John Frederick "Johnny" Gustafson (8 August 1942 – 12 September 2014) was an English bass guitar player and singer, who had a lengthy recording and live performance career. During his career, he was a member of the bands The Big Three, The Merseybeats, Quatermass,

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

, The Pirates and Ian Gillan Band.

Career

Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

to a father of Swedish descent and mother of Irish descent, he is known for his work with 1960s bands The Big Three and The Merseybeats, and for singing on the original recording of ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

'' as Simon Zealotes. He made an appearance on

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and Roll ...

's '' The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast'' album track, "Watch Out for the Bat", as a vocalist. He is best known for playing bass guitar for several incarnations of the Ian Gillan Band and for his earlier participation in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band, Quatermass. He also re-formed The Pirates, originally the backing band for Johnny Kidd. Gustafson performed on three studio albums for

in the period from 1973 through 1975. He was frequently not with the band on live dates, getting replaced by

John Wetton John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Although he was left-handed, he was known for his skilled right-handed bass playing as well as his booming baritone voice. He was a member ...

or Sal Maida. His last record with the band, '' Siren'', included their only American top 40 hit single, " Love Is the Drug". Front man

Bryan Ferry Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...

later called Gustafson a "wonderful player", adding, "“Love Is the Drug” wouldn’t have been anything without the bass playing. It really bought that track alive." He was bassist on several tracks for Flamenco guitarist Juan Martin's 1981", "The Aficionado" and "Girls of Algiers". Also played on Kevin Ayers' album ''The Confessions of Dr Dream'', released in 1974. In 1983, he was in the group Rowdy, which included Ray Fenwick and

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional Association football, footballer who played for Leeds United F.C., Leeds United, Hull City A.F.C., Hull City, and the Scotland national football team, Scot ...

. Married to Anne for over thirty years, Gustafson died on 12 September 2014 from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Discography

;With The Big Three : * '' At the Cavern'' Decca EP (1963) * ''Resurrection'' Polydor (1973) ;With The Merseybeats : *''The Merseybeats'' Fontana (1964) *''On Stage'' Fontana EP (1964) *''I Think of You'' Fontana EP (1964) *''Wishin' and Hopin Fontana EP (1964) *''The Merseybeats Greatest Hits'' Look (

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

) (1977) *''Beats and Ballads'' Edsel (compilation) (1982) ;With Quatermass : *'' Quatermass'' Harvest (1970) ;With Bullet / Hard Stuff : *"Hobo" / "Sinister Minister" – Single (1971) Purple Records (as Bullet) *'' Bulletproof'' Purple Records (1972) *'' Bolex Dementia'' Purple Records (1973) *''The Entrance to Hell'' – different mix of ''Bulletproof'' (2010) (as Bullet) ;With Roxy Music : *'' Stranded'' Island (1973) *'' Country Life'' Island (1974) *'' Siren'' Island (1975) *'' Viva!'' Island (1976) ;With Ablution : With Peter Robinson, Jayson Lindh, Jan Schaffer,

Malando Gassama Malando Gassama (born Malang Omar Gassam; 7 February 1946 – 25 January 1999) was a Gambian percussionist who spent most of his music career in Sweden. He recorded and performed with many notable Swedish and international artists such as AB ...

, Barry De Souza, Ola Brunkert. *''Ablution'' CBS (1974) ;With Ian Gillan Band : *'' Child in Time'' Oyster (1976) *'' Clear Air Turbulence'' Island (1977) *'' Scarabus'' Island (1977) *'' Live at the Budokan'' Virgin (1978) *''The Rockfield Mixes'' Angel Air (1997) *''Live at the Rainbow'' Angel Air (1978) ;With The Pirates *''Lights Out/I'm into Something Good'' EP (1986), with Mick Green and Frank Farley *''Still Shakin'' Magnum/Thunderbolt (1988), with Mick Green and Geoff Britton *''Live in Japan'' Thunderbolt (2001), with Mick Green and Les Sampson

As contributor

*''

'' (1969) On vocals. *''

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' is a sung-through musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice ...

'' (1974) On bass. ;With Roger Glover And Guests *'' The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast'' (1974) John vocals on ''Watch Out For The Bat''. ;With

Shawn Phillips Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s. His work is rooted in folk rock but straddles other genres, including jazz fusion and funk. Phillips has reco ...

: *''Furthermore'' (1974) *''Rumplestiltskin's Resolve'' (1976) ;With

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...

*'' Voyage of the Acolyte'' (1975) Bass on ''Star of Sirius'' ;With

: *''Let's Stick Together'' (1976) Bass on ''Re-Make/Re-Model'' ;With Gordon Giltrap : *''The Peacock Party'' PVK (1981) *''Live Electric'' (1981) ;With Joe Jammer : *''Headway'' Angel Air (2015), recorded 1974 with Mitch Mitchell on drums ;With

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician who is the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He remains the only member of Deep Purple who has served in every line-up since the band's incep ...

, Tony Ashton, Jon Lord: *''Malice in Wonderland'' (1977).

Solo album

*''Goose Grease'' Angel Air (1997)

References

External links

Exclusive interview with John Gustafson, August 2007
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustafson, John 1942 births 2014 deaths English rock singers English rock bass guitarists English male bass guitarists English people of Swedish descent English people of Irish descent Roxy Music members Musicians from Liverpool Johnny Kidd & the Pirates members The Big Three (English band) members Ian Gillan Band members Quatermass (band) members Episode Six (band) members The Merseybeats members