Chris Squire, the bassist and co-founder of influential prog-rock band Yes, who recently announced he had leukaemia, has died at the age of 67. The band posted a Facebook message on June 28 saying he "peacefully passed away" on Saturday, June 27 in Phoenix. No further details were given. Squire revealed last month that he had acute erythroid leukaemia, a rare form of acute myeloid leukaemia. "It's with the heaviest of hearts and unbearable sadness that we must inform you of the passing of our dear friend and Yes co-founder, Chris Squire," said the message from Alan White, Steve Howe, Jon Davison and Geoff Downes. "For the entirety of Yes's existence, Chris was the band's linchpin and ... the glue that held it together over all these years." Squire, who was born in 1948, in London, was the only member to play on all the band's albums. He co-founded Yes, which released its self-titled debut album in 1969, with former lead singer Jon Anderson. Anderson on Sunday said he and Squire were "musical brothers". He added: "I feel blessed to have created some wonderful, adventurous, music with him. Chris had such a great sense of humour ... he always said he was Darth Vader to my Obi-Wan. I always thought of him as Christopher Robin to my Winnie the Pooh." – AP
Joni Mitchell ‘getting better each day’
Folk legend Joni Mitchell is expected to make a full recovery from a brain aneurysm and – contrary to reports – is able to talk. Fellow folk musician David Crosby had said on June 26 that she was no longer able to speak and it was unclear when she would get any better. On Sunday, Mitchell's conservator confirmed that the 71-year-old Canadian singer suffered an aneurysm, but said the other details were "mostly speculative". "The truth is that Joni is speaking and she's speaking well," she said in a message posted on Mitchell's website. "She is not walking yet, but she will be in the near future as she is undergoing daily therapies. She is resting comfortably in her own home and ... a full recovery is expected." Crosby, who briefly dated Mitchell in the 1960s, had said during a Huffington Post webcast that Mitchell "took a terrible hit" and "to my knowledge, she is not speaking yet". Mitchell – whose hits include Big Yellow Taxi, Both Sides, Now and Woodstock – was taken to hospital in Los Angeles in March, but little news about her condition has been released since then. – AFP
War Novel wins Carnegie Medal
Readers and critics love Anthony Doerr's novel All the Light We Cannot See – and so do librarians. Doerr's Second World War book, a best-seller that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in April, has won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The Carnegie Medal for non-fiction was given to Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson's book on the criminal justice system. The prizes were announced on June 27 by the American Library Association and presented at a ceremony in San Francisco. Each winner received US$5,000 (Dh18,365). The medals were established in 2012 and are sponsored in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. – AP
