Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman was the source of the distinguishable bass sound heard in the acclaimed English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones for nearly three decades. An accomplished musician and composer with his own spot in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Bill Wyman was born William George Perks on October 24, 1936, in Lewishman, Kent. As a child, Bill had an interest in music and took piano lessons into his early teens, but it wouldn’t be until adulthood that he became accomplished.

Bill Wyman was born in Lewishman, Kent on 24th October 1936. When he was a child he started to play the organ with his father. After serving in the military, Wyman returned to England and married his first wife, Diane Cory in 1959. He worked as a carpenter and taught himself to play the bass guitar. He reworked one of his bass guitars to develop the fretless bass and began playing with a local band, The Cliftons, under the name Bill Wyman. In 1962, while playing with The Cliftons, he was asked to join the Rolling Stones as a successor to founding member Dick Taylor. With the solid line up of Wyman and fellow members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Brian Jones, the legacy of The Rolling Stones was born.

In 1964, their debut self-titled album The Rolling Stones was released and throughout the 60s the Stones had several hit singles. Enjoying success with the Rolling Stones, Wyman continued playing bass with the group into the 70s, but he also worked on his own music and released his first solo album Stone Alone in 1976. The album gained the attention of critics but was not a huge success. Wyman’s subsequent album Je suis un rock star, released in 1981, was his most successful solo album.

Bill Wyman continued to play with the Stones until 1992, when he announced he was leaving. This was after the release and tour of the album Steel Wheels in 1989, which was the last he ever did with Stones. Wyman then began playing bass in Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, a live performing group that released several of their own albums.

In his personal life, Bill Wyman suffered much criticism and heartache. He was deeply affected by the death of co-member Brian Jones; his first marriage had broken up after ten years; and he suffered criticism from the press, co-members, and even fans due to his relationship and marriage to Mandy Smith who was thirty-four years his junior. Bill and Mandy’s marriage lasted only briefly and he married Suzanne Accosta in 1993.

Wyman’s life with the Rolling Stones is detailed in his book Stone Alone written with Ray Coleman, and based largely on the personal diary Wyman kept during his years with the Stones.

YUDDY