Muzz Skillings (born January 6, 1964, in Queens, New York) is an American bassist, singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best known for being the original bassist with Living Colour. [1]
Skillings played bass, sang backing vocals, and co-wrote songs on the Grammy award-winning 1988 debut album Vivid , the Grammy award-winning 1990 follow up Time's Up , and the 1991 EP Biscuits . His use of melodic, complex and moving bass lines during his time with Living Colour left him with high acclaim from musicians worldwide.
Skillings's departure from the band in 1992 was due to musical differences and a desire to branch off and evolve musically outside of Living Colour. He left under good terms (as indicated in his liner notes printed in the album sleeve of Living Colour's 1995 best-of compilation, Pride ) and has returned to the band on occasion to substitute for their current bassist Doug Wimbish.
Skillings has since led a band called Medicine Stick, in which he plays electric guitar and sings lead vocals, as well as writes the songs.
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish. Stylistically, their music is a creative fusion influenced by heavy metal, funk, jazz, hip hop, punk, and alternative rock. The band's lyrics range from the personal to the political, including social commentary on racism in the United States.
Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and No. 17, respectively.
Vivid is the debut studio album by American rock band Living Colour, released on May 2, 1988, by Epic Records. It was one of the most popular albums of 1988, peaking at number six on the US Billboard 200 chart and being certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Yellowjackets is an American jazz fusion band founded in 1977 in Los Angeles, California.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (NGDB) is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band.
Samhain was an American rock band formed by singer Glenn Danzig in 1983, immediately following his departure from The Misfits. Glenn Danzig originally planned Samhain as a side project with Eerie Von. After the Misfits' contentious 1983 dissolution, Samhain became Danzig's full-time band.
Jeffrey Allen Ament is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Ament wrote or co-wrote many of Pearl Jam's hits, including "Jeremy", "Oceans", "Dissident", "Nothingman" and "Nothing as It Seems".
The Queers are an American punk rock band, formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joseph “Joe” P. King along with Scott Gildersleeve, and John “Jack” Hayes. With the addition of Keith Hages joining on bass in 1983 the band started playing their first public performances. The revised line-up played a total of six live shows between 1983 and 1984. This earliest era of The Queers formation initially broke up in late 1984; however, Joe Queer re-formed the band with an all-new line-up in 1986. In 1990, after several more band line-up changes the band signed with Shakin' Street Records to release their debut album, Grow Up. The album earned the band notability within New England, but with the release of their next album, 1993's Love Songs for the Retarded, on Lookout! Records, their following grew.
Biscuits was an EP of live and unreleased cuts by Living Colour, released on July 16, 1991. The Sony Music Japan edition of this disc had nine extra tracks not available on the international editions, making Biscuits a compilation album. This is the final Living Colour release to feature bassist Muzz Skillings.
Agent Orange is an American punk rock band formed in Placentia, California, in 1979. The band was one of the first to mix punk rock with surf music.
Corey Michael Glover is an American singer. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band Living Colour and has toured as the vocalist for the funk band Galactic. As an actor, he played Francis in the 1986 war movie Platoon.
Time's Up is the second studio album by the band Living Colour, released on August 28, 1990, through Epic Records. It was the follow-up to their successful 1988 album Vivid. Time's Up features a wide range of genres and also includes cameo appearances by Queen Latifah, Little Richard, Doug E. Fresh, Maceo Parker and James Earl Jones. The album reached gold status, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200, and won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. It is the final album to feature Muzz Skillings on bass, though it was not his last release with the band. In late February 2014, the album was reissued in Europe by Music On CD and is available once again.
Stain is the third studio album by American rock band Living Colour. It was released on March 2, 1993, by Epic Records. It is the first album to feature bassist Doug Wimbish. Stain features a generally heavier sound with more pessimistic themes, the songs representing a range of genres. It peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200.
Live From CBGB is a live album by Living Colour recorded live on December 19, 1989 at the CBGB club, but not released until January 11, 2005 by Epic Records. This concert was the band's homecoming after experiencing worldwide success with the studio album Vivid throughout 1988 and 1989.
Roomful of Blues is an American jump blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 50 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Swagger, sway and swing with energy and precision". Since 1967, the group’s blend of swing, rock and roll, jump blues, boogie-woogie and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and many other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. Billboard called the band "a tour de force of horn-fried blues…Roomful is so tight and so right." The Down Beat International Critics Poll has twice selected Roomful of Blues as Best Blues Band.
Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour.
The Four Horsemen were an American hard rock band who enjoyed brief popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their style was blues-influenced hard rock, but their fame was both fleeting and marred by tragedy.
Avery Millard Powers III is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and Grammy-nominated recording engineer. While a student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the 1980s, he collaborated with fellow student Ben Folds and with Alabama-based singer-songwriter Owsley, both of which he continued to work with as a musician and as a producer for the next several decades. Since 2005, he has played bass guitar in the band Counting Crows.
Absent Friends were an Australian band from Sydney. The band was relatively short lived, forming in 1989 and disbanding in 1990. It featured a number of notable Australian musicians including Sean Kelly, Andrew Duffield, James Valentine, Garry Gary Beers (INXS), Geoffrey Stapleton (GANGgajang) and Wendy Matthews.
Screaming Headless Torsos, also known as the Torsos or SHT is a jazz rock band formed in 1989, currently consisting of founding member and guitarist David Fiuczynski, vocalist Freedom Bremner, bassist David Ginyard, percussionist Daniel Sadownick, and the alternating drum chair of Jojo Mayer, Gene Lake, Skoota Warner and James "Biscuit" Rouse.