Jerry Yester

{{Short description|American folk-rock musician and producer (born 1943)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Jerry Yester

| image = Jerry Yester in 2016 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Yester performing with the Lovin Spoonful in 2016

| background = solo_singer

| birth_name = Jerome Alan Yester

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=y|1943|1|9}}

| birth_place = Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse = {{marriage|Judy Henske|1963|1971|end=divorced}}

| instrument = guitar, vocals, keyboards, banjo

| genre = Pop, folk

| occupation = Musician, songwriter, record producer, arranger

| years_active = 1960–2017

| label =

| past_member_of = The New Christy Minstrels, Modern Folk Quartet, The Lovin' Spoonful, Rosebud, The Association

| website =

}}

Jerome Alan Yester (born January 9, 1943{{Cite web |title=Artist: Jerry Yester {{!}} SecondHandSongs |url=https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/85971/all |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=secondhandsongs.com}}) is an American former folk rock musician, record producer, and arranger. Yester has been a member of several bands including The New Christy Minstrels, Modern Folk Quartet, The Association, Rosebud and The Lovin' Spoonful.{{Cite web |date=2017-05-10 |title=The Lovin' Spoonful |url=http://www.lovinspoonful.com/jerry.html |access-date=2024-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510112436/http://www.lovinspoonful.com/jerry.html |archive-date=May 10, 2017 }}{{Cite web |last=Starkey |first=Glen |title=Do you believe in magic? |url=https://www.newtimesslo.com/arts/do-you-believe-in-magic-2940652 |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=New Times San Luis Obispo |language=en}}

Yester started his career in 1960 performing with his brother Jim. He later joined The New Christy Minstrels and later Modern Folk Quartet, replacing member Stan White. Yester would later form Rosebud in the 1970s and tour with The Association in the 1980s.

Yester would play piano on the Lovin Spoonfuls debut single Do You Believe in Magic, he later became the Lovin' Spoonful's guitarist after Zal Yanovsky left the band in 1967,{{Cite web |title=The Lovin' Spoonful |url=https://www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-lovin-spoonful/ |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=Ed Sullivan Show |language=en-US}} and recorded the album Everything Playing with the band that same year. The Spoonful broke up in 1969, Yester went on to be active in the music industry working on other projects during the time the band was split up. In 1991 he reunited with Joe Butler and Steve Boone to tour again as the Lovin Spoonful, playing guitar, keyboards and singing. Yester toured with the band until 2017.

Yester also has produced and arranged albums by many musicians and released two solo albums, Just Like the Big Time Only Smaller in 1990 and Pass Your Light around in 2017, as well as the album Farewell Aldebaran in 1969, where he collaborated with his wife Judy Henske.{{Cite web |title=An Evening With Judy Henske & Jerry Yester Celebrating Farewell Aldebaran |url=https://grammymuseum.org/event/an-evening-with-judy-henske-jerry-yester-celebrating-farewell-aldebaran/ |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=Grammy Museum |language=en-US}}

Biography

File:Jerry Yester.jpg

Yester was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and grew up in Burbank, California. He formed a duo with brother Jim Yester, the Yester Brothers, and started playing folk clubs in Los Angeles in 1960. When Jim enlisted in the army, Jerry joined the New Christy Minstrels, and then, in 1963, the Modern Folk Quartet.{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|pages=2751/2}} The MFQ released two albums in the next two years, and Yester also branched out into other recordings, playing piano on the Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe in Magic" in 1965.{{Cite web |date=2011-11-23 |title=The Lovin' Spoonful |url=http://www.lovinspoonful.com/jerry.html |access-date=2024-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123194335/http://www.lovinspoonful.com/jerry.html |archive-date=November 23, 2011 }}

The MFQ split up in 1966, and Yester began work as a solo artist and as a producer, with his wife Judy Henske, whom Yester married in 1963,{{Cite web |last=Rapp |first=Allison |date=May 2, 2022 |title=Folk Singer Judy Henske Dead at 85 |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/judy-henske-dead/ |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |language=en}} his brother Jim's band the Association, the Turtles, and Tim Buckley, for whom he produced Goodbye and Hello and Happy Sad.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p140332|pure_url=yes}}|title=Biography: Jerry Yester|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|website=AllMusic|access-date=27 July 2010}} The following year he joined the Lovin' Spoonful, replacing Zal Yanovsky, whom he also later worked with as producer. In 1969, Henske, Yester and Yanovsky put together the cult album Farewell Aldebaran, on which Yester played nearly a dozen different instruments. The following year Yester and Henske formed a new band, Rosebud, but the band dissolved in 1971; the couple then divorced.

Yester continued to work as a producer and/or arranger on albums by the Turtles, Pat Boone, Aztec Two Step, and Tom Waits, and in the 1970s, also performed with the Association and the re-formed Modern Folk Quartet. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Hawaii and formed a dance band called Rainbow Connection with his brother Jim, and Rainbow Rastasan (Rainbow Page). In 1988, the MFQ began periodic touring of Japan, and have since recorded seven CDs for Japanese labels, including one (Wolfgang) using the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In 1990 Yester released a solo album, Just Like Big Time Only Smaller.

