Tony Kaye - Biography

Tony Kaye (born Anthony John Selvidge, 11 January 1946, Leicester, England) is a British musician.

Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, and rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995. Between his stints with Yes, he was also a founding member of the 1970s rock bands Flash, Badger, and Detective, and joined Badfinger for their last album in 1981. Kaye currently plays with Circa, which also features former Yes member Billy Sherwood, and formerly included Yes drummer Alan White; and with Yoso, again with Sherwood, and former Toto lead vocalist Bobby Kimball.

Biography

Early years

Kaye was only four years old when he started to receive piano lessons. At twelve he started to play in local concerts and he attended the London School of Music, aspiring to be a concert piano player. Later on, when Kaye was fifteen, he discovered he preferred the music of both the Dixieland and modern jazz as well as the modern youthful sounds of the Beatlemania days. He played in one jazz band when he was still a schoolboy and at 15 he joined the Danny Rogers Orchestra. Three years later he abandoned his classical music lessons completely.

Yes

During the 1960s he played with Johnny Taylor's Star Combo and later recorded a handful of singles with at least three different rock groups (The Federals, Jimmy Winston & His Reflections a.k.a. Winston's Fumbs and Bittersweet; during 1967 he was on tour with French singer Johnny Hallyday too) before being invited by Chris Squire (at this time with Jon Anderson and Peter Banks in the Mabel Greer's Toyshop) to join the future "Yes" in 1968. The original line-up of Yes featured Kaye on keyboards, Peter Banks on guitar, Chris Squire on bass guitar, Jon Anderson on vocals and Bill Bruford on drums. They released two albums: Yes (1969) and Time and a Word (1970), and a few singles. In 1971, Yes released The Yes Album with guitarist Steve Howe replacing Banks. The opening track, titled "Yours Is No Disgrace", was the first song featuring Kaye as co-composer. But after a last concert that year at The Crystal Palace in August 1971, Kaye was asked to leave the group. Kaye had rehearsed some songs that appeared on Fragile, such as "Heart of the Sunrise", with his keyboard parts being re-recorded by Rick Wakeman.

Other groups

While Yes went on with other keyboardists until 1981, Kaye went in and out of quite a few groups as well. In 1972, he joined ex-fellow Yes member Peter Banks on the (eponymously titled) first album by Flash. Shortly thereafter, he formed his own group: Badger, together with bassist David Foster, a sometime songwriter for Yes. Badger released only two albums: One Live Badger (1973, with co-production help from Jon Anderson) and White Lady (1974).

Kaye moved to Los Angeles in 1975. After a brief period touring with David Bowie during 1975-1976, Kaye joined Detective, releasing two albums: Detective (1977) and It Takes One To Know One (1977), as well as the promo-only Live From The Atlantic Studios (1978). Kaye then moved on to join Badfinger in 1979, playing on their 1979 tour and their 1981 album Say No More.

Kaye auditioned for the part of the Hammond player in the mock-documentary This Is Spinal Tap.

As Badfinger was going on hiatus, Kaye was making up his mind to record a solo album when he met Chris Squire, and was invited to join him in some free studio sessions. This encounter led to Kaye joining Cinema, a new group formed by Squire, drummer Alan White and South African guitarist Trevor Rabin.

Reunion

Some sessions were produced by Trevor Horn and an album was prepared. In the final stages of production, the name Cinema was discarded and Yes was reborn. Kaye was absent for the latter part of the 90125 recording sessions, so Rabin played all of the keyboards in the recorded songs. He was also absent in the video for "Owner of a Lonely Heart" (replaced by Eddie Jobson).

Kaye had left Yes and rejoined Badfinger for a tour in 1983, but elected to re-join Yes at the tour's conclusion in October. He therefore re-joined just before the release of 90125. The tour that followed ended in February 1985 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In January 1985 Yes played at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro. An EP, 9012Live and a couple of singles were released, but a video of the same name was nominated for a Grammy Award.

1980s and 1990s

Big Generator (1987) was the next album, followed by a tour. During this time, Kaye committed to doing an album for Cinema Records, an electronic new age label, but it was never released. In an interview with Keyboard Magazine in 1991, Kaye stated that while he liked the material, he felt it really served only as background music needing a singer, and as such he abandoned the work.

In 1991, Yes's line-up exploded with three former members (Wakeman, Howe and Bruford) joining forces with the band's five-man lineup. They all toured together in 1991 and 1992, in a show called "Around the World in 80 Dates," with a revolving stage at the center of each venue. In 1994, Yes released Talk, Kaye's final album with them. Kaye only played the Hammond organ on Talk, however the tour that followed saw him using a wide array of keyboards.

In late 1997, a live double album of early Yes material, Something's Coming (UK) AKA Beyond and Before (US), was released.

Recent activity

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kaye was largely retired from the music industry, although he did appear on a number of archival Yes releases, including The Word is Live. More recently, he has been involved with several projects, including a Neil Young tribute band called The Neil Deal and executive producing singer Daniela Torchia. Kaye has also been working extensively with former Yes colleague, Billy Sherwood. Kaye and other past and present Yes members appeared on three Pink Floyd tribute albums. He is now in Circa and Yoso with Sherwood. In 2008, Kaye toured with Badfinger again, mostly in the Hippiefest concerts.

Personal life

Kaye was engaged to Chris Squire's stepdaughter, Carmen Squire, but he married singer-songwriter Daniela Torchia. He began a series of small businesses apart from music. He has been involved in a number of legal actions against Brian Lane (Yes' former manager) and Yes over unpaid royalties. Although living in the US for many years, Kaye has not become a US citizen.

Discography

• 1969 : Yes (Yes)
• 1970 : Time And A Word (Yes)
• 1971 : The Yes Album (Yes)
• 1972 : Flash (Flash)
• 1973 : One Live Badger (Badger)
• 1974 : White Lady (Badger)
• 1974 : Yesterdays (Yes)
• 1977 : Detective (Detective)
• 1978 : It Takes One To Know One (Detective)
• 1981 : Say No More (Badfinger)
• 1983 : 90125 (Yes)
• 1985 : 9012Live: The Solos (Yes)
• 1987 : Big Generator (Yes)
• 1991 : Union (Yes)
• 1994 : Talk (Yes)
• 1997 : Something's Coming: The BBC Recordings 1969–1970 (UK) (Beyond And Before (US)) (Yes)
• 1999 : Astral Traveller (Yes)
• 2004 : (Re)Union (Yes)
• 2005 : Original Syn : complète history of The Syn 1967 - 1969
• 2007 : Circa: 2007 (Circa)
• 2008 : Circa: Live (DVD)
• 2009 : Circa: HQ (Circa)
• 2009 : Circa: Overflow (Circa)
• 2009 : Yoso (Yoso)
• 2011 : featuring John Wetton on his LP Raised in Captivity: songs 6 The Human Condition, and 10 Don’t Misunderstand Me (July 1).

External links

• Tony Kaye discography
• Where Are They Now? news page
• The Neil Deal official website
• Official MySpace