Eugene Stephen Jay (born January 26, 1951) is an American bassist, best known for working with

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

Early life

Jay was born Eugene Stephen Jay in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

on January 26, 1951. He auditioned for

in 1982 after answering an ad in the newspaper, and the two have worked together ever since. Jay can be heard or seen on all of Yankovic's albums, videos, and concerts. He is also the founder of the ethno-funk duo Ak & Zuie, with Pete Gallagher. He has scored more than fifty nationally broadcast

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

specials and series episodes, including three

George Foster Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

winners, and contributed to several feature films. He has also done extensive session work, released eight solo records on his own Ayarou label, and produced two albums for the WEA Nonesuch Explorer series. Jay's background includes a BA and MM Graduate Fellowship in composition from the University of South Florida in 1972. After completing his studies, he went to

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

* ''

'' * '' "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D'' * ''

Dare to Be Stupid ''Dare to Be Stupid'' is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 18, 1985. The album was one of many Yankovic records produced by former McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between August 1984 and March 1985, the ...

'' * ''

Polka Party! ''Polka Party!'' is the fourth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on October 21, 1986. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between April and September 1986, the album was Yankovic's follow-u ...

'' * ''

Even Worse ''Even Worse'' is the fifth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on April 12, 1988. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between November 1987 and February 1988, this album helped to revitaliz ...

'' * ''

UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

'' * ''

Off the Deep End ''Off the Deep End'' is the seventh studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992. This album was the first album self-produced by Yankovic, after six albums with Rick Derringer. Recorded between June 1990 and January 1992, the album was a ...

'' * ''

Alapalooza ''Alapalooza'' is the eighth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1993. By the completion of his previous album, ''Off the Deep End'', Yankovic had already written all of the original songs that he planned to use on his next release ...

'' * ''

Bad Hair Day ''Bad Hair Day'' is the ninth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on March 12, 1996. It was also Yankovic's last studio album for the Scotti Brothers label before it was purchased by Volcano Records in 1999 and his final studio album ...

'' * '' Running with Scissors'' * ''

Poodle Hat ''Poodle Hat'' is the eleventh studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on May 20, 2003. It was the fifth studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop of the early-2000 ...

'' * '' Straight Outta Lynwood'' * ''

Alpocalypse ''Alpocalypse'' is the thirteenth studio album by American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 21, 2011. It was the seventh studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pa ...

'' * ''

Mandatory Fun ''Mandatory Fun'' is the fourteenth studio album by American musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. The self-produced album was released by RCA Records in the United States on July 15, 2014, and was the final album on Yankovic's recording contract. Yankovi ...

Solo albums

* ''Sea Never Dry'' – 1997 * ''Film Music'' – 1998 – a collection of 66 short excerpts from his original film and television scores * ''Tangled Strings'' – 1999Prior to ''Tangled Strings'', a cassette-only release titled ''Whatever It Is'' was made available, containing many of the same songs which were later released on ''Tangled Strings''. When ''Tangled Strings'' was released, ''Whatever It Is'' was retired. * ''Self Avoiding Random Walk'' – 2000 * ''Outer Voice'' – 2004 * ''Rounder Gaze'' – 2004 * ''Friction'' – 2004 * ''Plus'' – 2004 * ''Physical Answer'' – 2008 * ''Chaos, Clouds and Tongue'' – 2011 * ''Things Change'' – 2013 * ''El Natural 7'' – 2016 * ''Spontaneous Symmetry'' – 2016 * ''When One Remains'' – 2016 * ''So Do I Sadie'' – 2018 * ''Vita Beata'' – 2022

With Ak & Zuie

* ''Non-Franciscan Duets''

Compilations

* ''Deep Forest'' * ''Late in the 20th Century: An Elektra / Nonesuch New Music Sampler''

References

External links

*
''Uncharted Territory''
from ''Global Bass Magazine'', December 2001
''Stephen Jay, Bass Player for Weird Al Yankovic, On Playing Live Through Mackie SR1530s''
from ''Bass Player Magazine'', May 11, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Steve 1951 births American bass guitarists Guitarists from Detroit Living people University of South Florida alumni "Weird Al" Yankovic 20th-century American guitarists