Wilfred Gibson (28 February 1942 – 21 October 2014) was an English violinist, session musician, and early member of the

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

Early life

Wilfred Gibson was born on 28 February 1942 in Dilston,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. He received his education at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and won a scholarship to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, where he learned to play the violin and piano, and to conduct. He began performing in public from the age of eight and took part in regional tournaments in his teens. He began playing with symphony orchestras in his teen years, including the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He worked for a short time as a conductor and then broke into orchestral work as a player through the 1960s. Gibson played with the

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra ( Norwegian: Bergen filharmoniske orkester) is a Norwegian orchestra based in Bergen. Its principal concert venue is the Grieg Hall. History Established in 1765 under the name ''Det Musicalske Selskab'' (The M ...

, the

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, established in 1888 at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). It is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. It was known as the Concertgebouw Orchestra u ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

and the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

. His association with the London orchestras was lifelong and involved numerous recordings.

Career

Early session work

Gibson thought that his first pop recording session might have been Delilah (Tom Jones song) in 1967. http://cherryblossomclinic.x10.mx/wilf.html In 1970, Gibson played lead violin on Centipede's 1970 album '' Septober Energy''. The following year, he gave multiple contributions to

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

's fourth studio album ''

Islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the #Other lists of islands, other lists of islands below. Lists of islands by count ...

''. He played violin in a small orchestra which performed "Prelude - Song of the Gulls", of which he was practically the leader, due to the fact that band leader and composer of the track

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session mu ...

was less than qualified as an orchestral conductor (even to the extent of using a pencil as the baton). He also added violin in other places such as on the opening track "Formentera Lady". Despite his contributions, he went uncredited.

With Electric Light Orchestra

In 1972, Gibson replaced original ELO violinist Steve Woolam and performed in their first live concert at the Greyhound Pub in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, Surrey. Gibson would later play violin on the '' ELO II'' album, including on their cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven", which became a top ten hit in the UK in September 1973. However, by 1973, he had begun to be gradually replaced by Mik Kaminski, who played violin on much of the first side of ELO's 1973 LP '' On the Third Day''. Still, Gibson was able to play on the tracks "Showdown", "Daybreaker", " Ma-Ma-Ma Belle", "Dreaming of 4000," and the band's cover of

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

's "

In the Hall of the Mountain King "In the Hall of the Mountain King" () is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play ''Peer Gynt''. It was originally part of Opus 23 but was later ex ...

", as well as the various interludes in between tracks. After this album, Gibson's time in ELO came to an end. After leaving the group, Gibson declined an invitation to join King Crimson as a replacement for violinist David Cross.

Later session work, ELO Part II, and other projects

In 1975, Gibson was a string arranger and conductor for two songs on Maxine Nightingale's album '' Right Back Where We Started From'' including its

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

. In 1989, he was the violinist in the

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

musical drama ''Notes from Janàcek's Diary''. He contributed to the Hothouse Flowers album ''

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

'' (1990), and to The Beloved's ''Happiness'' (1995) as well as appearing on the

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentWhatever". In 1991, Gibson was reunited with some of his old ELO bandmates when he played as part of the session orchestra for ELO Part II's self-titled album, though his contributions were uncredited. He would also join them on 1994's Moment of Truth, but this would mark the end of his involvement with any ELO-related groups. Later, Gibson played in Alan Gout's Berkeley Square Society Band, which played covers of songs from the 1920s and 1930s. The group released an album, ''Gershwin in London Town'' on the Zah Zah record label in 1998.

Death

Gibson died in 2014 after a short illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Wilfred 1945 births 2014 deaths British male violinists English session musicians Electric Light Orchestra members Musicians from Northumberland English classical violinists 20th-century classical violinists British rock violinists English classical musicians Penguin Cafe Orchestra members British male classical violinists Players of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra players Players of the Philharmonia Orchestra