He is a member of the sunshine pop group the Association, who had numerous hits on the Billboard charts during the 1960s, including "Windy", "Cherish", "Never My Love" and "Along Comes Mary", among many others.

His father was a local Birmingham radio broadcaster, who played the part of a band member in the 1948 film Fort Apache, and was also a freelance piano player and author of numerous books based around the accordion.

Growing up, Yester attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California and was a member of the Falconry club there.

In 1966, Yester was asked to join the group The Association when their original rhythm guitarist Bob Page left two weeks after the band formed:[9]I'd gotten an audition at the Troubadour and played Wednesday nights at the Ice House.

After seeing which roles worked best for each member, Jules ended up playing bass on what would become ‘Along Comes Mary.’ We tried that out one night, and the next day, we put the song in our act.

[9] When the band were starting to garner a following, Yester was sharing a house with members Jules Alexander and Russ Giguere.

The band is known for their harmonies and multiple lead vocalists, with Jim contributing on Tenor vocals, that can be heard on "Cherish".

[citation needed] In August 1969, a collection of Poems, penned by the seven members of the Association, were released as the book "Crank Your Spreaders".

In 1975 the band signed with RCA Records where they released two singles, "One Sunday Morning" (produced in Canada by Jack Richardson) and "Sleepy Eyes".

A year later, in September 1979, the surviving key members, reunited at the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles for an HBO special called Then and Now.

In 2003, the Association were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, where the then-surviving members performed "Along Comes Mary" and "Windy".

Three songs by the Association have sold over one million copies and have been certified platinum discs: "Cherish", "Windy", and "Never My Love".

[19] The current lineup of the group consists of Yester (rhythm and lead guitar; 1965–1973, 1974–1977, 1979–1983, 2007–present), Jules Alexander (lead and rhythm guitar; 1965–1967, 1969–1974, 1979–1989, since 2012), Bruce Pictor (drums since 1985), Paul Holland (bass 1988–1999; rhythm and lead guitar since 2014), Del Ramos (brother of Association member Larry Ramos; bass since 1999) and Jordan Cole (son of Association member Brian Cole, keyboard since 1999).

Yester played in the reformed Modern Folk Quartet,[20] from 1985 to 1991, and contributed to the albums; In 1991, after a long-awaited settlement with their record company, Joe Butler and Steve Boone, of the Lovin' Spoonful, decided to start the group up again with Jerry Yester, who had joined the band later on, in 1967.

They were joined by Jim, due to other original Spoonful members John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky declining to participate.

[21] In 1978, Yester opened for Robin Williams as a solo artist at the Ice House[7] (which by then had slowly shifted from a music bar to a comedy club).

Jim later joined with Bruce Belland of The Four Preps, and The Diamonds' Dave Somerville, to form YBS, who also bill themselves as the Three Tenors of Rock.

He currently resides in Galloway Township, New Jersey, after previously living in Hollywood, Los Angeles from 1943 to 1989,[7] and has a daughter.

b/w "Baby, Can't You Hear Me Call Your Name" b/w "Forty Times" b/w "Your Own Love" b/w "Don't Blame It on Me" (titled "Don't Blame the Rain" on non-U.S. 45s) b/w "Standing Still" (from And Then...Along Comes the Association) "Looking Glass" 113 b/w "Sometime" "Requiem for the Masses" 100 b/w "We Love Us" (from Insight Out) b/w "Birthday Morning" b/w "Like Always" (from Birthday) b/w "Enter the Young" (from And Then...Along Comes the Association) b/w "The Time It Is Today" (from Birthday) b/w "Hear in Here" (from Birthday) b/w "I Am Up for Europe" b/w "Are You Ready" b/w "Look at Me, Look at You" (from The Association) b/w "Traveler's Guide" b/w "Traveler's Guide" b/w "It's Gotta Be Real" b/w "Makes Me Cry" (alternate title for "Funny Kind of Song") b/w "Indian Wells Woman" b/w "Kicking the Gong Around" b/w "Rainbows Bent" (from Waterbeds in Trinidad!)