John Gustafson (musician)

John Gustafson
Birth name John Frederick Gustafson
Also known as Johnny Gustafson
Born (1942-08-08)8 August 1942
Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Died 12 September 2014(2014-09-12) (aged 72)
Genres Rock, hard rock, pop rock, beat, jazz-fusion, folk rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments Bass guitar, vocals, guitar, piano
Years active 1960s–2014
Associated acts Episode Six, Deep Purple, Roxy Music, The Merseybeats, Quatermass, Hard Stuff, Ian Gillan Band, The Big Three, Cass and the Casanovas, Mick Farren, John Du Cann

John "Gus" Gustafson also known as Johnny Gustafson (8 August 1942 – 11 September 2014), was an English bass guitar player and singer, who had a lengthy recording and live performance career. During his career, he was a member of the bands The Big Three, Ian Gillan Band, Roxy Music and his own group, Quatermass, among others.

Career

Born in Liverpool to a Swedish father and Irish mother,[1] he is known for his work with 1960s bands The Big Three and The Merseybeats, and for singing on the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar as Simon Zealotes. He made an appearance on Roger Glover's The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast album track, "Watch Out for the Bat", as a vocalist. He is probably best known for playing bass guitar for several re-incarnations of the Ian Gillan Band and for his earlier participation in the progressive rock band, Quatermass. He also re-formed The Pirates, originally the backing band for Johnny Kidd.[2]

Gustafson was a member of Roxy Music for four years and performed on three studio albums. His final record with the band, Siren, included their only American hit single, "Love Is the Drug".[3]

He was bassist on several tracks for Flamenco guitarist Juan Martin's 1981 concept album, Picasso Portraits (Flamencovision CD FV 03, 1994) namely: Harlequin – 1918, Desire Caught By The Tail – 1943, The Aficionado – 1912 and Girls of Algiers – 1955. Also played on Kevin Ayers' album The Confessions of Dr Dream, 1974.

In 1983 he was in the group Rowdy which included Ray Fenwick and Billy Bremner.

Discography

As contributor

With The Big Three
With The Merseybeats
With Quatermass
With Hard Stuff
With Butterfly Ball (Roger Glover)[4]
With Shawn Phillips band
With Roxy Music
With Ian Gillan Band
With Gordon Giltrap band
With The Pirates
With Joe Jammer

Solo albums

Associations

References

  1. ↑ Obituary, Independent newspaper.
  2. ↑ John Gustafson Brief biography by Bruce Eder at Allmusic
  3. ↑ "Bassist Gustafson dead at 72". Classic Rock. 14 September 2014.
  4. ↑ The Butterfly Ball... Review by Dave Thompson at Allmusic


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