If Jon Davison hadn’t grown up just three blocks away from Taylor Hawkins in Laguna Beach, California, his life would be unimaginably different. They became best friends in grade school, discovered bands like Rush and Queen together, picked up instruments at the same time — Hawkins on drums and Davison on guitar — and saw their first concert together when Hawkins’ mother brought them to the Forum for David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight tour.
But the big moment came in 2012 when Yes were looking for a new singer, and Hawkins told bassist Chris Squire that his lifelong friend was the man for the job. He wasn’t bullshitting him. Davison has a natural tenor singing voice eerily similar to a young Jon Anderson, fronted the Yes tribute band Roundabout, and was more than ready for the rigors of the road after playing in the groups Glass Hammer and Sky Cries Mary.
Yes has been at the center of Davison’s life for the past 14 years. He’s the lead vocalist on their last three studio albums (2014’s Heavy & Earth, 2021’s The Quest, and 2023’s Mirror to the Sky), and has toured with them all across the globe. On April 22, he’ll kick off the European leg of their world tour, which features a complete performance of the band’s 1971 masterpiece, Fragile, along with other songs from throughout the band’s career.
In 2019, Davison met Emily Lodge — daughter of Moody Blues co-lead singer John Lodge — when Yes played on Cruise to the Edge, a prog-rock themed cruise. They married three years later, and Davison started touring in John Lodge’s solo band, taking lead on all the songs originally sung by Justin Hayward, including “Knights in White Satin.”
It placed Davison in the rather unusual position of simultaneously keeping the flames burning for both Yes and the Moody Blues, at least until Lodge’s death last year while Yes were on tour in America.
“The first half of the set is really quite mellow with emotional songs like ‘Onward,’ ‘Wondrous Stories,’ and ‘Circles of Time,’” Davison tells Rolling Stone. “And ‘Soon’ is a spiritual hymn. I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to go out on stage and sing without just breaking down crying.’ And I knew that he would say, ‘You’ve got to go out there and do it. You’ve got to celebrate the music, put a smile on your face and don’t be gloomy.’ He’d want me to celebrate the music, and so he somehow gave me strength.”
Davison also found the strength to soldier through the death of Hawkins in 2022, resistance from Yes fans who are unwilling to accept anyone but Anderson out front, the awkward period a few years back when two competing versions of Yes were on the road and had to come together at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, and the vocal demands of performing the Yes catalog night after night. We hopped on a Zoom with Davison from his home in Surrey, England, to learn all about his crazy, unlikely life story.
How did Taylor Hawkins encourage you musically as a kid, and vice versa?
His brother was quite a lot older and hipper, so he turned us onto a lot of rock records. Taylor was a year younger than me, but sort of ahead of me in that way. I remember the first thing was he said, “My neighbor’s got a drum set he’s going to sell me, and I’ve been listening to Queen. And Queen is the most amazing band.”
He loved that their drummer wrote songs and had such an expressive style. He related to that. He thought he looked like a young Roger Taylor. His hair was thick and really white and up and over. He loved Roger Taylor and the fact that his name was Taylor. And when you’re a little kid, those things mean a lot. He aspired to that. And he wanted me to be Freddie Mercury. But how do you do that?
I picked up the guitar instead and then eventually bass, because we drifted into more progressive rock areas of music like Rush. Yes, and Genesis, all that came later. Rush appealed to our younger minds because it was more immediate.
I know Taylor loved Jane’s Addiction. Did the two of you see them a lot in their early days?
Yeah. They had all that raw energy that was so rocky and psychedelic, but they had so many other sides to their music too. We went to see them during the Nothing’s Shocking tour. You would see hair metal guys there, but you’d see goth girls too and everybody in between. They brought everybody together, Deadheads, you name it. Everybody could relate to Jane’s Addiction.
Taylor’s life obviously ended in tragedy and he was way too young. But he also basically got to live out all of his childhood rock fantasies. He played with Queen, jammed with Rush, sang Zeppelin songs with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones at Wembley Stadium.
