Tina Weymouth

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Tina Weymouth, in full Martina Michèle Weymouth, is an American bassist, singer and songwriter. She was born in 1950 in Coronado, California, the daughter of an American naval officer and a French mother from Brittany. Because of her father's career the family moved often, to Hawaii, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Iceland, among other places. At twelve she played in a handbell ensemble, and at fourteen she taught herself guitar. At the Rhode Island School of Design she met Chris Frantz and David Byrne, who formed the band Talking Heads.

Music and breakthrough

She began as Frantz's girlfriend and the group's driver. When Byrne and Frantz could not find a suitable bassist, Frantz asked her to learn the instrument. After she graduated the three moved to New York. Weymouth combined the sober art punk bass lines of groups such as Wire and Pere Ubu with danceable, funky riffs, and so formed the basis of the Talking Heads sound. In 1980 she founded Tom Tom Club with Frantz, a side project that kept them occupied during a long break of the band. In 1996 Weymouth, Frantz and Jerry Harrison released the album No Talking, Just Head under the name The Heads, without Byrne. In 1992 she co-produced Yes Please! by Happy Mondays and sang on 19-2000 by Gorillaz.

Influence

In 2002 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Talking Heads. Her bass lines are bare and carefully considered: a few notes that are exactly enough. That her playing in Psycho Killer revolves around a single note and so carries all the tension shows that a bassist can be the core of a song. With it she showed that melody and rhythm can lie close together in a bass player.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• 77 AlbumBassist Tina Weymouth played bare, tight bass lines.

See also

• 77