T. M. Stevens
TM Stevens ( born 1951 in New York) is an American bass player and inventor of musical style HMF (Heavy Metal radio ). The abbreviations in front of his last name mean Thomas Michael.
Life and work
Stevens was among other things a studio musician with James Brown, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner and Steve Vai, Cyndi Lauper, Little Steven and Billy Joel. He was a permanent member of the Pretenders. A wider audience, he is known best by his bass riff at the beginning of Bobby Sharp songs Unchain My Heart (Joe Cocker ). His real breakthrough as a musician came through James Brown. He sang in 1985 Living in America with and on the entire album Gravity is TM to hear Stevens ' voice also.
As fusion musicians he worked with Miles Davis, with whom he performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival also. In 2004, TM Stevens toured with Jean -Paul Bourelly and drummer John Blackwell ( Prince). In 2007, he was with the Headhunters go. In early 2009 Stevens was in the project with Bernie Worrell SocialLibrium, guitarist Blackbyrd McKnight and Cindy Blackman on a European tour.
At the same time, he toured with Stevie Salas, Dave Abbruzzese (former drummer of Pearl Jam ) and Bernard Fowler ( background singer of the Rolling Stones ) with the project The IMF 's ( International Motherfuckers ) mainly enjoyed great popularity in Europe.
Stevens is also active as a solo artist and released his first album in 1995. Since 2001 he plays with his band Shocka Zooloo with Michael " Master Blaster " Barnes, Gary " Gman " Sullivan and the German drummer Wolf " Wolfman " Simon from food. Despite its relative obscurity as a solo artist, he is traded in Kenner circles as one of the most technically gifted bassist. His trademarks are shrill and very colorful outfits. African war paint on your face is natural for him and his band - just like its sunglasses.