Unsung Singing Bassists

[mdowns2001]

How about Ms. Mann?

 

[taliesin]

Jon Camp from Renaissance was a fabulous player and provided the harmony vocals (and occasional leads) complementing Annie Haslam

 

[Hambone70]

Undoubtedly Peter Cetera.

 

[Killing Floor]

Dusty!

 

[calypsocoral302]

Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer.

The most talented band? Not likely.

Pioneers of hard rock & metal? Abso-freaking-lutely!

 

[Killing Floor]

Nick Lowe for your consideration.

 

[Killing Floor]

Cassandra Wong.

 

[Spectrum]

Burke Shelley, God rest his soul, great bassist and singer.

 

[sylvanbass]

Kenny Rogers

 

[SlowpokeJoe]

Kenny Rogers

I think in Kenny's case it's the opposite: He's an unsung bassist!

 

[CraigL]

Roger Waters

 

[DaveParker39]

We all know the go-to Singing Bassists, your Lemmys and Geddys and Maccas and Stings, but how about some of the lesser known bassists who made a material impact with their vocals?

I'll start with Michael Anthony: His backing vocals were a key part of the early Van Halen sound and his singing is highly underrated.

Michael Anthony is the greatest backing vocalist in the history of rock. Full stop. You have your harmony bands and your bands with multiple lead singers, but when it comes to pure backing vocalists there is no greater backing vocalist than Michael Anthony. Anything shorter than "greatest of all time" is underrating Michael Anthony.

Jason Newsted's backing vocals were a big part of Metallica's live sound during their peak. He's a unique case because you would never know it from their albums... his additions to Creeping Death, Seek and Destroy, Master of Puppets, etc. were all things you would only have heard live, but you miss them when they aren't there.

I think Guy Pratt is pretty good as well. Another case of a live musician with surprisingly good backing (and occasional lead) vocals in various projects that wasn't often recorded singing in the studio.

 

[hensonbass]

Richard Page. This guy could belt the vocals and hold down the bottom very well.

 

[devnulljp]

REM wouldn’t have sounded the same without Mike Mills singing behind Stipe.

I saw them once in the relatively early days, where Michael Stipe was drunk and/or stoned and fell asleep onstage and Mikey sang the whole set. It was a gongshow, but he did what he could.

How about Burke Shelley of Budgie? Great band, great player, great singer. He died recently, very sad loss.

 

[bassdrummer]

After Sting, Geddy, and Jack Bruce, the next lead singer bassists I think of are Benjamin Orr, Tony Lewis, and Timothy B. Schmidt. And “Cassandra” from Wayne’s World…

 

[GodsLove66]

John Wetton & Greg Lake!

 

[Flamingo21]

 

[Max Blasto]

 

[Flamingo21]

Tal Wilkenfeld:

 

[Durham52]

Ronnie Lane, bassist singer, songwriter, The Small Faces then The Faces. Sang mainly backup behind Steve Marriott and Rod Stewart, but could and did sing lead.
Here's Debris, Ronnie wrote and sang this one. RIP Ronnie. (If you don't know him, he's the little guy in the middle)