Tony Kaye (musician)
| Tony Kaye | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony John Selvidge |
| Born |
11 January 1946 Leicester, England |
| Genres | Progressive rock, rock |
| Instruments | Hammond organ, piano. keyboards |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Associated acts | Yes, Flash, Badger, Detective, Badfinger, Circa, Yoso, David Bowie |
Tony Kaye (born Anthony John Selvidge, 11 January 1946) is an English keyboardist and songwriter. Kaye was the original keyboard player for the progressive rock group Yes from 1968 to 1971, toured with David Bowie in 1975 to 76 for the Station to Station tour and then rejoined Yes from 1983 to 1995. Between his stints with Yes, he was also a founding member of the 1970s rock bands Badger and Detective, and joined Badfinger for their last album in 1981. Kaye currently plays with CIRCA:, which also features Yes member Billy Sherwood, and formerly included Yes drummer Alan White. Kaye will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes in 2017.
Kaye was born in Leicester, England into a musical family. He 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.
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. In 1968 he joined Mabel Greer's Toyshop as keyboard player with Peter Banks (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Jon Anderson (vocals), and Bill Bruford (drums). In July 1968 they changed the name of the band to Yes, and with this line-up 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, "Yours Is No Disgrace", was co-composed by Kaye, his first recorded composition. After a concert at The Crystal Palace in August 1971, Kaye was asked to leave the group. His musical conservatism is often cited as the reason for his expulsion -- the group was looking to evolve, incorporating the Mellotron and synthesizers in their sound, while Kaye refused to play anything other than the Hammond organ and piano, namely because it was what he was most comfortable playing. Kaye had been part of the original recording sessions for some of the songs that appeared on Fragile, such as "Heart of the Sunrise", with his keyboard parts being re-recorded by Rick Wakeman.
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