I know. And what’s interesting is that Dave [Grohl] shared that same childlike enthusiasm for their heroes, and they weren’t shy to express that. If they were ever in circles where they could meet someone, they went right up to that person saying, “Oh my God, it’s so great to meet you. And you influenced me and I love this album.”
They were like musicologists when it came to rock music. I think that really impressed other musicians, along with just how humble and open they were. There were no egos in the way or anything, which meant that they could meet all these other great musicians that they idolized.
When did you discover that you had singing talent?
I didn’t really discover that until later. I always sang background vocals, but not to an extent where I had a fair chance to develop my voice. And then there was a lull in my career after I moved away from Seattle around 2000 in Sky Cries Mary, which was the band that I was able to join in the early Nineties and make a living doing music as a bass player. But that all finished.
I was in this lull. I was thinking, “It’s really depressing that I’m not doing any music. I can sit at home and play, but I want to be out. I want to be in a band.” Taylor was like, “Well, just join a cover band. Keep your chops up.” I started looking through the Recycler and Craigslist. I saw an ad from a Yes cover band. By this point, I’d jumped past Rush and my ultimate favorite bands were Yes and Genesis. I was like, “Oh my God. I could be in a band doing only Yes music? That would be crazy.”
But there was one problem: They didn’t need a bass player. They needed a vocalist. I was pretty desperate, and I knew I had a high voice, so I was like, “I’ll just give this a try.” And they were really pleased with my abilities. Everybody realized that I could do it. I got a lot of support. And that was the beginning. It wasn’t that long ago, 2005. I was just about 37.
How long did you spend in Roundabout?
Only about two or three years, and we only did maybe two or three gigs a year. We didn’t gig that much because it was basically a hobbyist thing. It was hard to really get great at it because we weren’t so regular with it. And we were just local. We played around San Diego and L.A.
How did you grow during your time in Glass Hammer?
That started when they heard some of the Roundabout material online, just some promo stuff that we put together. And they were like, “We’re looking for a Jon Anderson-style singer. We’re an original band.” I hadn’t heard of them at the time. They shared with me one track called “Long and Long Ago” from The Inconsolable Secret album. I immediately loved it and I said, “I’ll do this.” They wanted me to change the vocal and follow the blueprint, but make it my own. I was able to apply some creativity to that, and they were really happy. That was the beginning of looking at studio work as well, and then what I could contribute creatively.
How did you hear that Yes were looking for a lead singer?
The manager at the time, Paul Silveira, was aware of Glass Hammer, but then on the other side of it, Taylor was always filling Chris’s ear with, “I’ve got the guy.” They were still quite committed with Benoît David, and then eventually Benoît was ill and wasn’t able to do the tour that was coming up.
So Taylor’s like, “Chris, here’s his number. Call him.” I got a call from Chris and then I got a call from the manager. They came at me from all angles. And it was quite something because I said, “When’s the audition?” They said, “There isn’t going to be an audition because we’ve got a tour in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan…coming up in two and a half months.” So I had to jump in right away.
What do you remember about your first phone call with Chris?
He was very respectful, because he was concerned: “Can you take this on as a full-time job? Do you already have a job and is that going to conflict? This will change your life and your lifestyle because we want someone that’s going to stick around and be willing to go the distance.” I convinced him that I was definitely into it.
You must have felt overwhelmed.
I’m sure I was just hovering off the ground. It was so surreal. I couldn’t believe it. And Taylor was so proud of me, and was always trying so hard to help me get a gig and he was just so happy for me. And that was really, really cool.
Where was the first rehearsal?
At MATES in L.A., and Taylor was there, I remember, because he was already friends with Chris at this time. He was just hanging out. I knew a lot of the material already from just being a genuine Yes fan, knowing all the ins and outs of the albums and the details. That really helped pave the way and break the ice. And they loved that I was like, “Hey, I know we’re doing this song, but I love this live version from ’76. What do you think about…” They were really excited that I was so enthusiastic and knew so much about the band.
