John Alec Entwistle (9 October 1944 – 27 June 2002) was an English bass guitarist, singer, songwriter, film and music
producer. In a music career that spanned more than 40 years, Entwistle was best known as the original bass guitarist,
backing and occasional lead vocalist for the English rock band The Who. He was the only member of the band to have
formal musical training. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of
the Who in 1990. Entwistle's instrumental approach used pentatonic lead lines, and a then-unusual treble-rich sound ("full treble, full
volume"). His playing and writing was light-years ahead of his time. In 2011, he was voted as the greatest bass guitarist of all
time in a Rolling Stone magazine readers' poll. Entwistle picked up two nicknames during his career as a musician. He was nicknamed
"The Ox" because of his strong
constitution and seeming ability to "eat, drink or do more than the rest of them". He was also later nicknamed
"Thunderfingers". Bill Wyman, bass guitarist for the Rolling Stones, described him as "the quietest man in private but
the loudest man on stage". In 1971, Entwistle became the first member of The Who to release a solo album, Smash Your Head Against the Wall, which
earned him a
cult following in the US for fans of his brand of dark humour. Other solo studio albums included:
Whistle Rymes (1972), Rigor Mortis Sets In (1973), Mad Dog (1975), Too Late the Hero (1981), and The Rock (1996).
