Ross Lamont Valory (born February 2, 1949) is an American musician who is best known as the original bass player for the rock band Journey from 1973 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2020. Valory was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey in 2017.

Career

Ross Valory was born on February 2, 1949 in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. He grew up in Lafayette, California and attended

Acalanes High School Acalanes High School is a public secondary school located in Lafayette, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, within Contra Costa County. Acalanes was the first of four high schools established in the Acalanes Union High Scho ...

. In high school, he played clarinet, bass clarinet and guitar. His mother introduced him to jazz, particularly Dave Brubeck. He played with

Frumious Bandersnatch Frumious Bandersnatch was a psychedelic rock band in the late 1960s. The band was named after a character from the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky". Based in Berkeley, California, the band was active from 1967 to 1969. Their initial three-son ...

followed by Steve Miller Band appearing on ''

Rock Love ''Rock Love'' is a half live / half (sixth) studio album by American rock band Steve Miller Band. The album was released in September 1971, and compiled by Capitol Records. All of Miller's previous backing band had left following the recording of ...

''. He was joined by guitarist David Denny, drummer Jack King and bassist Bobby Winkelman, all of whom would become members of the Steve Miller Band. In fact it was Jim Nixon, the manager of Frumious Bandersnatch, who would introduce Valory to Journey band members along with Prairie Prince, later of

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their eponymous 1975 debut album included the single " White Punks on Dope," while their 1983 single " She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early ...

who originally sat in on drums. Valory later joined the Golden Gate Rhythm Section which was later renamed to Journey. Aside from his termination from the group during the '' Raised on Radio'' album sessions and the album's supporting tour in 1986, Valory has played on all of Journey's albums to date. For ''Raised on Radio'', he was replaced on bass in the studio by Bob Glaub on three songs, while the remaining songs were played by

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing ba ...

, who also played on the subsequent tour. Though he returned to the band when they reformed in 1995, Valory was dismissed from Journey again in 2020, with Jackson replacing him once again. One of Valory's techniques is to string a four-string bass with the bottom four strings of a 5-string set. Thus, instead of the usual E-A-D-G arrangement, his bass is strung as B-E-A-D, which he calls Nashville Tuning. This adds the five string depth to the songs, while allowing the quick fingering of a four-string neck. Valory recorded Escape with an Ovation Magnum II, used a Peavey and a Steinberger for Frontiers, and a Fender Jazz up until the Departure album. Valory also played for The V.U., The Storm, and the Steve Miller Band.

Discography

Steve Miller Band

*''

'' (1971)

Journey

*'' Journey'' (1975) *''

Look into the Future ''Look into the Future'' is the second studio album by Journey. It was released in January 1976 by Columbia Records. For their second album, the members of Journey toned down the overt progressiveness of their first, self-titled release, in fa ...

'' (1976) *''

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

'' (1977) *''

Infinity Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions am ...

'' (1978) *''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'' (1979) *'' Departure'' (1980) *'' Dream, After Dream'' (1980) *'' Captured'' (1981) *''

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some s ...

'' (1981) *''

Frontiers Frontiers may refer to: * Frontier, areas near or beyond a boundary Arts and entertainment Music * ''Frontiers'' (Journey album), 1983 * ''Frontiers'' (Jermaine Jackson album), 1978 * ''Frontiers'' (Jesse Cook album), 2007 * ''Frontiers'' (P ...

'' (1983) *'' Trial by Fire'' (1996) *'' Arrival'' (2001) *'' Red 13'' (2002) *''

Generations A generation is "all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively." Generation or generations may also refer to: Science and technology * Generation (particle physics), a division of the elementary particles * Gen ...

'' (2005) *'' Revelation'' (2008) *'' Eclipse'' (2011)

Todd Rundgren

*''

2nd Wind ''2nd Wind'' is the thirteenth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in 1991 on Warner Bros. Records. It reached number 118 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart. ''2nd Wind'' includes the single "Change Myself" and was Rundgren's ...

'' (1991)

The Storm

*''The Storm'' (1991) *''Eye of the Storm'' (1996)

The V.U.

*''Phoenix Rising'' (2000)

References

Bibliography

External links

Ross Valory official MySpace site

Official Journey website

Ross Valory Mouthman site

Bass Musician Magazine Interviews Ross Valory
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valory, Ross 1949 births Living people American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Guitarists from San Francisco Journey (band) members Singers from San Francisco Steve Miller Band members Frumious Bandersnatch members 20th-century American guitarists The Storm (American band) members