With his trail-blazing heavy-rock technique, Billy Sheehan has scooped more readers’ poll ‘Best Bass Player’ awards than most players could dream of, including an unprecedented 14 years in a row from Player Magazine, Japan’s number-one music mag. Mr Big might no longer be together, but Billy rocks on.

Biography:

Prior to forming Mr Big in 1989, Billy Sheehan had already established his formidable rock credentials with his previous band Talas, then with former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth in the mid ‘80s, with whom he recorded two platinum-selling albums.

Mr Big quickly became an international success, their second album Lean Into It including the single ‘To Be With You’ that topped the charts in the USA and 14 other countries. Along the way, Sheehan has picked up a string of prestigious press awards which, apart from the amazing 14 times in Japan’s Player Magazine, included the same country’s leading heavy metal mag Burrn! on five occasions, and a similar number of accolades as ‘Best Rock Bass Player’ from America’s Guitar Player, affording him ‘Gallery of Greats’ status alongside such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and Eddie Van Halen. In 1999, his handprints and signature were added to the Hollywood Rockwalk at the Guitar Center in Los Angeles.

In February 2002, shortly after the release of their sixth album Actual Size, various long-simmering tensions caused Mr Big to split up, but Billy had already released his much-awaited solo album, Compression, the year before, and plenty of other projects were on the go. These have included an all-instrumental bass album, an experimental bass and drum record with sticks maestro Terry Bozzio, and a new album, Time Crunch, from the cutting-edge, all-instrumental trio Niacin - featuring Dennis Chambers on drums and John Novello on keyboards - with which Sheehan has been involved since 1996.

On Compression, Billy demonstrated his multi-instrumental and composing talents by

writing, singing, playing baritone 12-string and six-string guitar - and bass of course - on the entire album. He also programmed drums on all but two tracks.

YAMAHA Equipment: Attitude 10th Anniversary, Attitude Limited II, BEX-BS Billy Sheehan basses

WEB: www.billysheehan.com