Chris Squire Tribute Page
Even Closer to the Edge
Chris Squire performing in 1972
Here is a timeline marking the life of the legendary Chris Squire:
- 1948 - Squire was born in London, England
- 1954 - Joins the church choir at St. Andrew's in Kingsbury as a soprano
- 1964 - Squire's headmaster suspends him and a friend for having their hair too long
- 1964 - The emergence of the Beatles and the Beat music boom in the early 1960s inspires him to "be in a group that don't use music stands"
- 1964 - Forms the band The Selfs
- 1964 - The Selfs play their first gigs at The Graveyard, a youth club at St. Andrew's church in Kingsbury, and Blackbirds Cross in Wembley
- 1965 - The Selfs merge with the band The Syns and keep the name The Syns
- 1967 - has a bad trip on a friend's homemade LSD
- 1968 - Forms Yes with singer Jon Anderson
- 1969 - Signs with Atlantic Records after Yes opened for Janis Joplin
- 1969 - Yes release self-titled debut album
- 1970 - Yes release Time and a Word
- 1971 - Yes release The Yes Album
- 1971 - Yes release Fragile
- 1972 - Yes release Close to the Edge
- 1973 - Yes release Tales from Topographic Oceans
- 1974 - Yes release Relayer
- 1975 - Releases his first solo record, Fish Out of Water
- 1977 - Yes release Going for the One
- 1978 - Yes release Tormato
- 1980 - Yes release Drama
- 1980 - Yes breaks-up
- 1981 - Was a member of the short lived XYZ, short for eX-Yes/Zeppelin
- 1983 - Yes release 90125
- 1987 - Appears on the cover of Guitar World with fellow band mate Trevor Rabin
- 1987 - Yes release Big Generator
- 1991 - Yes release Union
- 1994 - Yes release Talk
- 1996 - Yes release Keys to Ascension
- 1997 - Yes release Keys to Ascension 2
- 1997 - Yes release Open Your Eyes
- 1999 - Yes release The Ladder
- 2000 - Joins with Yes guitarist Billy Sherwood on a side project called Conspiracy, releasing their self-titled debut album the same year
- 2001 - Yes release Magnification
- 2003 - Conspiracy release The Unknown
- 2004 - Joins a reunion of The Syn
- 2005 - The Syn release Syndestructible
- 2007 - Releases a ChGerard Johnson, Jeremy Stacey and Steve Hackett
- 2011 - Yes release Fly From Here
- 2012 - Collaborates again with Hackett, formerly of the band Genesis, to make the Squackett album, A Life Within a Day
- 2015 - On May 19, Yes announces that Squire had been diagnosed with acute erythroid leukemia
- 2015 - Dies June 27 of leukemia in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 67
- 2016 - In April, asteroid 2002 XR80 receives an official permanent name from the International Astronomical Union in honor of Squire. Asteroid (90125) Chrissquire was discovered 11 December 2002 and is a main-belt asteroid with an orbital period of 4.08 years
“I couldn’t get session work because most musicians hated my style. They wanted me to play something a lot more basic. We started Yes as a vehicle to develop everyone’s individual styles.”
- Chris Squire
For more information on the life of Chris Squire, check out the following links: