Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Every so often you hear of a story that shows the tremendous heart of a great performer. This is certainly one of them and I want to thank John and Barry (Baz) Pethers for sharing it with us. You can find it here.

Touching! What an influence at a young age.

Agreed Ken. What a wonderful start to a bass career.

Maurice is often overlooked as a life long Rickenbacker player in these pages. The 60's. Beegees stuff had a great deep bass tone that always caught my ear when I was a kid. One of my ex-girlfriends lived in Miami and knew him a little and said he was very nice. She said she used to see him often at the same place but he was a little wary of strangers but warmed up to her after she asked him if he played Ric basses, he replied something like, why yes I've always played them, how did you know? of course you know where she got that idea, haha!

Wonderful!

Nice bass too...

That's a great story and if ever a 15 year old needed some inspiration to keep playing...it couldn't get any better than that!

Wow! There are many who bag some of the Bee Gees music and they are entitled to their opinion, but you cannot help but be touched by that story and gladdened by the fact that there are/were some wonderful and generous (and humble) "stars" out there.

I'm going to watch my "One Night Only" DVD from now on with a new reverence.

Class, the man had class

It's one of my regrets that I never got the chance to get to talk to Maurice about his old RM1999 that I am fortunate enough to own.
Funny, how two people from half a world away end up in fairly close proximity. He only lived a couple of hours from me here in Fla and I should have pushed more to get the lowdown on his old bass.
His was a generous man, always giving away gear, and this was not the first Ric bass that he had given to someone else.
Nice to see a good story with a positive ending...

Here's the bass in question.

Nice, very nice.

In my line of work I deal with major label bands & musicians on a daily basis - many of them petulant children with sub-par talent & an incredible sense of entitlement.
It's refreshing to hear a story of a musician...a man who, even after ascending the ladder of fame, remembered his roots & what it's like to be a young kid struggling with an instrument.

I feel honored to play the same brand of bass as him.

That's a great story!
People in Maurice's position, whether it be ballplayers, musicians, movie stars, etc. often overlook the importance they play in young people's lives. 5 seconds spent signing an autograph or saying "Hi" to a fan can mean so much to that person. Obviously, they don't have time for everyone. Maurice obviously went over and above in this case, and changed his life. Very cool.

I always like Maurice's playing and tone on those early records. It was also cool for me, in the early days of The Eggmen when I'd just bought an Epi Viola bass and was feeling kinda bummed that I didn't have the "real" thing, I saw the BeeGees on an afternoon show(Oprah?)and he was playing an Epi Viola too. I felt a lot better about my new bass.

What a generous man.so sad his life was ended early.

Maurice was a great bass player and overall musician. As well as a man with a lot of compassion and class. May he rest in eternal peace.

I just got the new Bee Gees Studio Albums box. The sound is greatly improved over previous CD issues, and the packaging is first rate. I'm hearing some details for the first time, including what a fantastic tone Maurice had. The liner notes mention that McCartney was a huge influence, and I have to say, he's come as close as anyone I've heard to nailing that sound.

On the mono single version of 'I Just Gotta Get a Message to You' the bass is just HUGE, like another voice, and it's just an unbelievable tone and great playing. But even as early as their first album, what a sound!

Andrew, you are one lucky fella.

A good friend of mine, a woman, is in a Portland Oregon band called Shee Bee Gees - you guessed it, an all female Bee Gees cover band. They only do the early stuff, though - 67-70 or so. She plays bass too.