English bass player Herbie Flowers has died at the age of 86. Flowers played with rock icons on some of the greatest albums of all-time.
Some of albums with Flowers credited include:
David Bowie – Diamond Dogs, David Live and David Bowie
Elton John – Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, A Single Man
George Harrison – Somewhere In England, Gone Troppo and Brainwashed
Cat Stevens – Foreigner
Nilsson – Nilsson Schmillson and Son of Schmillson
Lou Reed – Transformer
T. Rex – Dandy of the Underworld
Paul McCartney – Thrillington
Jeff Wayne – War of the Worlds
Bryan Ferry – The Bride Stripped Bare
Ringo Starr – Stop and Smell The Roses
Roger Daltrey – McVicar
With Reed’s ‘Transformer’, Flowers is credited with creating the famous bass line that is the core of the song.
Herbie’s unique style also gave David Essex his first hit with ‘Rock On’ in 1973.
Flowers was a founding member of Blue Mink which gave him his first hit in 1969 with ‘Melting Pot’. (no 3 UK, no 10 Australia).
Blue Mink had more hits with ‘Good Morning Freedom’ (no 10 UK, no 33 Aus) and ‘The Banner Man’ (no 3 UK, no 4 Aus).
Flowers was also a member of blues band CCS who had a no 8 hit in Australia with ‘The Band Played Boogie’.
Flowers was also a member of T.Rex towards the end of the band performing on the final T.Rex album ‘Dandy of the Underworld’.
Herbie was also the bass player for Jazz supergroup Sky. The group’s original and best-known line-up featured two Australians – classical guitarist John Williams and electric guitarist Kevin Peek – alongside three Britons – bass player Herbie Flowers, drummer/percussionist Tristan Fry and keyboard player Francis Monkman.
‘Sky’ (1979), ‘Sky 2’ (1980) and ‘Sky 3’ (1981) were all top 10 albums in Australia and the UK.
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