Alan Henry Spenner (7 May 1948 – 11 August 1991) was an English bass player who performed with
Wynder K. Frog
Mick Weaver (born 16 June 1944, Bolton, Lancashire, England) is an English session musician, best known for his playing of the Hammond B3 organ, and as an exponent of the blues and funk.
Career
Weaver's band performed as Wynder K. Frog and beca ...
,
the Grease Band,
Spooky Tooth
Spooky Tooth were an English rock band originally formed in Carlisle in 1967. Principally active between 1967 and 1974, the band re-formed several times in later years.
History
Prior to Spooky Tooth, four of the band's five founding members h ...
,
ABC,
David Coverdale
David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after wh ...
,
David Soul,
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...
,
Kenny Loggins,
Lynda Carter,
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...
,
Ted Nugent,
Mick Taylor,
China Crisis,
Murray Head,
Kokomo,
Roxy Music, and played on the original 1970 concept album ''
Jesus Christ Superstar
''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...
''.
Spenner played bass live at
Woodstock in 1969 with Joe Cocker and the Grease Band and can be seen on ''The Woodstock Directors Cut''
DVD. In 1975 he played on
Bryn Haworth's album ''
Sunny Side of the Street''. In August 1982 he played on Roxy Music's VHS/DVD ''
The High Road'', filmed live in
Fréjus
Fréjus (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 54,458.
It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one urban agglomeration. The north of ...
, France.
Spenner died on 11 August 1991 of a
heart attack at the age of 43. He was married to
Dyan Birch, former lead vocalist with
Arrival and then
Kokomo. His son Henry is the former
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...
for the band
Fields.
Equipment
Spenner typically played Fender Precision Bass, Fender Precision, Fender Precision Fretless and Wal (bass), Wal electric basses through an Ampeg amplification system. His Wal bass was a 78 JG Series that, coupled with his playing style, provided a signature sound heard on many Roxy Music songs, such as "Same Old Scene" and "Avalon (Roxy Music song), Avalon".
References
External links
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1948 births
1991 deaths
English male guitarists
Male bass guitarists
Musicians from London
ABC (band) members
People from the London Borough of Hackney
20th-century English musicians
Spooky Tooth members
20th-century English bass guitarists
People from Dalston
20th-century British male musicians
The Grease Band members
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