Esquire

The name Esquire will be familiar to the more devoted fans of Yes, as tracks by the band have appeared on various "Yes; friends and family" type compilations. This though is not a side project for Chris Squire, but a band led by his ex-wife Nikki Squire. The genesis of the band was in 1982, when Chris met some distant relatives who were performing in a club band. He offered them the use of his home studio, and while he was away from home (touring with Yes no doubt), he left Nikki to assist the band. She soon started working with them and joined the band (then called New Cross) as vocalist and co-songwriter. New Cross did not last long, but Nikki and Nigel McClaren continued to work together, recruiting Charles Olins along the way, the trio signing up with Trevor Horn's ZTT records. During this period, Horn actually joined Yes, so the time he had available to produce was limited. In 1986, Horn agreed to release the band, and they were picked up by John Kalodner of Geffin Records. The band's first (eponymous) album took some time to complete, finally being released in 1987. The line up consisted of Nikki on vocals accompanied by Nigel McLaren (bass, backing vocals) and Charles Olins (keyboards, backing vocals). The Squire's daughter Carmen also sings backing vocals. Although the Squires were no longer a couple, Chris lent a hand with mixing and production on the band's debut, but has never (officially) played with the band. By the time the second Esquire album was recorded, Chris and Nikki were divorced (they actually divorced before the debut album hit the streets) and despite rumours to the contrary, Chris is adamant that he had no involvement at all in that album. Olins left the band too, so Esquire effectively became a duo of Nikki and Nigel McLaren, with guest musicians helping out as required. For a variety of reasons, "Coming home" took a long time to complete, eventually being released in 1997. It remains the last album to be released under the name Esquire to date. Recently however, Nikki and Nigel have started working together again, and material from a planned forthcoming album can be heard in their myspace page