Your first show was in New Zealand in April 2012. What are your memories of that night?
It was interesting because that was a first for them. Yes had never performed in New Zealand before. We were in Auckland. And it felt like a massive venue. It probably wasn’t as big as I felt it did emotionally, but it was certainly big for me. I remember sitting on the back of Alan’s drum riser. Steve was doing his solo spot, and I was just sitting there catching a breath. It was a moment where I could really just listen, be a spectator. And I thought, ” Oh my God, is this real?”
Tell me about getting to know Alan White.
He was such a genuine person. I respected him so much as a musician, and I came to him under that pretense, but immediately that melts away and you can relax because what you’re dealing with is a very genuine person. He was so down to earth. And he had lived in the States for so long, so I could relate to him the most first off, being a West Coast guy myself, because he was always up in Seattle.
It’s always interesting, a vocalist and a drummer connecting, because we’re at the opposite end of the spectrum. And yet, musically the drummer does follow the sway and groove of the vocalist as much as the vocalist follows the drummer. We were like the bookends, if you will.
Chris Squire was a big personality from what I understand.
Such a big personality. He invited me to his home after that first tour because we wanted to start writing music right away. He was really interested in what I could offer creatively, wanted to know all my avenues and what I could offer to the band. He was very proud of the fact that he was the one member throughout. He was the common thread through all the different incarnations.
He found Trevor Rabin, and then that completely revitalized the band. And the same with Billy Sherwood. And with me, he was hoping I would bring in this fresh essence that would then propel the band even further.
I really think he’s one of the best bassists in rock history, up there with John Entwistle, Phil Lesh, and Jack Bruce.
Yeah. I remember telling him, “Chris, you’re like the Jimi Hendrix of the bass guitar.” He gave this big, broad smile with his big cheekbones, so happy. “Well, thank you very much.” He prided himself on that. He didn’t play like the majority of bass players do, which is a supportive role only focusing on the root notes. He always played the third or the fifth or other interesting notes. He was walking around a lot and challenging the ear.
He actually said one of his biggest influences was yes, John Entwistle, but also Paul McCartney, believe it or not. Chris told me that he had heard Paul always went in at night and tracked his bass after everyone had already tracked everything else. That’s why they’re always moving around and have their own expression. Suddenly the bass wasn’t just like a secondary instrument. It could be a primary instrument as well.
Yes took you all over the world in 2012. They did 41 shows that year, and then another 67 in 2013, and then 89 in 2014. That’s a crazy amount of work. I spoke with Benoît David a few years ago, and he told me all those shows basically killed his voice, forever. It was too much. How did you make sure that didn’t happen to you as well?
Being built with the natural ability to do it, and I’m not trying to sound egotistical. It’s just that I didn’t feel like I was straining. So, to really answer your question, that’s the secret. The difference is not straining. I am able to do it in a way that’s more controlled. And luckily that control came naturally.
He told me the “sharp…distance” part in “Heart of the Sunrise” was the hardest for him.
Oh, yeah. I can relate a little bit. I am not immune to it.
The year after you joined, they went out and played both Close to the Edge and Going for the One straight through.
Yeah, that was the thing. They felt now with me in the band, they could really take on anything. We had a newfound confidence. We could do any song of Yes now. And that was really their stamp of approval on my abilities. They were like, “Let’s do an album series and do whole albums and do these deep tracks that had been neglected for decades.”
You can also play the Drama songs that Jon Anderson never wanted to do.
Yeah. That’s a unique aspect to our version of Yes. You can hear those songs.
But you stopped doing “Owner of a Lonely Heart” in 2016.
Chris and Alan were a strong tie to that. And then as Steve took the forefront of being the leader, he was quite adamant about not doing it.
