Back in the late 1960s, London watched as a progressive rock band by the name Yes produced several hit albums like Time and a Word, Fragile, and The Ladder. While enduring numerous lineup changes over the years, the recent band consisted of Steve Howe, Jay Schellen, Jon Davison, and Geoff Downes. Continuing to perform, Yes released their 23rd studio album, Mirror to the Sky, back in 2023. Although looking to expand their legacy in music, members Howe and Davison are facing a lawsuit from musician Riz Story who accused the pair of stealing one of his songs.
The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, suggested that Howe and Davison stole Story’s song “Reunion” and placed it on the band’s 2021 album The Quest. Apparently, Howe and Davison changed the name of the song to “Dare to Know”, and even conspired to hide the details for Story.
According to Story, he worked with Davison and the late drummer of the Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins in the 1990s. At the time, Story helped Davison with his audition and even collaborated on some material. For Story, his song “Reunion” released alongside the soundtrack for the 2012 film A Winter Rose. While looking at the lawsuit, it read that 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.”
In a response obtained by American Songwriter, a YES spokesman adamantly denies Story’s claims, stating “This is vindictive, defamatory, delusional garbage. It will be vigorously defended.”
Riz Story Calls Yes Member Steve Howe One Of His “Childhood Music Idols”
A representative for Story discussed the lawsuit, explaining, “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.”
As for the lawsuit, an expert claimed that there was a “pitch similarity of 96%.” They added, “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.”
With the lawsuit filed, only time will tell if Story was right when accusing both Howe and Davison of stealing his song and trying to hide it.
