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Jon Anderson still enjoying the ride

Jon Anderson is flirting with his wife.

The former frontman of Yes, one of the most successful progressive rock bands in history, is writing a song for his Brazilian summer tour and wants his wife, Jane Luttenberger Anderson, to sing it for him. “She speaks perfect Portuguese. She’s very good,” she says cooing. “I’ve tried to get her to sing with me on stage so many times. She’s very shy… but she’s certainly not shy with me.”

Wrapping up the solo tour that began in February and gearing up for shows in London and Brazil, the legendary vocalist says he doesn’t much care where the stage is. “I just like to go up and sing to people, no matter if it’s for 100 or 10,000 people. I love the energy of a stage. Now in my one-man show, I can tell more about my life, share crazy jokes and sing some songs”. Touring alone without the band he co-founded in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire has been liberating. “I’m singing the Yes songs the way I originally wrote them,” he says of his current repertoire, which also includes Paul Simon’s ‘America’, a nod to his recent US citizenship. Anderson has overcome any bad blood he may have shed in 2008 when, after illness prevented him from touring for four years, Yes replaced him with Benoit David, an Anderson-like sound who had fronted Yes tribute band Close to the Edge.
“We all have a ticket to this life and we should just enjoy the ride,” says Anderson.

It’s a seemingly fitting mantra for the musician at this stage in his 50-year career, a career that was almost cut short when, in 2008, an asthma attack brought him into acute respiratory failure, landing the singer in hospital and needing six months. operations. . “I’m a little hoarse this morning,” says Anderson. “I took my medication, an inhaler, a strong one that I take once a month, and it makes my larynx hard.” But other than that, Anderson says he’s never felt better and his voice never stronger. “My secret?” Honey and lemon spray. Oh, and I drink a lot of water.

“I’m very optimistic about life,” Anderson continues when asked what drives him these days. “The abundance of life is just incredible. We all have a feeling that things will change…and we must change. We need to start sharing the beauty of this world and its incredible abundance with everyone on this planet.”

Anderson, whose lyrics often explore bombastic allegories and ruminate on the meaning of life, once again enjoys the long structured form as evidenced on ‘Open’, a 21-minute opus he released last November. Her next release, ‘Ever’, is an extension of that song. Also on tap: a new album debut in Asia this summer. “It’s a combination of songs and quiet ideas that have been spinning around for the past few years,” says the artist who once claimed to see fairies in the fourth dimension.

“I told my friend, ‘find me a good record company and we’ll put it out.’ It’s different these days,” he continues, “because you can choose to just post it online or you can use a record company to promote yourself.” With more than 9,000 likes on Facebook and almost as many followers on Twitter, the reshaped music landscape has it escapes Anderson. In fact, ‘Open’ was released online for digital download.

The man behind the warhorses of classic rock radio songs like ”And You and I”, ”Heart of the Sunrise”, ”Long Distance Runaround” and ”I’ve Seen All Good People- was introduced to a whole new audience when his voice from ‘In High Places’ was highlighted on Kanye West’s ‘Dark Fantasy’.

“It’s great to have your voice heard by different people around the world,” Anderson says of the unexpected announcement. “[Kayne] sell so many records. My voice is recognizable, so one or two people might think ‘who is that’ and go online and find out. Then they open that door and find out, wow, there’s so much music. It’s a whole new generation of fans, why not?

Anderson says that if given the choice, her collaboration wish list would include Stevie Wonder (“when I hear her voice… she’s just on another planet”) and Bonnie Raitt (“she’s so soulful”). And the place of her dreams is Carnegie Hall. “I’ve always wanted to play it. So I practice at every show. I hope to one day get there.”