Steve Howe

Englishman Howe is probably best known for his ongoing tenure with the Prog Rock hit makers Yes. This band became massively popular in the misguided mid-1970s through an unlikely combination of pop hooks and pompous neo-classical melodrama. The group was less an ensemble than a group of soloists vying for space, but their sound did rely heavily on Howe's distinctive, textural guitar work. In an era when all of his contemporaries were blues-based players, Howe based his style on jazz and country artists like Les Paul and Chet Atkins, and he was also enamored of classical nylon string playing. For a long period in the '70s he was considered the guitarist by legions of arena rock fans. Howe was also part of the chart topping Prog supergroup Asia, and has issued numerous solo recordings.