Bill Wyman (born William George Perks on 24 October 1936) was the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
Bill Wyman was born in Lewisham Hospital, Pied Heath Road, Ladywell, Lewisham, South London, the son of William Perks, a bricklayer,and his wife, Molly. One of five children, Bill spent most of his early life living in a terraced house in one of the roughest streets in Sydenham, south east London. He describes his childhood as "scarred by poverty". He attended Beckenham and Penge Grammar School from 1947 to Easter 1953, leaving before the GCE exams after his father found him a job working for a bookmaker and insisted that he take it.
Wyman took piano lessons from 10 to 13. A year after his marriage on 24 October 1959 to Diane Cory, an eighteen year old bank clerk, he bought a Burns electric guitar for £52 on hire-purchase, but wasn't satisfied by his progress. After hearing a bass guitar at a Barron Knights' concert, he fell in love with the sound of it and decided this was his instrument. He created the first fretless electric bass by removing the frets from a bass guitar he was reworking, and played this in a south London band, The Cliftons. He used the stage name Lee (later Bill) Wyman, taking the surname of a friend with whom he had done National Service in the Royal Air Force from 1955 to 1957. On 29 March 1962, Stephen Paul Wyman, the only child of his marriage to Diane, was born. When drummer Tony Chapman told him of a fledgling rhythm and blues band called The Rolling Stones that needed a bass player, he applied and was hired in December 1962, as a successor to co-founder, Dick Taylor. "The Stones" were impressed by his instrument and amplifier and his ability to provide cigarettes, but because he was married and a little older than the rest of the members, Wyman always remained somewhat of an outsider in the group. His work rarely involved vocals. One exception was "In Another Land", released both on the Their Satanic Majesties Request album and also as a solo Bill Wyman single. A second Wyman song, "Downtown Suzie" (sung by Mick Jagger), was released on a collection of Rolling Stones outtakes, with the title altered by Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein without informing Wyman or the band (the subject of the song is actually named "Lucy").
Wyman kept a journal of his days with the Rolling Stones. He used it in writing his history, Rolling with The Stones and also his autobiography, Stone Alone. In Stone Alone, Wyman claims to have composed the riff of Jumpin' Jack Flash, with some input from Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones and drummer Charlie Watts, which later was confirmed by Keith Richards. Wyman also has revealed that the Rolling Stones' signature song - "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" was released as a single only after a split 3-2 vote within the band. Wyman, Watts and Jones voted to release "Satisfaction" as a single. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards voted against the song's release as a single because they felt that it was not sufficiently "commercial" to sell well. By the 1970s, Wyman had tired of the monopolization of Stones song-writing and production by the self-styled "Glimmer Twins" Jagger and Richards. Wyman then began to pursue solo projects more intensively.
In the 1970s and early 80s Wyman released three solo albums, none of which was particularly successful in terms of sales but received good reviews from critics. The last album gave him a European hit single, "(Si, Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star", a parody of his French rock star exile status. Wyman is the only Rolling Stone to have had a hit single as a solo performer.
In the mid-1960s, Wyman composed the musical score of the Ryan O'Neal-Omar Sharif film "Green Ice." In the mid-80s, Wyman composed music for two films by Italian film director Dario Argento: 1985's Phenomena and 1987's Terror At The Opera. In addition, Wyman made a cameo appearance in the 1987 British film "Eat The Rich." He also produced and managed groups such as rockers Tucky Buzzard.
Wyman was friends with guitarist Mick Taylor, the only member of the Rolling Stones to leave the band voluntarily besides Wyman. He worked with Taylor on solo projects after Taylor left the band.
Wyman kept a low profile compared to Jagger and Richards. Although his personal life was stormy and his relationship with a 13-year-old (Mandy Smith) publicised, he came through his tenure as a Stone relatively unscathed. Wyman is recognised as the most level-headed of the Stones, a moderate user of alcohol and drugs, eventually a total abstainer, while admitting that he became "girl mad" as a psychological crutch.
In the 1980s, the distance between Wyman and the other band members grew due to, among other things, the Mandy Smith affair. After contributing to the 1989 album Steel Wheels, Wyman decided he had had enough and chose this time to retire. The Stones regretted his leaving but continued to record and tour, using several sidemen, most notably Darryl Jones, to play bass.
However, the group's 2005 compilation album Rarities 1971-2003 features a cover image from the band's 1978 Respectable music video from which the bass player has been airbrushed out, which has been interpreted as ill will by Jagger and Richards (or, alternatively, avoidance of a financial obligation considering Wyman was retired and no longer a financially participating Rolling Stone).
Wyman has stated that from the late 1980s onward The Rolling Stones' recorded music had become creatively stagnant, that he had lost interest in the experiences of recording and touring with the band, and that it was simply the right time for him to retire from the band. Jagger has also said that Wyman had developed claustrophobia and had increasingly disliked the air travel required by rock band touring.
Wyman continues to tour with The Rhythm Kings, which has featured such musicians as Martin Taylor, Albert Lee, Gary Brooker, Terry Taylor (formerly with Tucky Buzzard), Mike Sanchez and Georgie Fame.
Following his 70th birthday in October 2006, he undertook another British tour.
On the 10 December 2007, Wyman and his band appeared alongside a reunited Led Zeppelin at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at The O2 in London.
Wyman taught himself several instruments, including autoharp, guitar, vibraphone, glockenspiel, piano, organ, synthesiser, percussion and cello. He has also contributed backing vocals. His bass sound came not only from his home-made fretless bass, but the "walking bass" style he adopted, inspired by Willie Dixon and Ricky Fenson) and his tight work with Charlie Watts. Their sound not only anchored the group, but exemplified the "heartbeat and pulse" idea behind ideal rhythm sections. Wyman has played a number of basses including a Framus Star bass, a Vox Teardrop bass (similar to Brian Jones' Vox Mark III, but hollow-bodied and later renamed the Wyman bass, with his permission), a Fender Mustang Bass, a Gibson SG Bass and a Rickenbacker 4005.
He was close to Rolling Stones founder-guitarist Brian Jones. He was the only member of the group who did not visit Brian Jones' home to inform him of his dismissal. He attended Jones' funeral a month later, along with Watts. Maxim magazine has Wyman at number 10 on its top ten "Living Sex Legends" list, as he is reputed to have had sex with over 1000 women.
It is in fact believed and stated by many people and sources that Wyman's conquest tally passed 2000 women throughout his 31-year role as bassist of the Stones. This tally has been believed to have been contributed to with a score count of 278 different women during one two-year period in the 1960s.
Away from the Stones, Wyman pursued other interests including opening the Sticky Fingers Café in 1989, a rock 'n roll-theme bistro serving American cuisine in Kensington, London. He divides his time between his manor in Suffolk and a house in the south of France. Former Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham says that of all the Stones, Wyman is the most at peace with himself.
Wyman is an amateur archaeologist and has a hobby of relic hunting, having a letter published in The Times about his hobby (Friday 2 March 2007). A model of metal detector is on sale under his name.
Bill Wyman has authored or co-authored the following titles
The latter three books and Bill Wyman's Treasure Islands all written in collaboration with Richard Havers
