Jim Yester

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Jim Yester is the older brother of guitarist/singer/producer Jerry Yester, whose credits run from the last incarnation of the Easy Riders to a latter day version of the Lovin' Spoonful. Jim Yester's first major music credit was as a member of the Modern Folk Quartet, a folk-rock outfit founded by his brother Jerry, which made a brief splash in the mid-'60s. Jim Yester was later the last original member of the Association to be recruited, and he co-authored several songs, including the single "No Fair at All." He also received a Grammy nomination for the song "Goodbye, Columbus," which was cut by the group and used in the film (and on the soundtrack) of the same name in 1969. Jim Yester's most visible moment with the group, however, came not with a song he had a hand in writing, but with their third single, "Along Comes Mary," written by Tandyn Almer, on which he sang lead -- it became their first hit and one of the group's two signature tunes (alongside Terry Kirkman's "Cherish"). He was part of the group's reunion in the late 1970s, remaining with them until 1981. In the 1990s, Yester joined his brother in a partly reunited Lovin' Spooonful. In the mid- to late '90s, Yester has joined with Bruce Belland of the '50s pop vocal group the Four Preps and the Diamonds' David Somerville to form YBS, who bill themselves as "the Three Tenors of rock." He has also recorded with singer Linda Genteel. ~ Bruce Eder