William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who achieved international fame as the bassist for the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Rolling Stones. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He has worked producing records and films, and has scored music for films and television.
Wyman has kept a journal since he was a child during World War II, and has published seven books. He is also a photographer, and his works have been displayed in galleries around the world.[1]
Wyman is an amateur archaeologist and enjoys metal detecting. He designed and marketed a patented "Bill Wyman signature metal detector", which he has used to find relics in the English countryside dating back to the era of the Roman Empire.
Early life
He was born William George Perks in Lewisham Hospital in Lewisham, South London, the son of bricklayer William George Perks and Kathleen May ("Molly"), née Jeffery.[2] One of six children, he spent most of his early life living in Penge, Southeast London. Wyman described his wartime childhood as "scarred by poverty", having survived The Blitz and enemy fighter plane strafing that killed neighbours.[3][4]
He attended Oakfield Primary School,[3] passing his eleven plus exam to gain entry to Beckenham and Penge County Grammar School from 1947 to Easter 1953, leaving before the GCE exams after his father found him a job working for a bookmaker and insisted that he take it.[5][6][3]
In January 1955, Bill was called up for two year national service in the Royal Air Force. In the autumn, after signing for an extra year, he was posted to Oldenburg Air Base in North Germany, where he spent the rest of his service in the Motor Transport Section. He heard the beginnings of Rock ‘n’ Roll in dancehalls like ″Zum Grünen Wald″ and, after purchasing a radio, also on AFN.[7] In August 1956, he bought a guitar for 400 Deutsche Mark and in 1957 formed a skiffle group on camp with Casey Jones."1950s – Bill Wyman".
Music career
Wyman took piano lessons from age 10 to 13. A year after his marriage on 24 October 1959 to Diane Cory, an 18-year-old bank clerk, he bought a Burns electric guitar for £52 (equivalent to £1,274 in 2021[8]) on hire-purchase, but was not satisfied by his progress.[9] He switched to bass guitar after hearing one at a Barron Knights concert. He created a fretless electric bass guitar[10] by removing[11] the frets on a second hand UK-built Dallas Tuxedo bass[12][13] and played this in a south London band, the Cliftons, in 1961.
He legally changed his surname to Wyman in August 1964, taking the phonetic surname of a friend, Lee Whyman, with whom he had done national service in the Royal Air Force from 1955 to 1957.[14]
The Rolling Stones and 1980s side projects
When drummer Tony Chapman told him that a rhythm and blues band called the Rolling Stones needed a bass player, he auditioned at a pub in Chelsea on 7 December 1962 and was hired as a successor to Dick Taylor.[15] The band were impressed by his instrument and amplifiers (one of which Wyman modified himself, and a Vox AC30).[15][16] Wyman was the oldest member of the group.[17]
In addition to playing bass, Wyman frequently provided backing vocals on early records, and through 1967, in concert as well. He wrote and sang lead on the track "In Another Land" from the album Their Satanic Majesties Request, which was released as a single and credited solely to Wyman, making it his first official solo single. The song is one of two Wyman compositions released by the Rolling Stones; the second is "Downtown Suzie" (sung by Mick Jagger), on Metamorphosis, a collection of Rolling Stones outtakes. The title "Downtown Suzie" was chosen by their erstwhile manager Allen Klein without consulting Wyman or the band. The original title was "Sweet Lisle Lucy", named after Lisle Street, a street in the red light district in Soho, London.[citation needed]
Wyman was close to Brian Jones; they usually shared rooms while on tour and often went to clubs together. He and Jones hung out together even when Jones was distancing himself from the band. Wyman was distraught when he heard the news of Jones' death, being one of two members (Watts was the other) to attend Jones' funeral in July 1969. Wyman was also friends with guitarist Mick Taylor. Like the other Rolling Stones, he has worked with Taylor since the latter's departure from the band in 1974.[18]
Wyman has kept a journal throughout his life, beginning when he was a child, and used it in writing his 1990 autobiography Stone Alone and his 2002 book Rolling with the Stones. In Stone Alone, Wyman states that he composed the riff of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" with Brian Jones and drummer Charlie Watts. Wyman mentions that "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was released as a single only after a 3–2 vote within the band: Wyman, Watts and Jones voted for, Jagger and Keith Richards against, feeling it not sufficiently commercial.[citation needed]
Wyman also played on The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, released 1971, with Howlin' Wolf, Eric Clapton, Charlie Watts and Stevie Winwood, and on the album Jamming with Edward, released in 1972, with Ry Cooder, Nicky Hopkins, Jagger and Watts. He played bass on at least two tracks of the 1967 album "I Can Tell" by John P. Hammond[19]
In July 1981, Wyman's solo single "(Si Si) Je Suis un Rock Star" became a top-20 hit in many countries.[20] Also in 1981, Wyman composed the soundtrack album Green Ice for the Ryan O'Neal/Omar Sharif film of the same name.[citation needed] In the mid-1980s, he composed music for two films by Italian director Dario Argento: Phenomena (1985) and Terror at the Opera (1987).[citation needed]
In 1983, Wyman helped organize a fundraiser for Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis in the form of a concert tour with a group calling themselves Willie and the Poor Boys. The group played shows in the U.S. and the UK that included a rotating group of guest musicians, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. The effort was inspired by Wyman's friend and former Small Faces and Faces musician Ronnie Lane.[21] The group produced an album of the same name that lists Wyman, Charlie Watts, Geraint Watkins, Mickey Gee, and Andy Fairweather Low as principal members, plus Ray Cooper, Jimmy Page, Willie Garnett, Chris Rea, Steve Gregory, Paul Rodgers, Kenney Jones, Henry Spinetti, and Terry Williams.
Wyman made a cameo appearance in the 1987 film Eat the Rich. He produced and played on a few[quantify] albums of the group Tucky Buzzard.[22]
After the Rolling Stones' 1989–90 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tours, Wyman left the band in January 1993.[23] The Rolling Stones have continued to record and tour with Darryl Jones on bass, but not as an official member of the band.[24]
In 2012, Wyman and Mick Taylor were expected to join the Rolling Stones on stage at shows in London (25 and 29 November) and Newark (13 and 15 December), though Darryl Jones supplied the bass for the majority of the show.[25][26] At the first London show on 25 November, Wyman played on two back-to-back songs, "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" and "Honky Tonk Women". He later stated that he was not interested in joining the band for further tour dates in 2013.[27]