- Willie Weeks
Willie Weeks (born 1947) is an American
bassist .Career
Weeks was born in
Salemburg, North Carolina , and began playing the electric bass in the early1960s . His earliest influences were the country, pop and R&Bmusic he heard on theradio , and counts bassistsJames Jamerson , Ray Brown, andRon Carter as inspirations. He has worked in the studio and toured with artists as varied asStevie Wonder ,George Harrison ,Eric Clapton ,The Rolling Stones ,Ronnie Wood ,Aretha Franklin ,Rod Stewart ,Carly Simon ,David Bowie ,Gregg Allman , Michael McDonald,The Doobie Brothers ,Kevin Chalfant ,Hank Crawford ,Wynonna Judd ,Vince Gill ,Richard and Linda Thompson ,Don McLean andLyle Lovett . He has also played withB.B. King ,Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown ,Joe Walsh ,Robert Cray ,Bobby Womack ,Jimmy Buffett ,Bette Midler ,Randy Newman ,James Taylor ,Billy Joel andJohn Mayer .Weeks' playing on Donny Hathaway's "Live" (1972), including a 3 1/2 minute bass solo on "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)", [http://chris.quietlife.net/2006/02/13/donny-hathaway-live/] is regarded by many bass players as some of Week's most acclaimed work. Weeks played a 1962 Fender P-Bass through an
Ampeg B-15 amplifier on the recording. Weeks also played on the 1975 No. 1 single "Fame" by David Bowie and theCrossroads Guitar Festival onJuly 28 ,2007 at Toyota Park inBridgeview, Illinois . [http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/15716163/crossroads_guitar_festival_2007/photo/4/large/]Weeks has replaced
Nathan East as a touring and studio bassist forEric Clapton since late2005 .In addition to his red 1962 P-Bass, Weeks also uses a maple-neck 1958 Precision, a 1964 Jazz Bass and a sunburst
Marcus Miller signature, as well as a tobacco sunburst Kay four-string upright bass for Clapton's "unplugged repertoire". Weeks recently used a sunburst 1963 P-Bass during Clapton's 2008 European Summer tour.Weeks appeared in the films "
Blues Brothers 2000 " and "Lightning in a Bottle".References
*Clark, Doug (
January 21 ,2007 ). " [http://www.clintonnc.com/articles/2007/01/26/news/top_stories/topstory78.txt The mark of a musician] ". "The Sampson Independent". Retrieved onAugust 31 2007 .
*Johnston, Richard (August 2005). " [http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?storycode=9824 Willie Weeks Does It All] ". "Bass Player". Retrieved onAugust 31 2007 .
*"Guitar Player ". November 1990.
* [http://www.ericclaptonfaq.com/biographies-other-musicians/willie-weeks.html Eric Clapton's Fan Club]
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