John Entwistle | |
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![]() Entwistle at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada, 1976 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | John Alec Entwistle |
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Born | Chiswick, Middlesex, England | 9 October 1944
Died | 27 June 2002 Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | (aged 57)
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Discography | |
Years active | 1961–2002 |
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John Alec Entwistle (9 October 1944 – 27 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers",[1] he was the band's only member with formal musical training and also provided backing and occasional lead vocals. Entwistle was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who in 1990.
Renowned for his musical abilities, Entwistle is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rock-and-roll bass guitarists of all time. His instrumental approach utilized pentatonic lead lines and a then-unusual treble-rich sound ("full treble, full volume"). He was voted as the greatest bass guitar player ever in a 2011 Rolling Stone readers' poll[2] and, in 2020, the same magazine ranked him number three in its list of the "50 Greatest Bassists of All Time".[3]