We found out yesterday, that bass player extraordinaire, John Giblin, had passed awy on Sunday (14 May) at the age of 71, after 'a short illness.'
The musician, from Bellshill in Scotland, may not be a household name himself, but had certainly worked with more than his fair share of them over the decades.
He worked on Peter Gabriel III, featured on many of Phil Collins biggest hits (including In The Air Tonight and You Can't Hurry Love), and formed a long working relationship with Kate Bush. After working on the song Babooshka with her in 1980, he went on to record another five or six albums and go on at least one tour with her. He stepped in to play bass on Fish's first solo album after leaving Marillion (Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors), and also did session work with a host of other household names, including Scott Walker, Joan Armatrading, John Martyn, Roberta Flack and The Everly Brothers.
But it was in 1986 that I first came across him. Simple Minds had parted ways with original bass player Derek Forbes during the initial sessions for what would become Once Upon A Time. John Giblin had stepped into this breach, and so, when I started getting into the band that year, he was the bassist I saw and heard on all those big tunes - Alive And Kicking, All The Things She Said, Sanctify Yourself etc.
I never got to saw him play live - I was too young to see that tour. When Simple Minds were lined up as one of the acts for the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday tribute at Wembley Stadium, a school friend called Alistair, got his mum to call and try and get us tickets (to no avail). So, I was reduced to seeing him on the tv highlights. I finally got to see them on the subsequent tour, in 1989, for Street Fighting Years, but Giblin was not there. He had fallen out with producer Trevor Horn, about half way through the recording sessions for that album and left the band.
His name might not be big, but the big names remembered him - and it seems that he was an extremely popular choice when you needed a bass player. I'll let those big names explain.
Kate Bush posted the most beautiful note on her website.
"Everyone loved John. He was a really beautiful man in every sense of the word. Everybody wanted to work with him because he was such a great talent and everyone wanted to be his friend, because he was such a wonderful person.
I loved John so very much. He was one of my very dearest and closest friends for over forty years. We were always there for each other. He was very special. I loved working with him, not just because he was such an extraordinary musician, but because he was always huge amounts of fun."
She went on to say.
"We've all lost a great man, an unmatchable musician and I've lost my very special friend. My world will never be the same again without him. Kate"
Fish also remembered Giblin as a great musician.
"He was a brilliant bass player, a genius on fretless and with such a strong sense of melody. I jumped at the chance to have him on my first solo album when it was suggested to me by Jon Kelly. I tried to get him out on the road on that tour, but he was more at home in a studio than on a tour bus......"
"John Giblin was one the greatest bass players that came out of Scotland, one of the finest I ever worked with and he will be sorely missed by many..."
And here are some extracts from a post by Jim Kerr on the Simple Minds Facebook page.
"I had walked into a tense situation occurring between the Minds bassist, John Giblin, and our record producer at the moment, Trevor Horn.
Mannered gents both, there was nothing really to suggest that things might unduly get out of hand. It did however, and badly, so, when only a few minutes later, and without any signal of his intentions, John calmly unplugged his bass in the middle of recording and walked out the room with no words. Gone from Simple Minds, but never to be forgotten...."
Years later, Kerr was watching Giblin playing live with Kate Bush.
"He was outrageously good throughout the show, and I became a little emotional when they performed Running Up That Hill. The opening melody of the song bringing particular memories of hanging out with Giblin on tour. Me, sometimes crying with laughter at his vicious wit...."
"Gone but not forgotten! It is truly worth saying it again today. I loved being around you John."
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