Jon Davison

Jon Davison (born January 16, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist musician, who is the current lead vocalist of progressive rock bands Yes (since 2012) and Glass Hammer (since 2009), and the bass guitarist of Sky Cries Mary (since 1993), where he is credited as Juano Davison.

He has, since childhood, been a friend of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. He currently lives with his wife Maewe and his son Aleph in Laguna Beach.^[1]

Biography

Early years

Davison's earliest involvement with music began when he sang in the church youth choir led by his mother. From an early age, she instilled in him an appreciation for music and love for singing. Soon after he took up guitar and bass, which eventually led him during High School to perform in various original and cover bands with his childhood best friend, Taylor Hawkins (currently the drummer for Foo Fighters). It was Hawkins who gave Jon the nickname "Juano" that has stuck to this day.

Sky Cries Mary

Davison then attended the Art Institute of Seattle to study audio and video production where he landed the gig of bassist for Northwest group Sky Cries Mary. Throughout the 1990s, he continued recording and touring with the band. Some highlights of this period were traveling to Japan, and appearing on late night talk shows including Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Daily Show.

In 1998, Davison met his wife, Maewe, in Seattle at a meditation circle. In 2001, they moved for a year to Maewe's home of Brazil. While living there, Davison played bass with Ronald Augusto.

Glass Hammer

Davison remained a member of Sky Cries Mary, but also joined the now-disbanded Yes tribute band Roundabout. In 2009, Glass Hammer discovered Davison singing Yes music online and asked him to join the band as "the voice we were always writing music for", according to founding members Steve Babb and Fred Schendel. He has since recorded five albums with them, If, Cor Cordium, Perilous, a new version of The Inconsolable Secret and Ode to Echo. He was the lead vocalist on the first three, but was latterly sharing that role in the band given his engagements with Yes and is now no longer an active member of the band.

Yes

In February 2012, Davison was announced as the new lead singer of Yes, replacing Benoît David, who left the group because of illness.^[2] "Strangely enough, Jon's name came up when we started working with Benoit," Yes bassist Chris Squire recalled. "In fact, my friend, Taylor Hawkins, had been telling me for years: 'If you ever need a replacement (singer), I know exactly the guy.'"^[3] Davison has described how the band had a tour booked when David dropped out, "so there was sort of this frantic race to resolve this matter [...] because they weren't going to back out of the tour. So in the same moment, perhaps even the same hour, of the same day, Chris is calling Taylor to get my phone number, because he's gonna give me a call, and then the manager is also working on contacting me, so I got contacted by both of them."^[4]

Davison has toured with Yes since joining the band, and sang lead on 2014's Heaven & Earth. Additionally, he wrote or co-wrote seven out of the eight tracks.

Discography

Glass Hammer

• If (2010) – lead and backing vocals
• Cor Cordium (2011) – lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar
• Perilous (2012) – lead and backing vocals
• The Inconsolable Secret (2013 re-recording) – lead vocals
• Ode to Echo (2014) – lead and backing vocals

Sky Cries Mary

• This Timeless Turning (1993) – bass
• Moonbathing on Sleeping Leaves (1997) – bass
• Fresh Fruits for the Liberation (1998) – bass
• Seeds (1999) – bass
• Here and Now (2005) – bass
• Small Town (2007) – bass
• Space Between the Drops (2009) – bass
• Taking The Stage: 1997–2005 (2011) – bass

Yes

Studio albums

• Heaven & Earth (2014) – lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar

Live albums

• Like It Is: Yes at the Bristol Hippodrome (2014) – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, keyboards
• Like It Is: Yes at the Mesa Arts Center (2015) – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, keyboards

Guest appearances

• Tales from the Edge: A Tribute to the Music of Yes (2012) – lead vocals and tambourine in "Starship Trooper" with The Samurai of Prog
• Absinthe Tales of Romantic Visions by Mogador (2012) – lead vocals in "The Sick Rose"
• The Birds of Satan by The Birds of Satan (2015) - backing vocals in "Pieces of the Puzzle" and "Raspberries", co-wrote "Raspberries"
• Foo Fighters – lead vocals on "Tom Sawyer" by Rush on stage (2015)
• Citizen by Billy Sherwood (2015) - lead vocals in "Written in the Centuries"
• Lost and Found (2016) by The Samurai of Prog

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jon Davison.

• Glass Hammer Official website