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Ross Valory | |
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Valory performing in 2008 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Ross Lamont Valory |
Born | San Francisco, California, U.S. | February 2, 1949
Genres | Rock |
Occupation | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, vocals |
Years active | 1966–present |
Labels | Columbia, Sony, Frontiers, Oid Music |
Formerly of | Frumious Bandersnatch, Steve Miller Band, Journey, The VU, The Storm, Todd Rundgren, Sy Klopps Blues Band |
Ross Lamont Valory (born February 2, 1949) [1] is an American musician who is best known as the original bass player for the rock band Journey from 1973 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2020. Valory was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey in 2017. [2]
Ross Valory was born on February 2, 1949, in San Francisco, California. [3] [4] He grew up in Lafayette, California, and attended Acalanes High School. In high school, he played clarinet, bass clarinet and guitar. His mother introduced him to jazz, particularly Dave Brubeck. [5] He played with Frumious Bandersnatch followed by Steve Miller Band appearing on Rock Love . [6] He was joined by guitarist David Denny, drummer Jack King and bassist Bobby Winkelman, all of whom would become members of the Steve Miller Band. [7] It was Jim Nixon, the manager of Frumious Bandersnatch, who would introduce Valory to Journey band members, along with Prairie Prince, later of The Tubes who originally sat in on drums. [5] [8] Valory later joined the Golden Gate Rhythm Section which was later renamed to Journey. [8]
Valory has played on all of Journey's albums except 1986's Raised on Radio [9] and 2022's Freedom . For Raised on Radio, he was replaced on bass in the studio by Bob Glaub on three songs, while the remaining songs were played by Randy Jackson, who also played on the subsequent tour. Though he returned to the band when they reformed in 1995, [10] Valory was dismissed from Journey again in 2020, with Jackson replacing him once again on the album. [11]
One of Valory's techniques is to string a four-string bass with the bottom four strings of a 5-string set. Thus, instead of the usual E-A-D-G arrangement, his bass is strung as B-E-A-D, which he calls Nashville Tuning. [5] This adds the five string depth to the songs, while allowing the quick fingering of a four-string neck. Valory recorded Escape with an Ovation Magnum II, used a Peavey and a Steinberger for Frontiers, and a Fender Jazz up until the Departure album. [12]
Valory also played for The V.U., The Storm, [13] and the Steve Miller Band. [14]
On January 17, 2024, Valory announced his forthcoming debut solo album All Of The Above and released a video for its first single "Tomland", featuring Prairie Prince on drums and Miles Schon (son of Journey's Neal Schon) on guitar. [15]
Infinity is the fourth studio album by American rock band Journey, released in January 1978 by Columbia Records. It was the band's first album with vocalist Steve Perry and the last to feature drummer Aynsley Dunbar.
Frontiers is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Journey, released in February 1983, by Columbia Records. This was the band's last album to feature bassist Ross Valory until 1996's Trial by Fire.
Raised on Radio is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Journey, released in April 1986 on the Columbia Records label. It is the first album not to feature founding bassist Ross Valory, who was replaced initially by session bassist Bob Glaub and then by Randy Jackson. Drummer Steve Smith contributed to a few tracks, but was replaced during the recording by session drummer Larrie Londin and then Mike Baird for the subsequent tour.
Journey is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1973 by former members of Santana, the Steve Miller Band, and Frumious Bandersnatch. The band as of 2024 consists of guitarist/vocalist Neal Schon, keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Cain, keyboardist/vocalist Jason Derlatka, drummer/vocalist Deen Castronovo, bassist Todd Jensen, and lead vocalist Arnel Pineda.
Gregg Alan Rolie is an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group the Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band until 2021, and since 2001 with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie is a two-time inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, having been inducted both as a member of Santana in 1998 and as a member of Journey in 2017.
Steven Bruce Smith is an American drummer best known as a member of the rock band Journey across three stints: 1978 to 1985, 1995 to 1998 and 2015 to 2020. Modern Drummer magazine readers have voted him the No. 1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row. In 2001, the publication named Smith one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time, and in 2002 he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey on April 7, 2017.
Trial by Fire is the tenth studio album by American rock band Journey. Released on October 22, 1996, the album marked the reunion of the classic 1981–1985 lineup, which had not recorded together since 1983's Frontiers. Trial by Fire was produced by Kevin Shirley, who continues to produce the band's albums. It is the first album to feature bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith since Frontiers and the last to feature Smith and vocalist Steve Perry.
George Tyndall Tickner was an American rock musician who played rhythm guitar and co-wrote songs as a founding member of Journey.
The Storm was an American supergroup rock band, formed in the Bay Area of San Francisco during the early 1990s. The band's first single, power ballad "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", peaked at #6 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rock Love is a half live / half (sixth) studio album by American rock band Steve Miller Band. The album was released in September 1971, and compiled by Capitol Records. All of Miller's previous backing band had left following the recording of the previous album, save bassist Bobby Winkelman. They were replaced by members of Winkelman's previous group, the psychedelic rock band Frumious Bandersnatch for this record, including Ross Valory on bass, and Jack King on drums. Bobby Winkelman was in the band during the live recordings on the album's first side, but is not credited on the album cover. David Denny, who later joined the band in 1976, is a guest guitarist on "Blues Without Blame".
Walter James "Herbie" Herbert II was an American music manager and musician. He was best known for his work with Santana and Journey.
Kevin Chalfant is an American singer and a native of Streator, Illinois. He obtained a BMI award for co-writing and singing on one of the most frequently aired rock radio hits of 1992 and 1993, "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", by The Storm. In October 1993 he very briefly sat in for Steve Perry in Journey, singing lead at a roast for Journey's manager, Herbie Herbert, and in 2003, he toured as lead vocalist for the Alan Parsons Live Project.
"After the Fall" is a song by the American rock band Journey. Written by Jonathan Cain and Steve Perry, it was the third single released from their 1983 album Frontiers.
Frumious Bandersnatch was an American psychedelic rock band active in the 1960s. It was named after a character from the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky". Based in Berkeley, California, the band was active from 1967 to 1969. Their initial three-song EP produced a minor underground hit with the song "Hearts to Cry". A recording of their live work, titled A Young Man's Song, was released in 1996 by Big Beat (UK).
David Denny is an American rock guitar player and founding member of Frumious Bandersnatch, a seminal psychedelic rock band from 1960's San Francisco. Denny was a member of the Steve Miller Band, playing on 1977's Book of Dreams, Greatest Hits 1974–1978, and 1993's Wide River. Denny wrote the hit song "The Stake" and "Circle of Fire".
Jack King is an American rock drummer from Pleasant Hill, California. Jack graduated from Pleasant Hill High School in 1966. He was a member of the 1960s psychedelic rock band Frumious Bandersnatch. King wrote the band's only significant 1960s studio release, the song "Hearts to Cry". He later played drums with the Steve Miller Band, playing on their 1973 album The Joker. Steve Miller moved King from drums to rhythm guitar,where Jack is listed as "John" King.
Robert "Bobby" Winkelman was an American singer, song writer, rhythm guitarist, and bass guitarist. He was a founding member of the East Bay band, "The Epics".
Greatest Hits 2 is a greatest hits album by American rock band Journey. The album was released on November 1, 2011 by Columbia Records.
"Wheel in the Sky" is a song by the American rock band Journey, recorded in 1977 and included on their fourth studio album, Infinity. It was written and composed by Robert Fleischman, Neal Schon, and Diane Valory.
The group was formed by Walter Herbert, who recruited Neal Schon and Gregg Rollie, from the group "Santana," and Ross Valory from the Steve Miller Band