Jeffery Deon Estus (July 4, 1956 – October 11, 2021) was an American musician and singer, best known as the bass player of

Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...

and as the bassist on

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

's first two solo projects. Estus' single " Heaven Help Me", with additional vocals by Michael, reached number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1989.

Early life

Estus was born in Detroit on July 4, 1956. He went to Northwestern High School. There, he sang second tenor in the choir under the direction of Brazel Dennard. His bass guitar teacher was

James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bassist. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases un ...

of Motown's

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

Career

Estus joined the R&B band Brainstorm as a teenager, recording two albums with them and scoring a hit with "Popcorn". During the early 1980s, he moved to Europe to join and tour with

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

. He lived in Belgium and Ireland, before settling in London. He turned down the chance to play bass on Marvin Gaye's 1982 comeback album, ''

Midnight Love ''Midnight Love'' (1982) is the sixteenth studio album by American soul singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye and the final album to be released during his lifetime. He signed with the label Columbia in March 1982 following his exit from Motown. ...

'', because he was so busy recording and he said that he was not aware that it would be the last album released during Gaye's lifetime. After his bass talents were recognized, he was invited to join the UK pop group,

. He went on to tour China with Wham! and later backed

on his Faith Tour. Estus later performed with Michael at

Rock in Rio Rock in Rio is a biennial Brazilian multi-day music festival held at City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Ten incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeir ...

and continued to play bass as part of his backing band until Michael's death in 2016. In 1989, Estus released a solo album entitled '' Spell'', produced by Colin Campsie and George McFarlane, with several tracks produced by Michael. Released before the album, the single "Me or the Rumours" reached number 15 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in 1988. In 1989, the album's title track hit number 11 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart. However, the album's biggest hit was the number 5 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 single " Heaven Help Me", for which Michael supplied backing vocals. It also peaked at number 3 on both the Adult Contemporary and Hot R&B charts. The album itself ultimately reached number 89 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 44 on the

Top R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart. Estus also played with

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

, George Clinton,

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American multi-instrumentalist, working as a vocalist along with playing keyboards, saxophone, and percussion. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group and their pop ...

Aaron Neville Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer renowned for his distinctively smooth, vibrato-heavy tenor and a genre-crossing career that spans R&B, soul, gospel, jazz, country, and pop. He gained national prominence with hi ...

, and

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. In recent years, Estus was the featured bass player for the R&B band,

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

Personal life

Estus was married, in his 20s, to Olga Johnson. This union produced one daughter. Estus also had three grandchildren. Divorced in the mid-1980s, he remained single, until his death. Estus died on October 11, 2021, at the age of 65.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* *
Official website
(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Estus, Deon 1956 births 2021 deaths American rock bass guitarists American session musicians American rhythm and blues bass guitarists American expatriates in Belgium American expatriates in Ireland American expatriates in England Guitarists from Detroit American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Boogie Box High members Geffen Records artists PolyGram artists Polydor Records artists Wham!