Tina Weymouth
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist Template:External media
Martina Michèle Weymouth (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; born November 22, 1950)<ref name="Prato_nd">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=CTWHF>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz.<ref name="DAFEu">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2002, Weymouth was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.<ref name="zDwqh">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2" />
Early life
Weymouth was born November 22, 1950 in Coronado, California,<ref name=CTWHF/> the daughter of Laura Bouchage and U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Ralph Weymouth (1917–2020). Her mother was a French-Breton immigrant from Brittany<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and her father was American.<ref name="Marie-HélèneClam_20120831">Template:Cite news</ref> Weymouth's maternal great-grandfather is Anatole Le Braz, a Breton writer.<ref name="Marie-HélèneClam_20120831"/>Template:Sfn The third of eight children, her siblings include Lani and Laura Weymouth, who are collaborators in Tina's band Tom Tom Club, and architect Yann Weymouth, the designer of the Salvador Dalí Museum in Florida.
Weymouth was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family.<ref name="eKmZb"/> Because of her father's military career, the family relocated frequently: When she was two years old, they moved from San Diego County to Hawaii, and later to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Los Angeles and Iceland, before eventually settling in the Washington, D.C. area.<ref name=eKmZb/> Weymouth described herself as a "very, very shy" child, which she attributed to her family's frequent relocations.<ref name=eKmZb/>
When she was 12, Weymouth joined the Mrs. Tufts’ Potomac English Hand Bell Ringers, an amateur music group directed by Nancy Tufts, and toured with them.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> At 14, she started to teach herself the guitar.<ref name="eKmZb">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="xiFXR">Template:Cite web</ref>
Her early inspirations came from Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary.<ref name=":1" />
Career
Talking Heads
Template:Main As a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, she met Chris Frantz and David Byrne, who formed a band called the Artistics.Template:Sfn She began dating Frantz and served as the band's driver. After graduation, the three of them moved to New York City. Since Byrne and Frantz were unable to find a suitable bass guitar player she joined them at the latter's request and began learning and playing the instrument.
As a bass player she combined the minimalist art-punk bass lines of groups such as Wire and Pere Ubu with danceable, funk-inflected riffs to provide the bedrock of Talking Heads' signature sound.<ref name="9qHBA">Template:Cite news</ref>
Other musical activities
Full members of the Compass Point All Stars, Weymouth and Frantz formed Tom Tom Club in 1980, which kept them busy during a fairly long hiatus in Talking Heads activity.<ref name="Prato_nd"/> Later on, when it became obvious that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne had no interest in making more Talking Heads albums, 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. Weymouth has been critical of Byrne, describing him as "a man incapable of returning friendship".<ref name="gdPeo">Template:Cite news</ref>
She co-produced the Happy Mondays' 1992 album Yes Please! and in 2001 contributed backing vocals and percussion for the alternative rock virtual band Gorillaz on their track "19-2000".Template:Sfn
Weymouth was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.<ref name="SrwqJ">Template:Cite web</ref> She collaborated with Chicks on Speed on their cover of the Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood" for their album 99 Cents in 2003 along with other female musicians such as Miss Kittin, Kevin Blechdom, Le Tigre, and Adult's Nicola Kuperus.<ref name="allmusicreview99cents">Template:Cite web</ref> "Wordy Rappinghood" became a moderate dance hit in Europe, peaking at number two in the Dutch Top 40,<ref name="aPVI5">Template:Cite web</ref> number five on the Belgian Dance Chart,<ref name="Bo7SP">Template:Cite web</ref> and at number seven on the UK Singles Chart.<ref name="rf2Z7">Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
Weymouth and Chris Frantz married in 1977. The couple moved to Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1985, where they raised their two sons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Tina's paternal niece, Katharine Weymouth, daughter of prominent architect Yann Weymouth, was named publisher and chief executive officer of The Washington Post in 2008 until her resignation in 2014.<ref name="0zbsW">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In March 2022, Weymouth and Frantz were in a car collision with a drunk driver. Weymouth suffered a fractured sternum and three fractured ribs.<ref name="guardian-28mar2022">Template:Cite news</ref>
Legacy
In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked her as the 29th greatest bass player of all time.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Weymouth has inspired many female bassists including Este Haim<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Equipment
- Höfner 500/2 Club Bass<ref name="Isola_199703">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":0" /> – Two pickup with single-cutaway hollowbody, purchased in 1978
- Fender Musicmaster Bass<ref name="Isola_199703"/> Used in early Talking Heads performances including Talking Heads: 77
- Fender Mustang Bass<ref name="Isola_199703"/> Used in early Talking Heads performances, seen on Saturday Night Live performance
- Veillette-Citron Standard 4 String<ref name="Isola_199703"/> – Neck Through, teal green
- Fender Precision Bass – Used in early Talking Heads performances<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Gibson Les Paul Triumph Bass<ref name="Isola_199703"/> – used in early Talking Heads performances
- Fender Jazz Bass<ref name="Isola_199703"/> – Used for Tom Tom Club live performances
- Steinberger L-Series Bass<ref name="Isola_199703"/> – Seen during Little Creatures period
- Fender Swinger Guitar – Seen in Stop Making Sense during the performance of "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"
- Chapman Stick
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Template:Wikiquote Template:Commons category
Template:Navboxes Template:Talking Heads Template:Tom Tom Club
- 1950 births
- 20th-century American guitarists
- 20th-century American bass guitarists
- 21st-century American women singers
- American new wave musicians
- American people of Breton descent
- American people of French descent
- American post-punk musicians
- American rock bass guitarists
- American women bass guitarists
- American women in electronic music
- American women new wave singers
- Guitarists from California
- Living people
- Musicians from Los Angeles
- Musicians from San Diego
- Musicians from Washington, D.C.
- People from Coronado, California
- Entertainers from Fairfield, Connecticut
- Rhode Island School of Design alumni
- Rhode Island School of Design alumni in music
- Singers from California
- Talking Heads members
- Tom Tom Club members
- 21st-century American singers
- 20th-century American women guitarists