Bones Hillman, the bass player for Midnight Oil, has lost his battle with cancer at age 62.
In a series of tweets Midnight oil announced,
We’re grieving the loss of our brother Bones Hillman, who has passed away at his home in Milwaukee today after a cancer battle. He was the bassist with the beautiful voice, the band member with the wicked sense of humour, and our brilliant musical comrade.
Bones joined Midnight Oil way back in 1987 after stints in various Kiwi bands, most notably, The Swingers. He played and sang on every Midnight Oil recording since Blue Sky Mining and we did thousands of gigs together.
We will deeply miss our dear friend and companion and we send our sincerest sympathies to Denise, who has been a tower of strength for him. Haere rā Bonesy from Jim, Martin, Peter & Rob.
Bones was born in Auckland, New Zealand as Wayne Stevens in May 1958. He changed his name to Himman after the make of car he drove.
Bones was a member of New Zealand band The Swingers. They had the 1981 number one hit ‘Counting The Beat’.
The Swingers relocated to Melbourne in 1980. Bones lived in Australia until 2002 before relocating to Nashville, the Milwaukee.
In 1987 he replaced Peter Gifford as bass player of Midnight Oil. His first album with Midnight Oil was ‘Blue Sky Mining’ featuring the hits ‘Blue Sky Mine’.
Bones most recent album with Midnight Oil was 2020’s ‘The Makarrata Project, released on 30 October.
In the USA Bones worked with Anne McCue, Sheryl Crow and Matthew Good.
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