Bill Wyman

William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bassist of the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on its first 19 studio albums. After his departure, he occasionally took part in live performances with the Rolling Stones and recorded with them in 2023. He also performed as a backing vocalist and bassist for the blues rock band Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings from 1997 to 2018. Wyman was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Rolling Stones in 1989.

Wyman was born William George Perks on 24 October 1936 at Lewisham Hospital in Lewisham, South London, the son of bricklayer William George Perks and Kathleen May "Molly" Perks (née Jeffery). One of six children, he spent most of his early life in Penge, South East London. Wyman described his wartime childhood as "scarred by poverty", having survived The Blitz and enemy fighter plane strafing that killed neighbours.

Wyman attended Oakfield Primary School, passing his eleven plus exam to gain entry to Beckenham and Penge County Grammar School from 1947 to Easter 1953, leaving before the GCE exams after his father found him a job working for a bookmaker and insisted that he take it.

In January 1955, Wyman was called up for two year national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). In the autumn, after signing for an extra year, he was posted to Oldenburg Air Base in Lower Saxony, West Germany where he spent the rest of his service in the Motor Transport Section. He heard the beginnings of rock and roll in dancehalls such as "Zum Grünen Wald" and, after purchasing a radio, also on American Forces Network (AFN). In August 1956, he bought a guitar for 400 Deutsche Mark and in 1957 formed a skiffle group on camp with Casey Jones.

Wyman took piano lessons from age 10 to 13. A year after his marriage on 24 October 1959 to Diane Cory, an 18-year-old bank clerk, he bought a Burns electric guitar for £52 (equivalent to £1,042 in 2025) on hire purchase, but was not satisfied by his progress. He switched to bass guitar after hearing one at a concert by the Barron Knights. He created an electric fretless bass guitar by removing the frets on a second hand UK-built Dallas Tuxedo bass and played this in a south London band, the Cliftons, in 1961.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.