Mo Foster – 3 July 2023
Music Instrument News is sad to confirm the death of veteran session bass guitarist and producer Mo Foster at the age of 78.
It would take far more space than is available to detail the massive list of seminal recordings involving Mo Foster, either as bass guitarist, producer, or both.
Michael Ralph (Mo) Foster was born in 1944 in Wolverhampton. Showing the sort of initiative and invention that was to characterise his playing and production skills throughout his life.
As a teenager in his first band, Mo turned an acoustic guitar into a serviceable bass by connecting a set of headphone electronics through a TV arial cable into his dad’s radio set.
His time at university saw him switch from bass to drums, playing in bands that supported the future sixties pop and rock legends touring at the time, including Cream, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and others.
A spell with post-university band Affinity enjoyed strong public support, but that was not reflected in sales for their one album release.
A tour with ex-Manfred Mann vocalist Mike D’Abo, with Mo back on bass, saw him commence, and rapidly grow a strong reputation as a versatile session studio player.
The disco boom was in full swing, and it’s Mo’s powerful thundering bass that underpins Supernature, the Cerone disco classic.
Continuing his session career, Mo appeared on recordings for a vast and diverse range of artists including Jeff Beck, Scott Walker, Meat Loaf, and the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras.
In 1975, Mo Foster pioneered the teaching of bass guitar, by founding the first ever teaching course devoted to the instrument, and delivered through Goldsmith’s College at the University Of London.
Mo was equally busy as a touring bassist, seeing the world while holding down the bottom end for artists including Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Sting, Dusty Springfield, Cliff Richard, and George Martin.
A supremely gifted and adaptable bassist, Mo contributed to a number of major film soundtracks, including Octopussy, Revenge Of The Pink Panther, and Clockwise. His work on TV themes included Bergerac, Peak Practice, and the distinctive slap bass sound on the theme from Minder, which Mo achieved by slapping the body of an aluminium Kramer 650B bass guitar.
In the 1980’s Mo Foster decided that he wanted to pursue his own music, which led to the release of five solo albums.
Mo was also a published author – he wrote a semi-autographical book about the rise of the rock guitar, and was in demand as a public speaker.
It’s unlikely that any musician, playing any instrument, will ever equal the mix of sheer volume and diversity that comprises the musical legacy left behind by Mo Foster.
His technical ability, invention, and creativity as a musician, coupled with his ceaseless affability and surreal humour as a person, made him a hugely popular figure in both recording studios, and on international tours for a huge list of prestigious musicians.
Mo Foster passed away on 3 July 2023 following a bout of liver and bile duct cancer.
Mo is survived by his wife Kay, and Music Instrument News sends sincere condolences to Mo’s family and friends, and the entire music community who knew him as a colleague, friend, and influence.
Mo Foster: 22 December 1944 – 3 July 2023.
Andy Hughes – Music Instrument News
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Source: musicinstrumentnews.co.uk
