John Weider
Encyclopedia
John Weider is a rock
musician
who plays guitar
, bass
, and violin
. He is best known as the bass player for the British
band
, Family
from 1969 to 1971.
in a band called Steve Marriott and the Moments. He then went on to replace Mick Green
as lead guitarist in Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
.
In 1966, Eric Burdon
, frontman for The Animals
, put together a new Animals lineup when the original members departed (Eric Burdon and the New Animals, sometimes called Eric Burdon and the Animals), including Weider on guitar. The first album by the new ensemble was the 1967 effort Winds of Change
, in which the Animals abandoned their old blues
sound and went psychedelic
. Weider stayed with the group through 1968, recording The Twain Shall Meet
, Every One of Us
, and Love Is, the latter being a soul-based psychedelic rock album. After bassist Danny McCulloch left, Weider and co-guitarist Andy Summers
alternated between guitar and bass during the band's concerts. By 1969, Weider was in California
playing in an obscure group called Stonehenge when Ric Grech abruptly left Family during that band's first, disastrous U.S.
tour and the band needed a new bassist immediately.
Weider thus replaced Grech in Family. Like Grech he was both a bassist and a violinist, and many of Family's songs had incorporated violin in their arrangement
s. Weider joined midway through the tour, which ended prematurely owing to lead singer Roger Chapman
's visa problems. The single
"No Mule's Fool
", Family's first single with Weider on board, took the band in a country-rock direction.
Weider appears on Family's two 1970 albums, A Song for Me
and Anyway
released ten months apart.
Weider left Family in the summer of 1971. Although he had replaced Ric Grech as Family's bassist, he was primarily a guitarist and wanted to get away from the bass for a while. He joined Stud
, a group that coincidentally featured guitarist-bassist Jim Cregan
, who would become Family's final bass player in 1972. After Stud broke up Weider did some session work and released his self-titled debut solo album in 1976. In the mid 1970s, he was also a member of the band Moonrider with Keith West
. His more recent albums (listed below) are more in a New Age
vein than in a folk
, rock
, or country
style.
In 1979 he was featured on Gulliver
s album "Ridin' the Wind".
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
who plays guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
. He is best known as the bass player for the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
, Family
Family (band)
Family were an English rock band that formed in late 1966 and disbanded in October 1973. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, although their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles like as folk, psychedelia, acid, jazz fusion and rock and roll...
from 1969 to 1971.
Biography
As a teenager, Weider played alongside Steve MarriottSteve Marriott
Stephen Peter Marriott , popularly known as Steve Marriott, was an English musician, songwriter, and frontman of several notable rock and roll bands, spanning over two decades...
in a band called Steve Marriott and the Moments. He then went on to replace Mick Green
Mick Green
Michael Robert "Mick" Green was an English rock and roll guitarist who played with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.-Biography:He was born Michael Robert Green, in Matlock, Derbyshire...
as lead guitarist in Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
Johnny Kidd & The Pirates were an English rock 'n' roll group led by singer/songwriter Johnny Kidd. They scored numerous hit songs from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, including the rock & roll classics 'Shakin' All Over' and 'Please Don't Touch', but their influence far outshines their chart...
.
In 1966, Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
, frontman for The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, put together a new Animals lineup when the original members departed (Eric Burdon and the New Animals, sometimes called Eric Burdon and the Animals), including Weider on guitar. The first album by the new ensemble was the 1967 effort Winds of Change
Winds of Change (Eric Burdon & The Animals album)
Winds of Change is an album released in 1967 by Eric Burdon & The Animals.The original band, The Animals, broke up in 1966 and this band was entirely new except for lead singer Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins, who joined the original lineup when John Steel left in February 1966...
, in which the Animals abandoned their old blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
sound and went psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
. Weider stayed with the group through 1968, recording The Twain Shall Meet
The Twain Shall Meet
The Twain Shall Meet is an album released in 1968 by Eric Burdon & The Animals.It includes "Sky Pilot", an anti-war song of the Vietnam War era, including the sound of a plane crashing and a guitar riff by Vic Briggs, and "Monterey", the band's tribute to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival...
, Every One of Us
Every One of Us
Every One Of Us is an album released in 1968 by Eric Burdon & The Animals. It was the second of three albums released by the group in the United States in that year...
, and Love Is, the latter being a soul-based psychedelic rock album. After bassist Danny McCulloch left, Weider and co-guitarist Andy Summers
Andy Summers
Andy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...
alternated between guitar and bass during the band's concerts. By 1969, Weider was in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
playing in an obscure group called Stonehenge when Ric Grech abruptly left Family during that band's first, disastrous U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tour and the band needed a new bassist immediately.
Weider thus replaced Grech in Family. Like Grech he was both a bassist and a violinist, and many of Family's songs had incorporated violin in their arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s. Weider joined midway through the tour, which ended prematurely owing to lead singer Roger Chapman
Roger Chapman
Roger Chapman , also known as Roger "Chappo" Chapman and Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the Progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1967 and also the rock, R&B band Streetwalkers formed in 1974...
's visa problems. The single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"No Mule's Fool
No Mule's Fool
No Mule's Fool is a song from the British progressive rock band Family released in October 1969. It was the group's first single in chart in the United Kingdom, reaching number 29.-Lyrics:...
", Family's first single with Weider on board, took the band in a country-rock direction.
Weider appears on Family's two 1970 albums, A Song for Me
A Song for Me
-Side two:- Additional Tracks on the February 2007 Re-release :# "No Mules Fool"# "Good Friend Of Mine"# "Drowned In Wine" # "Cat And The Rat" # "Wheels" # "Song For Me" -Personnel:*Roger Chapman – vocals, percussion...
and Anyway
Anyway
-Side Two:Family's single "In My Own Time" was added to the American edition of Anyway when it was released by United Artists Records in 1971.-Personnel:Side One: Fairfield Halls, Croydon*Roger Chapman - vocals and percussion...
released ten months apart.
Weider left Family in the summer of 1971. Although he had replaced Ric Grech as Family's bassist, he was primarily a guitarist and wanted to get away from the bass for a while. He joined Stud
Stud (band)
Stud is a British rock band from the early 1970s, that featured two members of Taste - bassist Charlie McCracken and drummer John Wilson - along with two members of Family - former bass guitarist John Weider and future bass player, Jim Cregan.Never a very...
, a group that coincidentally featured guitarist-bassist Jim Cregan
Jim Cregan
Jim Cregan, born James Cregan, 9 March 1946, Yeovil, Somerset, England is an English rock guitarist and bassist who best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a record producer...
, who would become Family's final bass player in 1972. After Stud broke up Weider did some session work and released his self-titled debut solo album in 1976. In the mid 1970s, he was also a member of the band Moonrider with Keith West
Keith West
Keith Alan Hopkins, better known by his stage name, Keith West was the lead singer of Tomorrow, a 1960s psychedelic rock band. West composed most of the band's songs...
. His more recent albums (listed below) are more in a New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
vein than in a folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, or country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
style.
In 1979 he was featured on Gulliver
Gulliver
Gulliver can refer to:In fiction:*Lemuel Gulliver, the main character of the story Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift*Gulliver "Gully" Foyle, the lead protagonist in the science fiction novel The Stars My Destination...
s album "Ridin' the Wind".
Solo discography
- John Weider (1976)
- Intervals In Sunlight (1987)
- Essence (1989)
- Ancients Weep (1990)