In Memoriam - Page 20

Original Booker T. & the M.G.’s bassist Lewie Steinberg has passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 82 years old. Steinberg was born in 1933 in Memphis, Tennessee. While many people associate Donald “Duck” Dunn with the M.G.’s, Steinberg was the group’s first bassist and recorded on the first two albums: Green Onions and Soul Dressing. He was...

Bassist Rob Wasserman, who played alongside some of the world’s greatest musicians, has passed away from an undisclosed illness. He was 64 years old. Wasserman began as a violinist, switching to bass as a teenager. He studied bass at the San Francisco Conservatory as well as composition with John Adams. His early career included stints with Van Morrison, Oingo Boingo...

Brian Rading, who laid down the low end for Canada’s Five Man Electrical Band, has passed away after fighting throat cancer. He was 69 years old. Rading co-founded the band in 1963 in Ottawa. Originally called The Staccatos, the group changed their name after a handful of albums on Capitol Records of Canada. Rading was instrumental in choosing the name...

Nashville session bass ace Mike Chapman has passed away after battling an aggressive form of cancer. He was 63 years old. Chapman was an absolute staple of country music. Born in Alabama, he began his career playing in nightclubs “6 nights a week, 5 sets a night for the biggest part of a decade,” his biography states. He decided to...

Sad news to report today: Ohio Players bassist Marshall “Rock” Jones has passed away after battling cancer and recently suffering a stroke. He was 75 years old. Jones was a founding member of the Ohio Players precursor band The Ohio Untouchables in 1959, though he left after getting in a fistfight 1964. Another shakeup led to Jones rejoining in 1970....

Double bassist Jane Little, who was the longest tenured orchestra member in the world, passed away on May 14th doing what she loved: playing bass. In a bittersweet twist of fate, the 87-year-old collapsed during an encore performance with the Atlanta Symphony during the song, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Little served in the orchestra for over seven decades....

The bass world is grieving as double bassist and composer Johnterryl “Terry” Plumeri was murdered in his Florida home this week in what police believe was part of a string of burglaries. He was 71 years old. Plumeri began music at the age of 10. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City under the tutelage...

Joe Skyward, born Joe Howard, has died after a two-year fight with cancer. He was 57. The former Posies and Sunny Day Real Estate bassist’s passing was announced on the Posies Facebook page. “Joe Skyward, aka Joe Bass, left us last night,” the post read. “He had been fighting cancer for the last 2 years. Positive to the end, he...

Very sad news to report today: James Jamerson, Jr. has passed away at the age of 58. A cause of death has not been announced, though he had been ill for some time. Jamerson followed in the footsteps of his father, the legendary Motown studio musician, as a bassist. In fact, much of his childhood was spent around Motown’s Studio...

Bob Raymond, former bassist for Sugarloaf, has passed away after a 7-month battle with lung cancer. He was 69 years old. Raymond joined the band in 1968 when they were called Chocolate Hair. The band was signed to Liberty Records and changed to Sugarloaf just before their debut album, which scored the hit “Green-Eyed Lady”. The song peaked at No....

Bassist Jimmy Bain, who laid down the low end for hard rock icons Rainbow and Dio, has passed away at the age of 68. A cause of death has not been announced. The announcement was made by Def Leppard guitarist and Last in Line bandmate Vivian Campbell. “It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I must confirm the news of...

As we reflect on the musical highs of 2015, let us not forget those bassists we lost. Our community lost some of its brightest stars this year, but their musical legacies will never go away. Join us as we take a moment to remember the lives and legacies of the bass players we lost this year. Tim Drummond (January 10,...