Yes’ lead singer Jon Davison responded to theft accusations in a statement on the band’s website.
“While my initial reaction is to say nothing in the face of these blatant lies and this frivolous lawsuit, I feel I must address the personal slander that has been included within it as I have been so deeply hurt, as have my loved ones,” the rocker said. “I would also like to express a sincere thank you for the immense support I have received both online, and personally, since this hit the press.”
Davison continued, “When we were told about this slanderous and fictitous claim, I simply couldn’t believe it, how could a friend make something like this up, so I wrote to Riz and his lawyer in good faith, and tried to show them that they had no case – and that I had evidence to support a very different story.”
“Even in light of this dishonest claim, for the sake of the long friendship, we urged Mr. Caldwell to go back to his client and get the full and truthful picture of these 12 years, and then reassess the (lack of) evidence,” he went on to explain.
Jon added, “For the record, I did not write ‘Dare to Know.’ As anyone who studies the Yes albums will know meticulous care is taken on every song to correctly credit the songwriters. On ‘The Quest,’ I have credits on 6 of 11 songs, hardly the ‘nearly every other song’ that is incorrectly stated in their claim to try and support their fiction.”
“Nor did I ever hear the ‘musical composition’ supposedly called ‘Reunion,’ or see the indie film ‘A Winter Rose.’ Riz sent me a 2min trailer for ‘A Winter Rose,’ and out of politeness I congratulated him, but had no interest in seeing the film,” the vocalist further shared.
He also said, “Frankly I was turned off by Riz’s ‘filmmaking’ after his first release was borderline pornographic in nature. I’m not even sure if ‘A Winter Rose’ had a theatrical release after the premiere, which I most certainly did not attend.”
Riz Story recently sued Steve Howe and Davison over a song from their 2021 album ‘The Quest.’ Zahler claims they stole his song ‘Reunion’ and turned it into ‘Dare to Know’ without his permission.
He claims Davison took the song, added lyrics, and credited Howe as the songwriter. Story says the musicologist found a 96% similarity between ‘Reunion’ and ‘Dare to Know.’ Riz is suing for damages and to stop the song’s distribution.
