Yes have been accused of plagiarism. At the heart of the controversy is Dare to Knowa song from the 2021 album The Quest attributed to guitarist Steve Howe.
The accusation is made by a musician called Riz Story, real name Rudolph Zahler. He claims that the Yes song was partially plagiarized from his Reunion. According to legal documents filed yesterday in Los Angeles, it was Howe and the group's singer Jon Davison who plagiarized the piece which was never published, but was included in the 2014 film starring Paul Sorvino, Billy Zane and Taryn Manning A Winter Roseof which Zahler was the director as well as the composer of the soundtrack.
Zahler brings into question Davison, who is not a co-author of Dare to Knowsaying that the two met in 1990 through Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and that they worked together on and off for decades, as well as playing with Hawkins in a band called Anyone.
According to Zahler, Davison was not only aware of his work, but had also invited him to collaborate as a co-writer for Yes on multiple occasions, including for The Quest and had nominated him for the role of producer of the band. And, crucially, the singer complimented Zahler on the music of A Winter Rose of which he was therefore aware.
According to the indictment, «Davison decided to “steal” Zahler's song instead of asking him for permission to use it». After adding lyrics, Yes would release the song with the new title, attributing it to Howe alone.
Not being Reunion published, it is difficult to determine from the outside how valid the case is. According to the expert opinion carried out by musicologist Ethan Lustig, there would be a 96% similarity with “almost identical melodies and rhythmic modules in the melodies”. The two pieces would also have the same harmonic sequences. “It's very difficult for it to happen by chance.” Sony Music Entertainment and the Inside Out label are also called into question. The request: financial compensation and attribution of the song to Zahler alone. Yes have not yet expressed themselves.
Something similar happened for another piece of The Quest titled The Ice Bridge. After it was deemed too similar to one by Francis Monkman, the latter was included as a co-author. Geoff Downes, who had written The Ice Bridge with Davison, admitted the similarity and justified himself by saying that he had “mistakenly believed” that the piece was not by Monkman, but that it came from his own music archive.
Dare to Know:
A video portrait of Riz Story:
