Guy Pratt | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Lambeth, London, England | 3 January 1962
Origin | Peckham, London, England |
Genres | |
Occupations |
|
Instruments |
|
Years active | 1981–present |
Member of | Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets |
Formerly of | |
Website | guypratt |
Guy Adam Pratt (born 3 January 1962) is a British bassist. He has worked with artists including Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Gary Moore, Madonna, Peter Cetera, Michael Jackson, [1] the Smiths, Robert Palmer, Echo & the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears, Icehouse, Bananarama, Iggy Pop, Tom Jones, Debbie Harry, Whitesnake, Womack & Womack, Kirsty MacColl, Coverdale•Page, Lemon Jelly, the Orb, All Saints, Stephen Duffy, Robbie Robertson and A. R. Rahman.
Pratt was a member of the Australian rock band Icehouse, a founding member of the American rock band Toy Matinee, and is currently a member of the band Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets.
Pratt has also been an actor and worked on TV and film soundtracks, including Dick Tracy (1990), Last Action Hero (1993), Hackers (1995), Still Crazy (1998) and Johnny English Reborn (2011). In 2005 he debuted a one-man music and comedy show.
Pratt was born on 3 January 1962, in a flat above a shop on the Cut, London. His father, Mike Pratt, was an actor, songwriter and screenwriter who died when Guy was 14. Pratt worked for a while as a graphic designer, but decided to concentrate on a music career. In the late 1970s, Pratt was in a band based in Southend-on-Sea called Speedball, which released a single on NO PAP1 Records called "No Survivors".[ citation needed ]
In 1981, aged 19, Pratt was asked to tour with Icehouse. Two years later as a member of Icehouse he supported David Bowie on his Serious Moonlight Tour, which was Bowie's longest, largest, and most successful concert tour. [2] A support slot at a 1984 David Gilmour solo concert led to a stint with Pink Floyd. He also spent some time in Los Angeles where he played with Madonna and Michael Jackson. [3]
In 1986, the Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke was arrested on drug possession charges shortly before the band was scheduled to leave for its North American tour in support of The Queen Is Dead . Expecting that Rourke would thus be denied work visas for the U.S. and Canada, the band's guitarist, Johnny Marr, asked Pratt to step in. He spent nearly two weeks with Rourke and the band, learning bass lines and rehearsing, but shortly before the band was to leave Britain Rourke received his visas, and there was no need for Pratt to go. [4]
Pratt came to prominence when he was chosen to play bass for Pink Floyd's post-Roger Waters A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour in 1987–90, and The Division Bell Tour in 1994. He co-performed the lead vocals on "Run Like Hell", "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2", "Us and Them" and "Comfortably Numb" with Gilmour during the live shows. He also played bass on several tracks on The Division Bell . Tony Levin had performed all of the bass parts on A Momentary Lapse of Reason ; Pratt replaced him on the later tour owing to Levin's unavailability. [5] [6] Pratt also toured as part of Gilmour's On an Island Tour backing band, alongside another Pink Floyd member (and his father-in-law), Richard Wright. [7] He also later performed with Gilmour during his Rattle That Lock World Tour in 2015–16.
Producer and keyboardist Patrick Leonard approached Pratt in 1988 about forming a band, and helping him recruit members of what would become Toy Matinee. Pratt co-wrote many of the songs and played bass on all of the tracks on Toy Matinee's only studio album, released in 1990.
Pratt played bass on Gary Moore's Dark Days in Paradise tour in 1997. [8]
Besides working as a bass player, Pratt is a songwriter and composes music for TV and film. As a songwriter, Pratt co-wrote the UK number-one hit "Ain't No Doubt" by Jimmy Nail. [9] He produced, co-wrote and played bass, guitar and keyboards on the music for the 1998 Channel 4 drama series The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star . With regular collaborator Dom Beken, he provided the theme music to Spaced , where he also appeared as the character Minty. Pratt also acted in Linda Green and appeared in an episode of the remake of Randall & Hopkirk , starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. Pratt's father Mike had played the part of Jeff Randall in the original 1960s series. Pratt also played as a regular in the backing band for the BBC Radio 2 musical comedy show Jammin' with Rowland Rivron. [10]
Pratt and Jimmy Cauty released a single "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" as Solid Gold Chartbusters in 1999; [11] [12] Pratt and Cauty (a founder of the Orb) later teamed up with the other original member of the Orb, Alex Paterson, to form Transit Kings. [13]
Pratt's one-man music and comedy show, My Bass & Other Animals, debuted in August 2005 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; this led to his book of the same name, published in May 2007. [14] [15] Pratt spent 2011 performing stand-up in Switzerland, Australia, and at the Edinburgh Fringe, as well as on a South American tour playing bass guitar for Dominic Miller.
In April 2010, Pratt joined the Argentine cover band the End Pink Floyd, with Durga McBroom and Jon Carin, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pratt joined the Australian Pink Floyd Show on stage on 13 June 2011 for the Hampton Court Palace Festival for the song "Run Like Hell". He joined the UK Pink Floyd cover band Brit Floyd on stage on 9 November 2013 as a special guest during the Liverpool leg of their Pulse tour. [16] He performed on the songs "One of These Days", "Comfortably Numb" and shared lead vocals with the band's lead singer Damian Darlington during the finale of "Run Like Hell".
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he made a series of "Lockdown Licks" videos released on his YouTube channel, reminiscing about some of his best-known work.
In 2018, Pratt and others formed a new band, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, to perform Pink Floyd's early psychedelic material. [17] Along with Pratt, the band comprises Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, former Blockheads guitarist Lee Harris, vocalist and guitarist Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, and Pratt's collaborator keyboardist Dom Beken. [18] The band toured Europe and North America in 2018 and 2019, with a third tour postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [19] In September 2020, they released a live album and film, Live at the Roundhouse. [20]
Pratt's standard bass guitar arsenal includes a selection of various vintage Fender Precision and Jazz Basses, three Music Man StingRay 4-strings (black with rosewood fretboard and black pickguard, black with maple fretboard and white pickguard, natural with maple fretboard and black pickguard), a pair of headless Status 4 and 5-strings (fretless and fretted) and an amber Stuart Spector NS2.
During On an Island, David Gilmour's concert series of 2006, he mainly used a 3-colour sunburst 1961 Fender Precision, a burgundy mist 1963 Fender Jazz named 'Betsy', a Status Vintage GP Signature and a Framus Triumph electric upright bass. The concert in Gdańsk, Poland, was recorded and released as Live in Gdańsk , where he is seen playing his Fender Jazz and Precision Basses as well as a Candy Apple Red Lakland Joe Osborn signature fretless Jazz Bass and a Rickenbacker 4001. On the studio jamming sessions included in the DVD, he played several Fender Jazz Basses, a Hofner Icon bass and a Ned Steinberger Design CR electric upright. [21]
Pratt played his fretted 5-string and fretless 4-string Status headless basses, the amber Spector NS2, the burgundy mist "Betsy" 1963 Jazz Bass and two Precision Basses (a 2-colour sunburst 1958 and a "single-coil pickup" butterscotch blonde 1951) during the Division Bell Tour in 1994.
Pratt was seen playing Aria SB series and fretless Steinberger L2/Xl headless basses during his stint in Icehouse.
Pratt has used Rickenbacker 4001V63 and a "Sunburst" 4003 Rickenbacker bass, when playing earlier (Barrett era) Pink Floyd songs, when performing at David Gilmour solo projects and Nick Mason's "Saucerful of Secrets" band.
His amps are usually Ashdown ABM heads and Ashdown ABM 810 cabinets, although when playing with Gilmour they are WEM-badged to match Gilmour's cabinets.
