David Murray Oates (3 April 1946 – 15 January 1992), known as Dee Murray, was an English bass guitarist. He was best known for his long-time collaboration with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

as a member of the

Elton John Band The Elton John Band is the band that backs singer, composer and pianist Elton John on both studio and live recordings. The band has gone through several lineup changes, but Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone, and Ray Cooper have been members (albeit ...

Biography

Murray was born in

Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a town in Kent, England, which forms a conurbation with neighbouring Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Strood and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It is the largest town in the borough of Medway and in 2020 had a populat ...

, England on 3 April 1946. Before joining Elton John as his touring sidemen, Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson were members of the

Spencer Davis Group The Spencer Davis Group were a British blues and R&B influenced rock band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (vocals, keyboards, and guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). ...

in 1969. In Murray's musician bio in the programme book for 1982's "Jump Up!" tour, Murray recalled when he first took up the bass guitar during his high school years: "Someone put this heavy thing over my shoulder and said, 'Here, you play this!'" Murray quickly established a solid reputation on the instrument. In the '' Classic Albums'' documentary on ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'', producer

Gus Dudgeon Angus Boyd "Gus" Dudgeon (30 September 1942 – 21 July 2002) was an English record producer, who oversaw many of Elton John's most acclaimed recordings, including his commercial breakthrough, " Your Song". Their collaboration led to seven US N ...

lauded Murray's musical ability and said he "hadn't heard a bassist quite as good as him". Murray and Olsson joined John as his road sidemen in 1970, and first appeared together on disc with John on "Amoreena" from the 1970 studio album '' Tumbleweed Connection''. The following year, they were featured on the live album '' 17-11-70''. While they were John's constant touring bandmates, his record company initially only allowed them to play on just one track per studio album. This changed with '' Honky Château'' in 1972 when John exerted some of his skyrocketing popularity at the time to convince DJM Records to allow Murray and Olsson to also become full-time recording members of his band. Along with new recruit

Davey Johnstone David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a Scottish rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone was born in Edinburgh. At the age of s ...

on guitar, Murray and Olsson played on John's hit albums, including the milestone album ''

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album by English singer, pianist, and composer Elton John. A double album, it was released on 5 October 1973, by DJM Records. Recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in France, the album became ...

'', singles, and world tours for several years. In 1975, after recording '' Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'', Murray and Olsson were released from the band because John wanted to achieve a different sound. Murray and Olsson continued working together as

session musicians A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 1976 they played on

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut ...

's fourth album '' Wait for Night''. In 1977, Murray briefly joined

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than List of best-selling si ...

on a North America tour promoting their last 1970s album, '' Something Magic'', although he never recorded with the group. Between 1978 and 1979, Murray worked as part of

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

's backing band. According to music site AllMusic.com, he played on Cooper's hit album '' From the Inside'', and joined Olsson backing

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...

's Bob Weir on his solo album ''Heaven Help the Fool'' in 1978. Other artists he worked with during the 1970s and early 1980s include

Yvonne Elliman Yvonne Marianne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of the stage musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved ...

, England Dan & John Ford Coley,

Shaun Cassidy Shaun Paul Cassidy (born September 27, 1958) is an American singer, actor, writer and producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including ''American Gothic (1995 TV series), American Gothic'', ''Roar (1997 TV series ...

, Allan Clarke,

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English lyricist and visual artist. He is best known for his songwriting partnership with Elton John, recognised as one of the most successful partnerships of its kind in history. Taupin co-wrote th ...

Kiki Dee Pauline Matthews (born 6 March 1947), better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English pop singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records. Dee is best known f ...

, Stefanie Gaines, Barbi Benton, and

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21. During his career, he established himself as one of Am ...

