Herbie Flowers - 1938-2024

  by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 29 / 10 / 2024

Herbie Flowers, MBE, one of the UK's finest bass players, died on 5 September, aged 86. Over his long career, Herbie played bass with some of the greatest musicians - from Elton John to David Bowie, Paul McCartney to Lou Reed, David Essex to Bryan Ferry, Serge Gainsbourg and Marc Bolan. He was responsible for the instantly recognisable twin bassline that starts off Lou Reed's ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ - saying later that he came up with the idea of using both double bass and bass guitar because “as a session musician I'd be paid double if I played both instruments”. He also delivered the unforgettable basslines on David Essx's 1973 hit single “Rock On” - using double tracking and a slapback effect to achieve the song's polyrhythmic backbeat. And he did a huge amount of work with David Bowie - including on “Space Oddity’. As the Charlatans' singer Tim Burgess has commented, “Herbie made the greats sound greater”. And Suede's bass player Mat Osman has observed, “Herbie did so many great bass li;es. Can you imagine having played on ‘Space Oddity’, ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ and ‘Rock On’! But, to those who had the privilege to meet him, perhaps the most memorable thing about Herbie Flowers was his relaxed and unassuming nature, his kindness and generosity - especially to newcomers to the music business - and his great sense of humour. Once, when Herbie was recording in an Oxfordshire studio with Sam and Pete Brown, I was fortunate to spend time with him. He was reminiscing about his long career - including a spell playing tuba in an army band during his national service in the late 1950s prior to becoming a session musician, his days playing in various jazz bands and then becoming a founding member of Blue Mink in 1969, achieving a UK Number Three hit with single ‘Melting Pot’. He smiled as he recalled how he also co-wrote the novelty 1971 Number One hit ‘Grandad’ for Clive Dunn (“the most lucrative thing I ever did”) before playing on Serge Gainsbourg's influential concept album ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’ that same year. Later Herbie founded the instrumental prog rock band Sky, recording and performing with them until 1995 and releasing seven albums. Herbie was a great raconteur and fantastic company - though he modestly declined to do an on-the-record interview. He did, though, pick up his bass guitar and do a brief demonstration of his famous ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ introduction - and I was even permitted to hold that famous bass guitar!!! - A day I will never forget! In addition to all this, Herbie was an influential teacher of music and a great supporter of those joiing the music profession. As David Essex has said, Herbie Flowers was “a beautiful soul and a genuine legend for so many in the world of music”. He will be greatly missed.

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