He has been nominated for two Ivor Novello Awards and was awarded an ARIA Award for his work with Icehouse. [22] [23] [24]
Pratt is the author of a book:
Pratt married furniture designer Gala Wright, daughter of the Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright, in 1996 in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. The couple have a son. They later divorced. [25]
In 2013, Pratt moved to Brighton. [26] In 2019, he was announced as the general election candidate for the Renew Party in Brighton Kemptown. [27] That March, he became engaged to the children's author Georgia Byng. [28]
Year | Title | Artist |
---|---|---|
1984 | Sidewalk | Icehouse |
1985 | The Ups and Downs | Stephen Duffy |
1985 | The Dream Academy | The Dream Academy |
1985 | Riptide | Robert Palmer |
1985 | "Discipline of Love" (single) | Robert Palmer |
1986 | Measure for Measure | Icehouse |
1987 | Luz Y Sombra | Flans |
1987 | Remembrance Days | The Dream Academy |
1987 | Bête Noire | Bryan Ferry |
1987 | "Kiss and Tell" (single) | Bryan Ferry |
1987 | "The Right Stuff" (single) | Bryan Ferry |
1988 | One More Story | Peter Cetera |
1988 | Delicate Sound of Thunder | Pink Floyd |
1989 | Kite | Kirsty MacColl |
1989 | Legend in a Loungeroom | Andy Qunta |
1989 | Like a Prayer | Madonna |
1989 | "Like a Prayer" (single) | Madonna |
1989 | "Dear Jessie" (single) | Madonna |
1989 | "Oh Father" (single) | Madonna |
Year | Title | Artist |
---|---|---|
2010 | Olympia | Bryan Ferry |
2010 | No Decoder | Yogi Lang Band |
2011 | Everything Changes | Julian Lennon |
2012 | Concerto for Group and Orchestra | Jon Lord |
2014 | The Endless River | Pink Floyd |
2014 | Avonmore | Bryan Ferry |
2015 | Rattle That Lock | David Gilmour |
2017 | Live at Pompeii | David Gilmour |
2019 | Tales from Outer Space | RPWL |
Year | Title | Artist |
---|---|---|
2020 | Live at the Roundhouse | Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets |
2021 | INSOLO | Gary Kemp |
2022 | Hey Hey Rise Up | Pink Floyd featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk |
2024 | Luck and Strange | David Gilmour |
Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | Dick Tracy | Warren Beatty | Touchstone Pictures Silver Screen Partners Mulholland Productions |
1993 | Last Action Hero | John McTiernan | Columbia Pictures |
1995 | Hackers | Iain Softley | United Artists |
1998 | Still Crazy | Brian Gibson | Columbia Pictures |
2011 | Johnny English Reborn | Oliver Parker | StudioCanal Relativity Media Working Title Films |
David Jon Gilmour is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink Floyd had become one of the highest-selling and most acclaimed acts in music history. Following the departure of Roger Waters in 1985, Pink Floyd continued under Gilmour's leadership and released the studio albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994) and The Endless River (2014).
Nicholas Berkeley Mason is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member since the band's formation in 1964, and the only member to appear on every Pink Floyd album. He co-wrote Pink Floyd compositions including "Echoes", "Time", "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" and "One of These Days".
A Saucerful of Secrets is the second studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 June 1968 by EMI Columbia in the UK and in the US by Tower Records. The mental health of the singer and guitarist Syd Barrett deteriorated during recording, so David Gilmour was recruited; Barrett left the band before the album's completion.
"Echoes" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, and the sixth and last track on their 1971 album Meddle. It is 23+1⁄2 minutes long, the second longest of their discography, eight seconds shorter than Atom Heart Mother Suite, and takes up the entire second side of the original LP. The track evolved from a variety of different musical themes and ideas, including instrumental passages and studio effects, resulting in the side-long piece. The music, credited to all the band, was mainly written by Richard Wright and David Gilmour, while Roger Waters' lyrics addressed themes of human communication and empathy, to which he returned in later work.
"A Saucerful of Secrets" is a multi-part instrumental composition by English rock band Pink Floyd from their 1968 album of the same name. It is nearly 12 minutes long and was composed by Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason and David Gilmour. The track features guitar feedback, a percussion solo section and wordless vocals.
