Guy Pratt
Guy Pratt |
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Guy Pratt (born 3 January 1962 in London, England) is a well-known session bassist and also a songwriter, actor and comedian. He is the son of actor Mike Pratt. In Kensington and Chelsea, London, in 1996, Pratt married Gala Wright, the daughter of late Pink Floyd keyboardist, Richard Wright.
Career
Pratt is best known for his work as a session player. He has worked with Pink Floyd, Echo & The Bunnymen, Kirsty MacColl, The Smiths, Tears For Fears, Lemon Jelly, The Orb, All Saints, Icehouse, Madonna, Stephen Duffy, Robbie Robertson, Roxy Music, Michael Jackson, Gary Moore, Billy Pilgrim, A.R. Rahman,Womack & Womack, Coverdale Page and Toy Matinee. He is a member of The Transit Kings with Alex Paterson (of The Orb), Jimmy Cauty (of The KLF), and Dominic Beken. Cauty and Pratt also released "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" as Solid Gold Chartbusters. Since 2006, Guy Pratt has been playing bass for Bryan Ferry and is currently accompanying him on his solo tour throughout Europe.
Pratt hit the big stage when he was chosen as the replacement bass player for Pink Floyd's post-Roger Waters Delicate Sound Of Thunder and P*U*L*S*E world tours in 1987 and 1994. He co-performed the vocals in "Run Like Hell", "Another Brick in The Wall (Part 2)", "Us and Them" and "Comfortably Numb" with Gilmour during the live shows and also performed on several tracks on The Division Bell album, though most of the bass parts were performed by David Gilmour. Tony Levin performed most of the bass parts on Momentary Lapse of Reason, with Pratt replacing him on the accompanying tour due to his unavailability .[1]
Pratt has also composed music for TV. He produced, co-wrote and played bass, guitar and keys on the music for the 1998 Channel 4 drama series The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star. With regular collaborator Dom Beken, he provided the theme music to Spaced. Pratt also appeared in Spaced, playing the character of Minty. He has also acted in Linda Green, and appeared in an episode of the remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), starring Reeves and Mortimer. His father Mike Pratt played the part of Jeff Randall in the original 1960s series.
As a songwriter, he co-wrote the UK #1 hit "Ain't No Doubt", sung by Jimmy Nail.
In August 2005, Pratt's one-man music/comedy show, My Bass & Other Animals, debuted at the Edinburgh Festival. A book, based on the show, was published in May 2007.
In July 2007, Pratt guest-hosted a show on the digital radio station Planet Rock.
In August 2007, Guy Pratt was interviewed by Liberation Frequency interview and, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe on Janey Godley's Chat Show.
He recently was a guest contestant on Australian music game show Spicks and Specks.
Equipment
His current bass guitar arsenal includes a selection of various vintage Fender Precision and Jazz Basses, three MusicMan StingRay 4-strings (black with rosewood fretboard and black pickguard, black with maple fretboard and white pickguard, natural with maple fretboard and black pickguard), a pair of headless Status 4 and 5-strings (fretless and fretted) and a red Stuart Spector NS2.
During David Gilmour's On An Island tour he is usually seen sporting a 3-tone Sunburst 1961 Fender Precision, a Shell Pink 1963 Fender Jazz named 'Betsy', a Status Vintage GP Signature and a Framus Triumph Bass (Electric Upright Bass). On Gilmour's Live in Gdańsk DVD he is seen playing his Fender Jazz and Precision basses as well as a Candy Apple Red Lakland Joe Osborn signature fretless bass and a Rickenbacker 4001. On the studio jamming sessions he played several Fender Jazz basses, a Hofner Icon bass and an NS Design CR electric upright.
Guy played his fretted 5-string and fretless 4-string Status headless basses, the red Spector NS2 and a 2-tone Sunburst 1958 Fender Precision during the P•U•L•S•E concerts in 1994.
Amp wise, nowadays he is mostly seen with Ashdown ABM heads and WEM cabs (equipped with BlueLine Ashdown speakers, as Watkins Electric Music cabs are no longer being made).