in the bathroom while they shared a house together in Fulham.

Family

Chris Squire married Nikki in the 1970s. Nikki sang on the 1981 Christmas single "Run with the Fox" and also the track "Hold Out Your Hand" from Fish Out Of Water and later had her own band, Esquire, on whose first album Chris, Alan White and Trevor Horn assisted. Their family included Carmen Squire (Chris's stepdaughter), Chandrika and Camille Squire. Chris and Nikki divorced after fifteen years. Chris then married Melissa in 1993, they have a son, Cameron Darian. The two have since divorced. He is now married to his third wife, Scotland. They reside in the Chelsea neighbourhood of London.

Discography

Solo

Fish Out of Water (1975)
Chris Squire & Alan White - Run With the Fox (1981)
Chris Squire's Swiss Choir (2007)

Guest appearances

Eddie Harris - E.H. In the U.K. (1974)
Esquire - Esquire (1987) (only backup vocals)
Rock Aid Armenia - The Earthquake Album (1990)
Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973)
Rick Wakeman - Criminal Record (1977)
Rick Wakeman - The Classical Connection II (1992, material recorded in 1971)
World Trade - Euphoria (1995)
various artists - Pigs & Pyramids—An All Star Lineup Performing the Songs of Pink Floyd (2002)