Jon McKee

I have a story to tell about my hero Jon Anderson which goes as follows:-

The story actually starts back in 1979 when my first daughter Kirsty was born. At nights when she could not sleep, I put on a record and rocked her to sleep in the rocking chair. The music I played was "Everybody Loves You" from the great Jonno. This is not a word of a lie but at 3 months old, if I put on a different record she would squirm and point to the record player until I changed the record to "Everybody loves you" and snuggle back down! Kirsty remembers this music with fondness and I always told her that if Jon came to town for a concert I would take her to see him.

The story now moves forward to early October '89 my family were on holiday down in Wales (UK). The weather was bad and Kirsty (Now 10) was bored. At that age she could not stop writing letters to everyone and asked me who she could write to. As I had just purchased tickets for ABWH who were to play at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 21st October that month, I suggested she write to Jon to say how "Everybody loves you" was her favourite song and that she would be coming to see him on the 21st. And so she did.......

The 21st arrived and we all headed off to the concert, which was first class and everything I hoped for and more.....In the middle of their set after 'Brother of mine', Jon stopped and spoke a few words to the audience. Imagine our surprise and delight when Jon said:

"I would like to say hello to Kirsty and thank you for the letter, it is great that a new generation of YES fans are listening to the music. My daughter is also 10 and the song I am about to sing was written for her." He then sang a few lines from "Everybody loves you". It was really quite an emotional moment for us especially as Jon and Rick followed this with 'The Meeting' which is a very beautiful and thought provoking song.

The evening will stay in our thoughts forever, and my only regret was not trying to stay and meet Jon at the end of the concert.