Danny Thompson, best-known as a member of Pentangle and as bass foil to the late John Martyn throughout the latter half of the 1970s and worked with Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk and many more, has died aged 86, his publicist confirmed this afternoon.
In a brief statement, they said: "Legendary acoustic bass player Danny Thompson died peacefully yesterday at his home in Rickmansworth, UK.
"A musician who was both beloved and admired by everybody he worked with, his body of work is unparalleled in its quality and also in the incredibly varied number of musicians he worked with.
"From Kate Bush and John Martyn, to his role as a founding member of the legendary band Pentangle; from featuring on the Thunderbirds theme tune, and playing bass for Roy Orbison when The Beatles were still the opening act; to collaborations with jazz greats like Tubby Hayes and Stan Tracey, as well as work with Donovan, June Tabor, Nick Drake, Richard Thompson, and The Blind Boys of Alabama.
"Danny was a force of nature. A player who served the song and who enriched the lives of every single person he met. He will be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife Sylvia and his son Dan Junior."
In 2015, Prog was proud to honour Danny with the Chris Squire Virtuoso Award at the Progressive Music Awards. It was presented to him by his good friend, the actor Harry Shearer, who had flown over from the United States especially to present Thompson with the award. The pair had the audience in stitches.
Although born in Teignmouth, Devon on April 4, 1939, Thompson's family moved to London when he was 6 years old, residing in working-class Battersea. The young Thompson played football for Chelsea as a junior, and retained a lifelong love for the club.
But it was music that would become his prominent interest. He learnt guitar, mandolin, trombone and trumpet at school, but eventually settled on the upright bass. Aged 13, he created his own out of an old tea chest and stolen piano wire for strings. Two years later, he acquired 'Victoria', a grand double bass.
Early gigs in a Soho strip club and a gruelling ten-hours-a-day practice regime, led to a job with Roy Orbison, who toured the UK with The Beatles as support. It was the first and last time Thompson ever used an electric bass guitar.
Replacing Jack Bruce in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated in 1964 did wonders for the bassist's reputation, and he worked alongside the likes of Nick Drake, Ginger Baker, Graham Bond and John McLaughlin, the latter featuring in his own Danny Thompson Trio. He even featured on the session for the TV theme for Thunderbirds.
In 1967, Thompson, along with guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, singer Jacqui McShee and drummer Terry Cox, formed Pentangle, who would blend folk, jazz and more progressive inclinations to much success over their first six albums, before the original line-up disintegrated in 1972.
For much of the 1970s, Thomson played with John Martyn, forming a partnership that was as formidable musically as it was for its reputation for wild living. "Of all the musicians I've come into contact with, Danny has taught me the most... particularly about style and jazz technique," Martyn would say of Thompson.
During the 1980s, Thompson toured with Donovan on whose albums Barabajagal, HMS Donovan, Essence To Essence and Love Is Only Feeling he'd featured on (he would later appear on 1996's Sutras and 2004's Beat Cafe.
He played on four Kate Bush albums: The Dreaming, Hounds Of Love, 50 Words For Snow and Director's Cut and also worked with the likes of David Sylvian and Talk Talk. In 1987, he released his first solo album, Whatever Next.
Throughout the 90s he worked closely with Richard Thompson and later would work with Cat Stevens, The Blind Boys of Alabama (winning two Grammys), Japanese singer Ayako and Mercury Prize winners Gomez.
In 2007, he received two BBC Radio 2 Folk Lifetime Achievement Awards, for both his work with Pentangle and his services as a solo musician.
