Yes Members ‘Conspired’ to Steal Song Rights, Lawsuit Claims

Yes members Steve Howe and Jon Davison were named in a lawsuit alleging they had “conspired” to steal a song from a longtime collaborator.

The papers – filed in the Central District of California and reported by Rolling Stone – claim the song “Dare to Know” from the band’s 2021 album The Quest is a rip-off of “Reunion,” a track recorded in 2012 by prog artist Riz Story.

Story noted he was in a band with Davison and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in the ’90s, and that he and Davison continued to collaborate over the years. When the singer joined Yes in 2012, Story – whose real name is Rudolph Zahler – became involved with the band, assisting with Davison’s audition, working on material and being connected with a production role that eventually didn’t happen.

READ MORE: Yes’ Steve Howe on ‘The Quest’ and Recording Without Chris Squire

His song “Reunion” has only been released as part of the soundtrack to the 2012 movie A Winter Rose. Davison, Story claimed, was aware of the work and complimented him.

“Mr. Davison decided to just ‘steal’ Mr. Zahler’s song ‘Reunion’ for the album, rather than getting Mr. Zahler’s permission,” the filing reads, noting that Davison and Howe “decided to add lyrics to the music, affix the name ‘Dare to Know’ to the song and attribute sole songwriting credit to Mr. Howe.”

The Yes bandmates are also accused of having “conspired” to hide their copyright infringement by leaving Davison’s name out of the credits.

Yes Being Sued ‘With Heavy Heart’

An expert witness was reported to have determined that the two songs have a “pitch similarity of 96%, which is extremely high.” The expert said, “The fact that both songs feature such strong melodic and rhythmic similarities on top of also using the same distinctive harmonic sequence creates a very strong similarity that would be extremely unlikely to occur by chance alone.”

No comment was provided by Yes or codefendants Sony Music and InsideOut Music. A spokesman for Story told Rolling Stone, “It is with a heavy heart that Riz Story is forced to sue Stephen Howe, one of his childhood music idols, and Jon Davison, his lifelong friend. But they left him no other choice. Mr. Story trusts the legal system to deliver justice in these difficult circumstances.”