"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals. In the album's three parts, "Dogs", "Pigs" and "Sheep", pigs represent the people whom the band considers to be at the top of the social ladder, the ones with wealth and power; they also manipulate the rest of society and encourage them to be viciously competitive and cut-throat, so the pigs can remain powerful.
"Run Like Hell" is a song by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. It appears on the album The Wall. It was released as a single in 1980, reaching #15 in the Canadian singles chart and #18 in Sweden, but it only reached #53 in the U.S. A 12" single of "Run Like Hell," "Don't Leave Me Now" and "Another Brick in the Wall " peaked at #57 on the Disco Top 100 chart in the U.S. To date, it is the last original composition written by both Gilmour and Waters, the last of such under the Pink Floyd banner, and the last composition recorded by all four members of the 1970s-era Floyd lineup.
"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, appearing on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). It was written by Roger Waters, taking lyrics from a Chinese poetry book, and features a drum part by Nick Mason played with timpani mallets. It is the only song recorded by Pink Floyd to feature material from all five band members, as there are several different guitar parts recorded by both David Gilmour and Syd Barrett, although the guitar parts are buried in the mix.
"Fearless" is the third track on the 1971 album Meddle by Pink Floyd. It is a slow acoustic guitar-driven song written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, and includes audio of football fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".
"Remember a Day" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, written and sung by their keyboardist Richard Wright, appearing on their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). It was performed by Pink Floyd only once, as an encore in May 1968; it was subsequently performed by David Gilmour in September 2008 in memory of Wright, who had recently died of cancer, on Later... with Jools Holland, and by Nick Mason during his Saucerful of Secrets tour. The dreamy, poetic lyrics are about nostalgia for the lost paradise of early childhood.
"Arnold Layne" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd. Released on 10 March 1967, it was the band's first single and was written by Syd Barrett.
"Astronomy Domine" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd. The song, written and composed by the original vocalist/guitarist Syd Barrett, is the opening track on their debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). The lead vocal was sung by Barrett and the keyboard player Richard Wright. Its working title was "Astronomy Dominé ". Domine is a word frequently used in Gregorian chants.
"Childhood's End" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1972 album Obscured by Clouds. It was the last Pink Floyd song to feature lyrics written by David Gilmour, until A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987. The song gets its title from the 1953 science-fiction novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke, though the theme of the song shares little with the story. The 2016 remixed version of "Childhood's End" which appears in The Early Years 1965–1972 box set was released as the second single to promote the box set in October 2016.
"The Nile Song", written by Roger Waters and sung by David Gilmour, is the second song from Pink Floyd's 1969 album More, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released as a single in 1969, and included on the 1971 compilation album Relics. While Pink Floyd never played the song in concert, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets performed it in 2018.
"Green Is the Colour" is a track on Pink Floyd's 1969 More. It was composed and written by Roger Waters and sung by David Gilmour. A tin whistle is heard in the song, played by drummer Nick Mason's then-wife Lindy. A live version of the song was released as the third single to promote The Early Years 1965–1972 box set in October 2016.
Pink Floyd World Tour 1968 was a Pink Floyd world tour spanning February to December 1968 in which the group visited Europe and North America.
Richard William Wright was an English keyboardist and songwriter who co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He appeared on almost every Pink Floyd album and performed on all their tours. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Pink Floyd.
"One of These Days" is the opening track from Pink Floyd's 1971 album Meddle. The composition is instrumental except for the spoken line from drummer Nick Mason, "One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces."
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets are an English rock band formed in 2018 to perform the early music of Pink Floyd. The band comprises the Pink Floyd drummer and co-founder Nick Mason, the bassist Guy Pratt, the guitarists Gary Kemp and Lee Harris, and the keyboardist Dom Beken. As many fans had discovered Pink Floyd with their bestselling 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, Mason wanted to bring their earlier material to a wider audience.
Further to the postponement of their 2020 tour, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets 'Live at the Roundhouse' concert video and audio releases have also been delayed. Owing to the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic, the release has been pushed from April, and will now hit store shelves on September 18th 2020.