You’ve said that the Heaven & Earth album isn’t a favorite of yours. What went wrong?
I had such high expectations as you do being in that situation for the first time. Unfortunately, and with all due respect to the late and great Roy Thomas Baker, he just wasn’t in a very good place in his life. There were a lot of personal things going on and I don’t know what they were, and I didn’t pry, but we just didn’t have a fully focused producer. We were all sort of just floating around looking for leadership.
Are there any songs on that one you think fans should check out?
I’m a bit biased because I helped write so much of it. And I feel like that album’s really just polished demos that we threw out there at the last minute because we ran out of time. I see the potential in so much of that music. I think “Believe Again” is a pretty good song. It’s just not fully realized.
It must have been a real bummer to feel this way about the first album you made with them.
Yeah. And I know it was a big letdown for the fans, so I was crestfallen. It’s all part of the learning process.
When Yes toured Japan in late 2014, did you have any idea Chris was sick?
No, not at the time. He was going strong and we were having a great time in Japan. And maybe a month later he called me and said, “I’ve been talking to Billy, and we’re planning to get together maybe to do some songwriting.” He wanted to introduce the idea of having Billy join us in the hopes that we could take it a step further and get beyond Heaven & Earth.
And then it was just a week or two later that I heard he had to tell the band he had a serious condition. He was going in the hospital and it was all so sudden. And we were all rooting for him, but we weren’t talking to him so much on a regular basis. It was a private situation, and so it was a massive shock when we heard it was over.
It put a real emotional burden on Billy’s shoulders that he handled really gracefully.
Oh, absolutely. He did so much for us in helping in terms of carrying on without much of an interruption.
I can’t imagine anyone besides Billy taking on that role.
He’s got such an instinct for it too after having been so close with Chris for so many years. They’re actually quite similar in many respects as personalities, and they’re both Pisces. So, it was nice to feel like Chris was with us through Billy. And Billy so brilliantly carried on that spirit of Chris’s style and presence in the band.
Did you attended the Hall of Fame induction?
It was really exciting because Journey was there, ELO…I mean, it was quite a star-packed event to watch the whole thing. I was just so happy for the band. I was an admirer in the audience just enjoying the whole spectacle.
This was the moment when Jon Anderson was fronting his own version of Yes with Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin. It must have been weird to watch them come together onstage.
Yeah, that was really interesting.
Did you get to meet Jon Anderson?
Yeah. I went up to Jon at the after party. But the music was so loud and my voice was already shot because I was in the audience cheering for everyone. I don’t think he could really understand that I was the singer in Yes. He thought I was just an admirer, which I am anyways.
Alan’s final years were very inspiring. It’s clear he wanted to do everything possible to stay on the road, even as his body was failing him.
Yeah, you’re right. Because myself being younger and with good health, knock on wood, I was exhausted. And I’m thinking, “How is Alan doing this?” And he has four appendages in full swing. That’s really arduous work as a drummer. It’s very athletic. He was struggling, but he did it. It’s the muscle memory. He said, “I couldn’t think of doing anything else. What am I going to do? Sit at home and learn to knit?”
Tell me about The Quest. I’m sure that was a much more positive experience than Heaven & Earth.
Yeah, it was. But it had some challenges, of course. I was actually with Emily. We’d finished a tour with her dad, and this was probably March of 2020. And we flew to Barbados. The family has a home there. We decided to have a week’s vacation and literally the next day after we arrived, the world shut down.
So it was her and I in this house in Barbados. What a great place to be on so many levels, but…we had to source our own food because you couldn’t always go to the grocery stores. That proved very challenging because sometimes you weren’t sure if a real live chicken was going to show up as poultry.
How long did you spend there?
A little over three months. But what it allowed me to do was start writing in a fever. All I had was my music to hide in and escape from the world and the harsh reality of Covid. The band were exchanging files at the time, and I would just take on whatever music came to me. I would start writing melodies and words and putting concepts together and arranging. Luckily, I had a guitar there and my Pro Tools setup on a laptop. Ever since then, I’ve said, “I’m always going to travel with a laptop where I can set up and record anywhere.” And luckily I had that there because a lot of those vocal tracks that ended up on the album were actually done there in Barbados.
