November 22: Bass player Tina Weymouth of The Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club is 63-years-old today.

 

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Born in Coronado, California, Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, co-founded with husband and Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz.

Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school. She joined Talking Heads as bass guitarist at the request of then-boyfriend, Chris Frantz.

Members of the Compass Point All Stars, Weymouth and Frantz formed the Tom Tom Club in 1980, which kept them busy during a fairly long hiatus in Talking Heads activity. When it became obvious that Talking Heads frontman David

Byrne had no interest in another Talking Heads album, Weymouth, Frantz, and Jerry Harrison reunited without him for a single album called No Talking, Just Head under the name "The Heads" in 1996, featuring a rotating cast of vocalists.

She also co-produced the Happy Mondays' 1992 album Yes Please! and has recently contributed backing vocals and percussion for the alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz.

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As a bass guitarist, she combined the minimalist art-punk basslines of groups such as Wire and Pere Ubu with danceable, funk-inflected riffs to provide the bedrock of Talking Heads signature sound. Her sound is often very syncopated, combining low fundamental notes with higher flourishes in clipped, staccato rhythms.

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For more about Tina, Chris and The TomTom Club, visit their Website at-

http://www.tomtomclub.net/ 
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