Kate Bush pays tribute to bassist John Giblin following death
Kate Bush has paid tribute to her former bassist John Giblin following his death aged 71.
Giblin’s death was confirmed on social media by the band Osibisa, who he’d recently worked alongside. The session musician passed away in Cheltenham after “battling illness”, Osibisa described him as a “bass guitarist, double bass player, arranger and all-round session musician extraordinaire”.
His working partnership with Bush began when he appeared on songs from her album Never For Ever. Giblin later contributed bass on The Sensual World, The Red Shoes, Aerial, Director’s Cut and 50 Words For Snow. He also performed live with Bush during her residency at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2014.
Following news of his death, Bush wrote on her official website: “Everyone loved John. 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.
“I loved John so very much. He was one of my very dearest and closest friends for over forty years. We were always there for each other. He was very special. I loved working with him, not just because he was such an extraordinary musician but because he was always huge amounts of fun.”
She continued: “We would often laugh so much that we had to just give in to it and sit and roar with laughter for a while. He loved to be pushed in a musical context, and it was really exciting to feel him cross that line and find incredibly gorgeous musical phrases that were only there for him. He would really sing. It was such a joy and an inspiration to see where he could take it.We’ve all lost a great man, an unmatchable musician and I’ve lost my very special friend. My world will never be the same again without him. Kate.”
Throughout his career, Giblin also did session work for Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, John Lennon and Phil Collins.
Listen to his work on ‘Babooshka’ below.
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