Pete Zorn (29 May 1950 – 19 April 2016) was an American

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

who was a longstanding member of Richard Thompson's backing band. He was also a member of

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...

, The Albion Band, and Driver 67.

Career

As a member of Thompson's backing group, Zorn played

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

, and

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...

and acted as a backing vocalist.Kielty, Martin
''Pete Zorn dead at 65''
Team Rock News, 20 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016. He was also a

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

ist. Zorn performed on Thompson's albums '' Hand of Kindness'' (1983), '' Sweet Talker'' (1991), and '' Dream Attic'' (2010). He was also one of two credited bass guitarists on the 1982 Richard & Linda Thompson album ''

Shoot Out the Lights ''Shoot Out the Lights'' is the sixth and final album by British husband-and-wife rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was produced by Joe Boyd and released in 1982 on his Hannibal label. A critically acclaimed work, AllMusic's Mark Deming ...

''. Although he frequently toured with Thompson, Zorn had also played with many other singers and groups including Arizona Smoke Revue, formed by older brother Bill Zorn,

Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/ folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mando ...

, the Phil Beer Band,

Elaine Paige Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professiona ...

Thomas Anders Bernd Weidung (born 1 March 1963), known by his stage name Thomas Anders, is a German singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the pop duo Modern Talking. Starting his singing career while still in school ...

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...

Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include 'I Know Him So Well', 'Answer Me' and ' January February'. Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a ...

Chris Rainbow Christopher James Harley, known by the stage name Chris Rainbow (18 November 1946 – 22 February 2015), was a Scottish pop rock singer and musician whose songs "Give Me What I Cry For" and "Solid State Brain" were often played by British radio ...

, and his band WAZ, which features

Steve Tilston Steve Tilston (born 26 March 1950) is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. Early life Steve Tilston was born in Liverpool and brought up in Leicestershire. A graphic designer before taking up music in 1971, Tilston lived in Bristol ...

. He appeared in the UK top 10 in 1979 as part of Driver 67 with his brother-in-law Paul Phillips on the single "Car 67". He and Phillips met when Zorn came to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

with Fishbaugh, Fishbaugh, and Zorn, a three-piece folk rock band signed to CBS Records in London. Because of his talent on so many instruments and his vocal range, Zorn became a staple of many sessions produced by Phillips in the early and mid-seventies. After the hit with Car 67, they made an album called ''Hey Mister Record Man'', under the name Tax Loss. Bill and Conrad Zorn also played. In 1988 Zorn played the saxophone to the theme song of the British children's television series ''

TUGS A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

'' (which only aired on ITV once in 1989 and only lasted for 13 episodes) with the series' composers Mike O'Donnell and

Junior Campbell Junior Campbell (born William Campbell Jnr, 31 May 1947) is a Scottish composer, songwriter and musician. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, piano player, and singer with the Scottish band Marmalade and co-wrote and produced some of t ...

(who were also friends of his and have also composed music for the original series of '' Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' of whom many of the crew members including former director

David Mitton David Nelson Godfrey Mitton (27 February 1939 – 16 May 2008) was a British director, producer, writer, model maker and special effects technician. He was best known for producing and directing the children's television programmes ''Thomas ...

had worked on ''TUGS'') composing the music. In 2009 Zorn joined

on the spring section of the band's 40th anniversary tour, replacing

Rick Kemp Frederick Stanley 'Rick' Kemp (born 15 November 1941) is an English bass player, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Projects In the 1960s, he shot to promi ...

, who was absent for health reasons. He also replaced Kemp on the American and Australian legs of the tour. Kemp returned for the winter leg of the tour, but Zorn stayed with the band as a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist due to various strains on the band. He played on the albums ''Now We Are Six Again'' and ''

Wintersmith ''Wintersmith'' is a comic fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, set in the Discworld and written with younger readers in mind. It is labelled a "Story of Discworld" to indicate its status as children's or young adult fiction, unl ...

'' and appeared on all Steeleye tours until spring 2015, when he left the band.

Death

Zorn died on April 19, 2016, following a battle with cancer. His death was announced by Zorn's family, and by Thompson, on their respective

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

pages.

Discography

With Richard Thompson

Pete Zorn was a member of Thompson's touring band from 1982 to 1984 and from 1991 onwards and appears on all his live albums recorded with a band from then until 2010. * ''

'' (1982) * '' Hand of Kindness'' (1983) * '' Sweet Talker'' (1991) * '' Two Letter Words'' (1996) * ''

Semi-Detached Mock Tudor ''Semi-Detached Mock Tudor'' is a live album by Richard Thompson Beginning with the '' Live at Crawley'' album in 1995, Richard Thompson had begun issuing high-quality, officially sanctioned live recordings as an alternative to bootleg record ...

'' (2002) * ''

Live Warrior __NOTOC__ ''Live Warrior'' is a live album by Richard Thompson recorded during the 2007 tours of the UK and United States to support the '' Sweet Warrior'' album. It is released on Thompson's boutique Beeswing label. The album's track selection ...

'' (2007) * '' Dream Attic'' (2010) * ''

Live at the BBC {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Live at the BBC or BBC Recordings are recordings originally made for or by BBC Radio 1. Many recordings were released under several name variants. Live at the BBC *Live at the BBC (The Beatles ...

'' (2011) * '' Cabaret of Souls'' (2012) * ''Live at Rockpalast'' (recorded during the 1983-4 Hand of Kindness tour) (2017)

With Gerry Rafferty

* '' Snakes and Ladders'' (1980) * ''

North and South North and South may refer to: Literature * ''North and South'' (Gaskell novel), an 1854 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell * ''North and South'' (trilogy), a series of novels by John Jakes (1982–1987) ** ''North and South'' (Jakes novel), first novel ...

'' (1988) * '' Over My Head'' (1994)

With The Albion Band

* ''Give Me A Saddle, I'll Trade You A Car'' (as Albion Band '89) (1989) * ''An Evening With The Albion Band'' (2002)

With Steeleye Span

* '' Now We Are Six Again'' (2011) * ''

'' (2013)

References

External links

Facebook post by Zorn's family, announcing his death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zorn, Pete 1950 births 2016 deaths People from Somerset County, Pennsylvania American saxophonists American male saxophonists American flautists American mandolinists Tin whistle players American bass guitarists British folk rock musicians American expatriates in the United Kingdom Steeleye Span members American multi-instrumentalists American session musicians Guitarists from Pennsylvania American folk rock musicians 20th-century American guitarists American male bass guitarists The Albion Band members The New Christy Minstrels members 20th-century flautists