In 1991, both Yester brothers joined a re-formed Lovin' Spoonful with Butler and Boone.{{Cite web |last=Liebman |first=Jon |date=August 24, 2014 |title=Interview with Lovin Spoonful bassist Steve Boone |url=https://forbassplayersonly.com/interview-steve-boone/ |access-date=August 7, 2024 |website=For Bass Players Only |language=en-US}} Yester would sing some of the band's songs and play keyboards and guitar. Yester subsequently resided in the area of Harrison, Arkansas, where he produced and arranged in his own studio, Willow Sound. At Willow Studios Yester would produce the album Stick and Stones May Break My Bones but Names will Never Hurt Me by the No-Neck Blues Band at the studio in 2001.{{Cite web |title=Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Names... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/sticks-and-stones-may-break-my-bones-but-names-will-never-hurt-me-mr0001199426 |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}

On October 6, 2017, one day before Yester was arrested, he released a solo album titled Pass Your Light Around.{{Citation |title=Pass Your Light Around - Jerry Yester {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pass-your-light-around-mw0003101323 |access-date=2024-08-05 |language=en}}

= Legal issues =

The Oklahoma attorney general's office began investigating Yester in 2017.{{Cite web |last=McDonnell |first=Brandy |title=Oklahoma City Lovin' Spoonful concert canceled after band member Jerry Yester arrested on child pornography charges |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/columns/brandy-mcdonnell/2017/10/11/oklahoma-spoonful-concert-canceled-after-member-jerry-yester-arrested-child-pornography-charges/60569431007/ |date=October 11, 2017 |access-date=March 22, 2024|website=The Oklahoman |language=en-US}} On October 7, 2017, Yester was arrested for 30 counts of possession of child pornography in Arkansas and was released on a $35,000 bond.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tmz.com/2017/10/07/lovin-spoonful-member-jerry-yester-arrested-child-porn/|title=The Lovin' Spoonful's Jerry Yester Arrested for Child Pornography|website=TMZ|date=October 7, 2017}}{{Cite web |last=Giles |first=Jeff Giles|date=October 12, 2017 |title=Lovin' Spoonful Fire Guitarist After Child Pornography Charges |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jerry-yester-child-pornography/ |access-date=March 22, 2024 |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |language=en}} As a result of his arrest, he was dismissed from The Lovin' Spoonful, the band canceled several tour dates, until they found a replacement.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tmz.com/2017/10/11/the-lovin-spoonful-kicks-out-guitarist-jerry-yester-child-porn/|title=The Lovin' Spoonful Kicks Out Guitarist Jerry Yester After Child Porn Arrest|website=TMZ|date=October 7, 2017}} In a statement Steve Boone and Joe Butler said they were shocked.{{Cite web |last=Sanchez |first=Rosa |date=October 12, 2017 |title=Jerry Yester Kicked Out Of Own Band After Child Porn Arrest |url=https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2017/10/jerry-yester-kicked-out-band-child-porn/ |access-date=March 28, 2024 |website=RadarOnline |language=en-US}} The band would eventually replace Yester with keyboardist Murray Weinstock and resumed touring.{{Cite web |last=Ruggiero |first=Bob |date=2019-07-12 |title=Another Sip of the Lovin' Spoonful with Steve Boone |url=https://classicrockbob.com/2019/07/12/another-sip-of-the-lovin-spoonful-with-steve-boone/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=Classic Rock Bob |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Patton |first=Alli |date=2023-04-17 |title=Behind the Band Name: The Lovin' Spoonful |url=https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-band-name-the-lovin-spoonful/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=American Songwriter |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Ruggiero |first=Bob |title=Steve Boone Offers Another Taste of The Lovin' Spoonful |url=https://www.houstonpress.com/music/things-to-do-see-the-lovin-spoonful-at-the-stafford-centre-11212004 |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=Houston Press |language=en}} Yester pleaded guilty to eight counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child on October 9, 2018.{{cite web|url=https://fox59.com/2018/10/09/former-lovin-spoonful-band-member-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-charges/|title=Lovin' Spoonful's Jerry Yester pleads guilty to child porn charges|website=WXIN|date=October 9, 2018|access-date=November 2, 2018}}{{Cite web |date=October 9, 2018|title=Lovin' Spoonful's Jerry Yester pleads guilty to child porn charges |url=https://fox59.com/news/former-lovin-spoonful-band-member-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-charges/ |access-date=March 22, 2024 |website=Fox 59 |language=en-US}}

In July 2019, Yester was sentenced to two years in prison after his conviction for child pornography possession, and he was required to register as a sex offender.{{Cite web|url=https://5newsonline.com/2019/07/16/former-lovin-spoonful-sentenced-for-child-porn-charges/|title=Former 'Lovin' Spoonful' Member Sentenced for Child Porn Charges|website=5newsonline.com|date=July 16, 2019 }}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090901173943/http://www.timbuckleyandfriends.com/JerryYester.html Interview with Yester, focusing on his work with Tim Buckley]
[http://www.lovinspoonful.com/jerry.html Jerry Yester at LovinSpoonful.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510112436/http://www.lovinspoonful.com/jerry.html |date=May 10, 2017 }}
{{discogs artist|Jerry Yester}}
{{IMDb name|0947743}}

Category:1943 births

Category:Living people

Category:American music arrangers

Category:American folk musicians

Category:American multi-instrumentalists

Category:American people convicted of child pornography offenses

Category:Record producers from California

Category:American rock musicians

Category:Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama

Category:Musicians from Burbank, California

Category:The Lovin' Spoonful members

Category:American lead guitarists