--------------------------------------------- DECEMBER 4, 1999 --------------------------------------------- Source: Toronto Sun (reprinted in JAM! Showbiz) Positive attitude keeps band going By Jane Stevenson It's tough enough making an album. Never mind having your producer -- and a beloved one at that -- die before it's finished. But that's exactly what happened to veteran British prog-rockers Yes earlier this year in Vancouver. The group, who play Massey Hall tonight, had just four more songs to mix on their latest opus, The Ladder, when superstar rock producer Bruce Fairbairn, whose clients have included Aerosmith, Van Halen, AC/DC, KISS, Bon Jovi, Cranberries, and INXS, "died suddenly in his sleep," at the age of 49. And it was Yes frontman Jon Anderson, he of the high, clear tenor, cosmic lyric writing and positive outlook, who found Fairbairn's body in his Vancouver home after the normally punctual producer failed to turn up at his Armoury Studios. "I thought maybe he'd overslept," says Anderson, 55, over the phone this week en route to a tour stop in Pittsburgh. "And he'd been working very late and maybe, some people take sleeping pills, whatever, and sleep in a little too long. I thought maybe that's what happened because we'd been working pretty hard -- we'd been working for nearly three months then -- and unfortunately, he'd passed over." Despite the shocking discovery, Anderson says he wasn't completely freaked out. "He was a spiritual guy," he says of Fairbairn. "He was up there in heaven amazed at where he was and it was a wonderful, sad experience. But he still sort of stayed around while we were mixing and finishing the album. You felt his presence. I don't find that hard to believe 'cause that's the way I am." In fact, Fairbairn -- who is paid tribute by Yes during their nightly two-hour-and-twenty-minute concerts with the new song, The Messenger -- will also be recognized tomorrow night at the West Coast Music Awards in Vancouver. "It was very sad but, at the same time, that's what happens sometimes," says Anderson, who along with veteran guitarist Steve Howe performed another new song, Nine Voices, at Fairbairn's memorial back in May. "It's very unusual that we could rally round after that event and say, 'Let's get this album finished and dedicate it to Bruce because he'd given us so much, you know?' He was such a beautiful guy. It's hard to explain how we felt about him. We had great respect for him." Yes, rounded out by founding bassist Chris Squire, veteran drummer Alan White, and additional guitarist Billy Sherwood and keyboardist Igor Khoroshev, intially convened in Vancouver last November to rehearse for six weeks before returning in January to record. "It was like group therapy," says Anderson, who co-founded Yes with Squire 31 years ago in London. "And the music came out, which was very happy music, and it was a very important album to do at the end of this century for this band that has been together for such a long time. It was so important that we do an album that reflects on the history of the band as well." Don't forget Yes has been known as much for its numerous personnel changes -- and even one court battle -- over the years, including a brief departure by Anderson himself. "Now that we can look back over 30 years, we can see the highs and lows of the band have been a lot to do, not so much with the music, but with musical taste and how fashion changes," says Anderson. "And we've been able to survive fashion simply because we do this music we call Yes music. And sometimes it's fashionable and sometimes it ain't." When asked about the current actitivities of famed Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, Anderson claims ignorance. "I have no idea. I know he's more of a celebrity over in England. He does a lot of TV shows, and he does comedy radio, and he even does his own food, sort of 'Barbecue with Rick Wakeman.' " Now there's a thought. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com