. Murray and Olsson returned to tour and play sessions with John, starting with '' 21 at 33'' in 1980. He and Olsson backed John during his landmark concert in New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

before more than 400,000 fans on the Great Lawn on 13 September 1980, and appeared on '' The Fox'' in 1981. Murray went on to contribute all the bass tracks on '' Jump Up!'' in 1982 and joined Olsson and guitarist Davey Johnstone for the Jump Up! Tour, followed by albums and tours for '' Too Low for Zero'' (1983) and ''

Breaking Hearts ''Breaking Hearts'' is the eighteenth studio album by English musician Elton John. It was released on 18 June 1984 through John's The Rocket Record Company, Rocket label in the UK and Geffen Records in the US. Like the preceding ''Too Low for ...

'' (1984). The group then disbanded, reuniting once more to record backing vocals on ''

Reg Strikes Back ''Reg Strikes Back'' is the twenty-first studio album by English musician Elton John, released in 1988. It was his self-proclaimed comeback album, and his own way of fighting back against bad press. The "Reg" in ''Reg Strikes Back'' refers to ...

'' in 1988. In the 1980s, Murray played on numerous Nashville sessions for artists such as Michael Brown, Lewis Storey,

Beth Nielsen Chapman Beth Nielsen Chapman (born September 14, 1958) is an American singer and songwriter who has written hits for country and pop music performers. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016. She is a two-time Grammy Award ...

, and John Prine, amongst others.

Death

Murray was married to Maria Gombatz, twin sister to Olsson’s wife Lisa; they had two children and lived in Nashville. Murray also had a daughter from his first marriage. In January 1992, after battling skin cancer for several years, Murray died of a stroke, at age 45. On March 15, 1992, Elton John performed a tribute concert at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

to raise money for Murray's family. In a 2011 interview, Olsson said of his long-time bandmate: "I think about him every single day. Brilliant bass player. Wonderful guy. Dear, dear, dear friend. A musical genius across the board."

believes Murray's musical skills were not fully appreciated and, in March 2011, said he was working on a documentary about Murray.

Collaborations

With

* '' Tumbleweed Connection'' (Uni Records, 1970) * '' Madman Across the Water'' (Uni Records, 1971) * '' Honky Château'' (Uni Records, 1972) * ''

Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player'' is the sixth studio album by English musician Elton John. Released on 26 January 1973 by DJM Records, it was the first of two studio albums he released in 1973 (the second was '' Goodbye Yellow Br ...

'' (MCA Records, 1972) * ''

'' (MCA Records, 1973) * ''

Caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

'' (MCA Records, 1974) * '' Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'' (MCA Records, 1975) * '' 21 at 33'' (Rocket, 1980) * '' The Fox'' (Geffen, 1981) * '' Jump Up!'' (Geffen, 1982) * '' Too Low for Zero'' (Geffen, 1983) * ''

'' (Geffen, 1984) * ''

'' ( MCA, 1988) With

* ''

'' (Reprise Records, 1990) With

* ''

Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

'' (Asylum Records, 1974) * '' El Mirage'' (Atlantic Records, 1977) With John Prine * '' Aimless Love'' ( Oh Boy Records, 1984) With

* ''Night Flight'' (RSO Records, 1978) With

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American rock and roll singer, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

* ''The Hawk'' (United Artists Records, 1979) With

* '' Born Late'' (Curb Records, 1977) * '' Under Wraps'' (Warner Bros. Records, 1978) With

* '' He Who Rides the Tiger'' (Elektra Records, 1980) With Brian Cadd * '' White on White'' (Capitol Records, 1976) With England Dan & John Ford Coley * '' Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive'' (Big Tree Records, 1979)

References

External links

Fan website
*
Obituary on APNews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Dee 1946 births 1992 deaths 20th-century English musicians English rock bass guitarists British male bass guitarists English male songwriters English session musicians English rock musicians British rhythm and blues boom musicians People from Gillingham, Kent Musicians from Kent Procol Harum members Alice Cooper (band) members Elton John Band members English male singers English expatriate musicians in the United States The Spencer Davis Group members 20th-century English bass guitarists 20th-century English male singers