RIP John Giblin from Simple Minds

[Ivan May]

 

Bassist John Giblin died at age 71 on May 14.

The Scottish bassist started working with Kate Bush in 1980 and continued with her until the end of Bush's Before the Dawn London residency in 2014. During that time he appeared on six of her albums, after previously recording and touring with Peter Gabriel.

As a session musician, he earned credits with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Phil Collins and Eric Clapton, among many others, amassing more than 450 recording appearances. He was a member of Simple Minds in the ’80s and he had recently been working with the British Afro-rock band Osibisa, which announced his death at home in Cheltenham, England, after a long illness.

“Everyone loved John,” Bush wrote on her website. “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.”

She added, “I loved John so very much. He was one of my very dearest and closest friends for over 40 years. … I loved working with him, not just because he was such an extraordinary musician but because he was always huge amounts of fun. We would often laugh so much that we had to just give in to it and sit and roar with laughter for a while.”

R.I.P. John Giblin - 26th February 1952 to 14th May 2023 John passed away yesterday in Cheltenham after battling illness.

Posted by Osibisa on Monday, May 15, 2023
Bush recalled that Giblin “loved to be pushed in a musical context,” and she found inspiration and joy when he responded by creating “gorgeous musical phrases that were only there for him.”
"We’ve all lost a great man, an unmatchable musician and I’ve lost my very special friend," she said. "My world will never be the same again without him.”

So sad to learn that John Giblin has died. So many great memories of working with John, in the studio and on tour. This wonderful and warm hearted musician contributed so much to so many great records and performances . We will all miss you John. - pg.

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— Peter Gabriel (@itspetergabriel) May 17, 2023

[KuruPrionz]

Rest In Peace John Giblin.

 

I might have seen him with Simple Minds. They opened for the Pretenders when the Pretenders were on the Learning To Crawl Tour and played Middle of the Road and Back on The Chain Gang. 

Simple Minds were great as well but Chrissie Hynde owned the stage and the crowd, the Pretenders were one of my favorite bands ever, the original group and the second configuration, which is who I saw. She still had Martin Chambers on drums but had to get a new guitarist and bassist, both held their end up. 

[Mark Schmieder]

Oh man, he was one of the best, and in the list of top bass players who inspired me to pick up the instrument around 1983 or 1984.

 

Saw him live a few times, at the very least with Simple Minds. Very tasteful player, good energy and brilliant lines.

[Mark Schmieder]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Giblin

 

He may have been the bassist the two times I saw Peter Gabriel as well.

 

Amazing that he played on John Lennon’s “Grow Old with Me”.

 

He had recently been working with drummer Peter Erskine of Weather Report.