Alan White, drummer for Yes, dies at his Seattle home
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Alan White, drummer for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Yes, died at his Seattle home on Thursday, according to his family.
He was 72.
Born in Pelton, County Durham, England on June 14, 1949, White began piano lessons at the age of 6 and began playing drums at the age of 12.
At the age of 7, he moved to the town of Ferryhill, where he spent the rest of his childhood.
He joined his first band, the Downbeats, at the age of 13, where they played seven nights a week at men’s clubs and dance halls.
In 1964, the Downbeats changed their name to the Blue Chips, travelling to London to enter an amateur band contest at The London Palladium.
They won the contest, and were awarded new equipment, money and a recording contract.
The Blue Chips recorded several singles. However they did not chart and the band returned home and shortly disbanded.
White focused back on school, with plans to be an architect, but at 17 he chose to tour as part of Billy Fury’s band the Gamblers.
In 1968, White joined Ginger Baker’s Airforce, a new group put together by the former drummer of Cream and Steve Winwood.
According to his family, in 1969 White received a call that he thought was a prank phone call.
It wasn’t.
John Lennon was calling to ask White to join him in the Plastic Ono Band.
The very next day, White was learning songs on a plane heading to Toronto with Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voormann.
That album, “Live Peace in Toronto,” would go on to sell millions of copies, peaking at number 10 on the charts.
White would continue to work with Lennon, recording singles like “Instant Karma” and the album “Imagine.”
White provided the drums for the title song, “Jealous Guy” and “How Do You Sleep?”
He would then meet George Harrison, who asked White to perform on his album “All Things Must Pass,” including the song “My Sweet Lord.”
White would go on to work with more artists, like Billy Preston, Rosetta Hightower and Doris Troy.
He joined Yes on July 27, 1972, and with only three days to learn the music, opened their U.S. tour in front of 15,000 fans in Dallas.
White would go on to play 3,070 live shows with Yes.
On October 28, 2017, to celebrate Yes’ induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, White played “Roundabout” during a halftime performance with the University of Washington Husky Marching Band.
During spring break of 2022, thieves broke into White’s home and ransacked it, where they found out about his storage unit.
In March, the thieves broke into the storage unit and stole the drum set that White used to record Lennon’s “Imagine” album.
Police were later able to identify the thieves, but the drum set still hasn’t been recovered.
White is survived by his wife Gigi and his children, Jesse and Cassi.
