Bill Wyman
William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 albums. Since 1997, he has performed as the vocalist and bass guitarist for Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Rolling Stones in 1989. Wyman briefly returned to recording with the Rolling Stones in 2023.
For other uses, see Bill Wyman (disambiguation).
Bill Wyman
William George Perks
24 October 1936
Lewisham, London, England
- Musician
- songwriter
- photographer
Bass guitar, vocals
1959–1993, 1997–present
- The Rolling Stones
- Willie & the Poor Boys
- the Cliftons
Early life[edit]
Wyman was born as William George Perks in Lewisham Hospital in Lewisham, South London, the son of bricklayer William George Perks and Kathleen May ("Molly"), née Jeffery.[1] One of six children, he spent most of his early life 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.[2][3]
Wyman attended Oakfield Primary School,[2] 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.[4][5][2]
In January 1955, Wyman 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 and roll in dancehalls such as ″Zum Grünen Wald″ and, after purchasing a radio, also on American Forces Network.[6] In August 1956, he bought a guitar for 400 Deutsche Mark and in 1957 formed a skiffle group on camp with Casey Jones.[7]
Musical instruments[edit]
Wyman's bass sound came not only from his 30-inch short-scale fretless bass (the so-called "homemade" bass; actually a modified Dallas Tuxedo bass),[35] but also from the "walking bass" style he adopted, inspired by Willie Dixon and Ricky Fenson. Wyman has played a number of basses, nearly all short scale, including a Framus Star bass and a number of other Framus basses,[36][37] a Vox Teardrop bass (issued as a Bill Wyman signature model), a Fender Mustang Bass, two Ampeg Dan Armstrong basses, a Gibson EB-3, and a Travis Bean bass. Since the late 1980s, Wyman has primarily played Steinberger basses. In 2011, The Bass Centre in London issued the Wyman Bass, a fretted interpretation of Wyman's first "homemade" fretless bass, played and endorsed by Wyman.[38] One of Wyman's basses, his 1969 Fender Mustang Bass, sold at auction for $380,000 in 2020, at the time the highest price ever for a bass.[39]
