Banks was born in London on July 15th, 1947. He was a founding member of the pioneering progressive rock group Yes. He performed on the band’s first two albums, ‘Yes‘ and ‘Time And A Word‘.
After a brief period with Blodwyn Pig, he formed a band called Flash and released 3 critically acclaimed albums, Flash, In The Can, and Out Of Our Hands.
By 1973, Banks’ music evolved towards jazz-rock. He played in a band called Zox and the Radar Boys, which featured Phil Collins of Genesis.
In the mid-1970s, Peter Banks formed the band Empire and released 3 albums, ‘Mark I‘ ‘Mark II‘ and ‘Mark III‘. During his career, Banks released 5 solo albums: Two Sides Of Peter Banks (with an all-star line-up of Jan Akkerman, Phil Collins and John Wetton), Instinct, Self-Contained, Reduction, and Can I Play You Something?.
In the early 2000’s Banks wrote his autobiography ‘Beyond & Before‘ published by Golden Treasures publishing in the US.
In late 2004, Banks formed Harmony In Diversity, a free-form psychedelic improv three-piece band who performed in London and released a CD titled Trying. The group consisted of Banks, Nick Cottam on bass and David Speight on drums.
More recently, he collaborated with acts such as Harmony and Diversity, Prog Collective, ANT-BEE and Days Between Stations. Peter Banks was also putting on the final touches of the long awaited live recording ‘Flash – In Public’ CD set for release on Cleopatra Records at the time of his passing. He also played on the new “Prog Collective 2” project Billy Sherwood is writing and producing.
“I’m sorry to hear of Peter Banks’ passing… a great pal and a great guitarist,” said renowned progressive rock guitarist and composer Steve Hackett.
“I loved working with Peter on the many records I have produced over the years, he always delivered amazing stuff, creative, inspires and always with that classic original YES flavor that came with his playing,” said rock musician and producer Billy Sherwood. “He will be missed by me and many many other fans of his music and playing.”