Members of the prog rock band Yes are being sued over a song that appeared on their 2021 album, The Quest.
Riz Story, whose legal name is Rudolph Zahler, filed a copyright suit in Los Angeles claiming Yes guitarist Steve Howe and Jon Davison, the band’s lead singer since 2012, stole the music of his song “Reunion” for the track “Dare To Know,” adding their own lyrics.
In the court documents, Story says he wrote the music for “Reunion” around 1981 when he was just 15, and while it was never released as a single, it was used in the 2014 movie A Winter Rose, and he subsequently copyrighted the song.
He says in 2022 he discovered his music being used in “Dare To Know,” insisting he didn’t give them permission, and contending they violated his copyright by performing the tune and using it to promote their album.
As for how Howe heard the song, Story says it was through his relationship with Davison. They’ve known each other since being introduced by the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins around 1990. All three were in the band Anyone together.
Story also claims Davison once asked for help co-writing songs for Yes because “he didn’t think he was up to writing songs of a caliber” the band would expect, but Story refused. He says instead Davison opted to “steal” the song “Reunion,” giving songwriting credit to Howe on the album.
The suit also notes that Story has hired a musicologist who insists the two songs have “a pitch similarity percentage of 96%, which is extremely high.”
Story is suing for monetary damages, and wants an injunction forcing Yes to stop distributing the song and to give him sole songwriting credit for the music of “Dare to Know.”
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