Herbie Flowers Obituary

Bassist Herbie Flowers, who has died aged 86, was one of the most prolific session musicians of the 1970s. He played on around 500 hit songs during his career, laying the foundations for tracks by three former Beatles (John Lennon was the exception), as well as David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Lou Reed, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Cat Stevens and many others.

His most recognizable bass line is the two-note motif he provided on Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side (1972). He achieved this meandering effect by first recording on an upright bass, then overdubbing the part 10 notes higher with a Fender Jazz electric bass. Flowers pointed out that this arrangement allowed him to double his usual session fee. As usual, Reed was ambivalent about the success of this record, telling Flowers that it had taken him 20 years to “forget it” because it had changed the nature of his audience.

Flowers also provided the psychedelic bass part on Bowie’s 1969 album Space Oddity. His relationship with the singer was long-standing but not always easy. During the Diamond Dogs’ 1974 American tour, the bassist noticed that equipment had been set up to record the dates. He challenged Bowie, pointing out that if a live album was planned, the band would be entitled to a recording as well as a fee for the performances. Bowie’s management was not pleased to hear this, but Flowers got his way and the musicians were paid their due money. David Live received mixed reviews upon its release, and Bowie considered it the death knell of his Ziggy Stardust persona.

Flowers again used his double-tracked bass idea to eerie effect on David Essex’s 1973 hit “Rock On”. Producer Jeff Wayne later said that Flowers instinctively understood how the stripped-down arrangement could work, laying down an initial riff and overdubbing the part an octave higher. The delay effect added to the polyrhythms that gave the song its distinctive atmosphere. He worked with Wayne and Essex again in 1978 on the musical version of The War of the Worlds, starring Richard Burton, Justin Hayward and Phil Lynott.

But Flowers wasn’t limited to his role as a sideman to superstars. In 1969, he was a founding member of Blue Mink, with whom he had hits with Melting Pot and The Banner Man. A two-note riff earned him a hit song, “Grandad,” in 1970, recorded by Clive Dunn. Flowers has said the inspiration for the catchy, maddening chorus came when his writing partner Ken Pickett rang his doorbell.

In 1978, Flowers formed a progressive rock band, Sky, with classical guitarist John Williams, electric guitarist Kevin Peek, drummer Tristan Fry, and keyboardist Francis Monkman. Flowers was a permanent member of the band, which went through several personnel changes and recorded seven albums before disbanding for good in 1995.

In 1990, the band formed a musical partnership with drummer Peter Boita, which resulted in the album Poetry in Motion, featuring music by John Betjeman. It was produced by George Martin and featured Essex, Hayward, Steve Harley, Donovan, Alvin Stardust and Captain Sensible. In 1992, Boita and Flowers performed the album live for a charity show at the Richmond Theatre. A second album, featuring Betjeman and disc jockey Mike Read, was released in 1998.

Born Brian Flowers in Isleworth, Middlesex, to Elsie (née Clarke) and John Flowers, he was evacuated during the Second World War to Halesowen in the West Midlands for two years. After attending Tiffin Primary School, at the age of 18 he was drafted into the Royal Air Force, where he earned the nickname Herbie (short for “Herbaceous Borders”, a pun on his surname). He served as a member of the RAF Central Band, playing the tuba, and took up the double bass as a second instrument to earn his corporal’s stripes.

In the early 1960s, after his military service, he did stints in Dixieland jazz bands, before playing on the Queen Elizabeth. On a stopover in New York, he bought his first electric guitar, a blue Fender Jazz Bass for $79 – the same instrument he played on Walk on the Wild Side. It became his mainstay for the rest of his career. Jazz was his first musical love and he never left it. Later in life, living in Ditchling, East Sussex, he played at jazz breakfasts at the Brighton fringe festival, with drummer Malcolm Mortimore.

From the 1990s he began teaching rock shop courses at universities across the country and taught freelance at Ardingly College in West Sussex. He also regularly gave workshops to aspiring musicians in his local area, founded a community choir, Shoreham Singers-by-Sea, in 2009, and the Ditchling Singers the following year. He has performed in concerts organised by people recovering from drug addiction, including Brighton’s Cascade Creative Recovery Choir and New Note Strummers.

Flowers married Ann Sanderson in 1959 and they had two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1992. Ann died last year and in July Herbie married Claire Lacey, a cellist with the Finnish Chamber Orchestra.

She survives him, as do her son, Nick, her daughter, Jan, and her granddaughter, Lily.