You released Mirror to the Sky just two years later. You guys were clearly enjoying the process of making music again.
Yeah, because we finished The Quest and we were all like, “Oh, what do we do now?” Covid was still going on. That’s all we had. Our common thread is to be a band. And Steve said, “Well, let’s just carry on. Let’s not take a break on the studio at all.” So we just rolled right into Mirrors to the Sky.
You wrote “Circles of Time” on that one.
That came probably midway through the whole writing process. The best thing about it is that we’ve been doing it live. It’s Steve, Geoff, and I out onstage and it’s just so powerful to be able to sing one of my own songs. I love doing all the Yes repertoire, don’t get me wrong, but to be given that chance to have the spotlight of doing your own song like that and be out there, so sort of vulnerable. It’s really quite a rush.
Everything must be easier in the studio now with Steve as the producer.
Absolutely. When he’s supported and he’s allowed to just be creative without the static and distractions, without any of the drama that we experienced on Heaven & Earth, his creativity is allowed to flow free. He’s like this unobstructed channel.
Tell me about meeting your wife Emily on the Cruise to the Edge.
I was at a bar and she came out of a restaurant and she was with our publicist, Sharon Chevin. They were hanging out together and they just walked up to the bar, and then Sharon introduced us. We grabbed a table, the three of us, and we hung out for a while. And then eventually Sharon just said, “I’ll leave you guys to it,” because we had such a kinetic thing going on. It was quite romantic from the get-go.
I love how prog has shaped every aspect of your life. It’s the music you love, it gave you your career, and then you met your wife on a prog cruise.
That’s a good way of putting it. That’s quite something. You’re right.
Were you a Moody Blues fan?
I knew some of the basics, some of the more obvious songs, but I hadn’t really dived into their catalog. The timing was off for whatever reason. I think that was meant to be because it was so nice to meet Emily and John without not having any kind of air of being starstruck. They might think I have some ulterior motive if I’m a fanboy.
We were just people getting to know each other. And then it was later that I dove deep into the catalog and actually was blown away. I was like, “Wow, did I miss this?” I’m a genuine fan of the Moody’s now.
How did you start performing with him?
Emily subtly suggested it over time. He was quite open to it because we had scheduled the Royal Affair Tour in 2019, which involved Carl Palmer’s band and Asia, along with Yes, and, of course, John. So he had the idea of me coming up and doing the encore, singing one song with him, “Ride My See-Saw.” And then eventually on that tour Yes reciprocated and said, “Come on up and sing ‘Imagine’ with us.” So it was a great way to get to know one another, and share our love for music. It was fantastic.
When did you first tour as part of his band?
Emily was very clever in finding ways that we could tour during the final years of Covid. We were one of the bands that were out quite early doing it while Yes was still on hiatus. I would’ve gone just to hang out because Emily and I are inseparable, and I was pretty much inseparable with John too. So it was only natural that I should join the band. And it allowed us to do “Nights in White Satin,” which was a big missing piece of the puzzle.
You eventually sang more Moody’s songs with him than just that.
That’s true. We had “See-Saw,” that was the encore. Then “Nights” was the first one. And then we decided that we wanted to do Days of Future Passed in its entirety. So that meant then I could sing “Tuesday Afternoon,” another classic. And then the next one was “The Voice,” I think. I’m in, honestly, a grieving period. But it’s nice talking about this. It’s healing.
Justin Hayward was still touring very actively on his own during this time. A lot of fans didn’t understand why they didn’t simply tour together.
I think Justin was just really enjoying having more of an acoustic show, not having drums onstage. It was a whole different vibe, more intimate and really nice, but we wanted to be the rock band. We wanted to carry on, and do some of the deeper cuts that require a full band presentation.
