Rick Wills | |
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 Wills in 1978 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard William Wills |
| Born | 5 December 1947 Cambridge, England |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation | Bassist |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Formerly of | Foreigner |
Richard William Wills (born 5 December 1947) is an English bass guitarist. He is best known for his work with the rock band Foreigner and his associations with the Small Faces, Roxy Music, Peter Frampton, Spooky Tooth, David Gilmour, Bad Company and The Jones Gang.
Rick Wills played in the early days of rock music in Cambridge, from c. 1961 in the Vikings, then in a succession of local bands: the Sundowners, Soul Committee, [1] Bullitt (with David Gilmour on guitar and John 'Willie' Wilson on drums) and Cochise before joining Frampton's Camel. [2]
Wills joined the rock band Jokers Wild in mid-1966, (with David Gilmour on guitars and vocals), until they broke up in 1967. [3] He played bass on Peter Frampton's first three albums before parting from Frampton in 1975. He became the bassist with Roxy Music in 1976, before leaving them and joining the Small Faces in 1977, during their reunion period. He left the Small Faces and appeared on David Gilmour's eponymous album in 1978, with Willie Wilson on drums. The next year, Wills became a member of rock band Foreigner [4] and remained with them for 14 years. At that time he was the longest-tenured bass player of Foreigner, though was later surpassed by Jeff Pilson.
After leaving Foreigner in 1992, [5] he joined Bad Company and stayed with them until Boz Burrell rejoined the band in 1998. [4] In July 1999 he filled in for Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Leon Wilkeson for live shows when Wilkeson briefly became ill. He appeared at The Steve Marriott Memorial Concert on 24 April 2001, as part of a backing band with Bobby Tench, Zak Starkey and Rabbit Bundrick. [6] [7]
Wills was reunited with Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones in The Jones Gang during 2006, [8] and appeared with the RD Crusaders for the Teenage Cancer Trust at The London International Music Show on 15 June 2008. [9] Wills left The Jones Gang in the summer of 2015 and was replaced by Pat Davey.
On 12 January 2015, in Sarasota, Florida, Wills and original drummer Dennis Elliott joined Foreigner on stage to play "Headknocker".
On 28 October 2021, Wills joined the Mick Jones-less band for a three song encore at the Hampton Casino Ballroom in Hampton, NH.
On 4 August 2023, Wills joined Foreigner for a few songs at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford NH, having recently moved to Amherst, NH.
In 2024, Wills was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Foreigner. [10]
The Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The band were one of the most acclaimed and influential mod groups of the 1960s, recording hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", "All or Nothing" and "Tin Soldier", as well as their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. They evolved into one of the UK's most successful psychedelic bands until 1969.
Bad Company were an English rock supergroup that was formed in London in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke, guitarist Mick Ralphs and bassist Boz Burrell. Kirke was the only member to remain throughout the band's entire run, while he and Ralphs were the only members to appear on every studio album. Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also managed Bad Company until 1982.
Foreigner is a British-American rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, bassist Ed Gagliardi and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, the last of whom was also a founding member of King Crimson. Foreigner is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the US.
Jokers Wild were a British rock band formed in Cambridge, England, in 1964. The group were active until 1967, and are best known for launching the career of guitarist David Gilmour, who went on to join Pink Floyd.
Head Games is the third studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on 11 September 1979 by Atlantic Records. Recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York, with additional recording and whole mixing taking place at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, it was the only Foreigner album co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker, best known for working on Queen's classic albums. It marked the first appearance of new bass guitarist Rick Wills who replaced Ed Gagliardi, and was the last album with founding members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood, who would leave the band after the recording. Head Games is also the last Foreigner album to feature a lead vocal by guitarist Mick Jones.
Michael Leslie Jones is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the founder and leader of the British-American rock band Foreigner. Prior to Foreigner, he was in the band Spooky Tooth.
Humble Pie are an English rock band formed by singer-guitarists Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. Often regarded as one of the first supergroups in music, Humble Pie experienced moderate popularity and commercial success during the 1970s with hit songs such as "Black Coffee", "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Hot 'n' Nasty" and "Natural Born Bugie" among others.
Cochise was an English country rock band that performed in the early 1970s. Their albums and singles were released on the United Artists and Liberty Records labels.
Robert Hart is an English vocalist and songwriter. He is currently the lead singer of Manfred Mann's Earth Band and the band Diesel. He has performed as a solo artist, and with The Distance and also with former Whitesnake members in the band called Company of Snakes and with Bad Company. He also fronted The Jones Gang, a rock group formed by Hart, Rick Wills and Kenney Jones. He was the first English writer to be signed to Disney owned Hollywood Records.
In the Studio with Redbeard is a North American radio program, produced and hosted by Dallas, Texas, based rock and roll disc jockey Doug "Redbeard" Hill.
David Colwell is a British rock guitarist who has been a member of Bad Company, Samson, ASAP, The Eastenders, The Entire Population of Hackney, 720, The Torpedoes, Angel Street, Roger Chapman's Shortlist, The Jones Gang, FM, Frankie Miller's Fullhouse and Rock Steady. He recorded Back on Track with Humble Pie in 2001, touring with them until the band broke up in 2003. He started a supergroup called Rock Steady which, among others, includes bass guitarist Rick Wills, best known for his work with Foreigner and his associations with Small Faces, Peter Frampton and Bad Company and did a New Zealand tour with this band. In November 2018 he joined again Humble Pie for their US tour. Dave Colwell has his own band now which is called Buckets Rebel Heart. Their debut album 20 Good Summers was released in December 2018 on Pride & Joy Records and January 2019 in Japan on Marquee Records.
Brian Anthony Howe was an English rock singer, best known for replacing Paul Rodgers as the lead vocalist of Bad Company. Howe's career was jump-started in 1983 when Ted Nugent recruited him to handle lead vocals for his Penetrator album and front its subsequent world tour.
Jeremy Duncan Tipson Shirley, known professionally as Jerry Shirley, is an English rock drummer, best known as a member of the band Humble Pie, appearing on all their albums. He is also known for his work with Fastway, Joey Molland from Badfinger, Alexis Korner, Billy Nicholls, Syd Barrett, John Entwistle, Sammy Hagar and Benny Mardones.
Swallow Tales is a 1971 album by British country rock band Cochise.
The Jones Gang are an English rock band, formed in London in 2001 by the English drummer and ex-Small Faces and The Who member Kenney Jones, plus ex-Foreigner member Rick Wills and British vocalist ex-Bad Company member Robert Hart.
Playmates is the fourth studio album, and the first during their reunion, by English rock band the Small Faces. The album was created by Steve Marriott, Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones and Rick Wills when they reformed in the late 1970s and recorded it along with the album 78 in the Shade. Ronnie Lane left before the album was recorded.
Willie Wilson is an English rock drummer, known for his work with Pink Floyd and his long-time association with their guitarist, David Gilmour.
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