Alan White, R.I.P.

Alan White, who spent nearly half a century as the drummer for the prog rock group Yes, passed away on Thursday following a brief illness. He was 72. 

White began drumming in earnest when he was 12 and was in bands from his early teens. After cutting his teeth on the road with The Alan Price Set, White earned his big break when John Lennon invited him to join The Plastic Ono Band. White plays drums on such iconic Lennon songs like "Imagine" and "Instant Karma". That would be impressive on its own, but White also played drums on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass playing on equally iconic songs "My Sweet Lord" and "What is Life". And not to be undone, Ginger Baker invited him to play drums during a tour with Ginger Baker's Air Force. 

White joined Yes in 1972 replacing Bill Bruford who departed for King Crimson and would appear on a grand total of 17 studio albums between 1973 and 2021. During a Yes hiatus in the early 1980s, White and Yes bassist Chris Squire briefly collaborated with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page in the short lived group XYZ. While the group never released any material their work would be realized on Yes' most commercially successful album 90125 which was released in 1983. 

Alan White is rarely mentioned in the pantheon of rock's greatest drummers but he certainly ought to be. R.I.P.