Let me just insert here that we plan to do something very special later this year as a tribute to John. We’re going to start off with a few shows, most likely in the Northeast and some in the U.K. And we’re going to be using the 10,000 Light Years Band, which has been John Lodge’s fabulous band for the last five or six years. I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s going to be some very special features to it to honor John.
Are you going to sing everything?
I’m going to be singing part of it. Technology is somehow going to help us where John is going to feel like he’s onstage with us, as vibrant as ever.
He died while Yes were in the middle of a tour. Did you miss the funeral?
We immediately said, “Let’s postpone the funeral and do it later.” We did it a week after the tour. As the cliché says, “The show must go on.” And we knew that’s what John would want us to do. It was a way to honor him. It was a way that I could process and heal through the music as well. It’s the music that was such a big part of the relationship him and I shared.
What’s the status of the next Yes record?
We’ve just finished it. It’s all mastered. We’re working on all the details of the album sleeve and Roger Dean submitting the final artwork as we speak. It’s scheduled to be out in, I think, July.
Are you going to do more U.S. shows to promote it?
Yeah, I think we will. We’re not really sure what we’re going to do because we’ve already done the Fragile set, obviously, in the U.S. We’re doing that in the U.K. and parts of Europe earlier this year, but we need something fresh for the U.S.
I would love to hear all of Going for the One.
That would be sensational.
Do you think you’ll do another classic album show?
We didn’t think about it, but I like your train of thought. We should maybe do Going for the One because it’s been forever since we’ve done “Awaken.” That was just in 2018 for the 50th, I think, that we last did that.
Steve Howe continues to blow me away. The things he does during the “Starship Trooper” solo every night are unreal. He just gets better and better.
That’s really a highlight when I can stand back and admire his playing. I love the soulfulness of it that he has developed over the years. It’s beautiful.
There are many bands these days that have no original members, like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner. Do you think Yes would continue after Steve retires?
Well, Steve has given us his blessing that he’d like us to continue because as Rick Wakeman once said, there’ll always be a Yes. And I know that one criterion that Steve said was, “I hope that it’s always progressive.” And honestly, I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.
There’s a small contingent of fans that are like, “No Jon Anderson, no Yes.” I’m sure you get that.
Yeah. I don’t really read anything online. I avoid it, but I’m aware that it’s there. And in many ways, I can’t blame them. I’m a Yes fan. I understand Jon Anderson’s an absolute genius. So I just do the best I can to honor him. I’ve been called to duty, to step up. That’s what Chris wanted. I’m continuing today just doing what I’ve been called to do, and I’m going to put my best into it.
It’s a spiritual attitude, which gives me the confidence. And what that is, is thinking of ways to serve my fellow man. I’ve applied that to actually performing because I think, “I’m going to do it for the audience tonight. I want to serve the audience. I want to see the smile on their faces and they’ve taken the time, they’ve spent the money, they’re here for a show, and I’m going to give them that show.” That gives me a sense of confidence and an ability that puts me in more of a heightened state.
Most fans know you by now since it’s been 14 years. But there must be some people every night that walk in a little skeptical, and then you win them over.
That’s so rewarding to me. That means it’s a successful night. Whatever happens, if I can do that, if I could bring them a little joy and convince them that this music is still magical and that can continue, then it’s a success.
You’ve lost a lot of very close people to you in recent years, including Taylor Hawkins and John Lodge. What has it taught you about mourning and grief?
That’s a really good question. I think it’s keeping their memory alive through the music. I know that they loved music, and I know that’s something we shared, and I feel so honored that I’ve been able to witness and share a slice of their life and their musical careers. I want to really keep that alive, and I think the way to do it is to stay creative, to stay focused and positive, and move forward, and never forget them, and to keep them with me. And when I write music and when I perform, I want to feel like they’re looking down, and they’re proud of me. I just want to honor them in the best way I can.