1. Michael Ralph "Mo" Foster was an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker.
19 Facts About Mo Foster
1. 2.
Mo Foster released several albums under his own name, authored a humorous book on the history of British rock guitar, written numerous articles for music publications, continued to compose production music, and established himself as a public speaker.
3.
Mo Foster was an assessor for JAMES, an industry organisation that gives accreditation to music colleges throughout the United Kingdom.
4.
In 2014, Mo Foster was a recipient of a BASCA Gold Badge Award to honour his lifelong contribution to the British songwriting and composing community.
5.
Mo Foster grew up in the post-war environment of Wolverhampton, a large town in the industrial English West Midlands.
6.
The band needed a bass-player, so Mo Foster set out to convert a cheap acoustic guitar into a bass guitar.
7.
Mo Foster had become a fan of the bass playing of Jet Harris of The Shadows, but had not seen the actual instrument until 1961, when Jet was revealed casually caressing the iconic headstock of a Fender Precision Bass on the cover of The Shadows LP.
8.
Mo Foster wanted one, but had to settle for a Dallas Tuxedo Bass, the solitary bass guitar hanging in the window of the local music shop, the Band Box.
9.
In 1975 Mo Foster pioneered the teaching of bass guitar in Britain by founding the first-ever course at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
10.
Mo Foster has contributed several articles to bass playing specialist magazines.
11.
Mo Foster achieved the atypical bass sound by using an unusual bass slap technique on an aluminium Kramer 650B bass guitar.
12.
Mo Foster cited several well known bassists as being the inspirations to both his playing and his compositions, including Carol Kaye, Jet Harris, Jack Bruce and Stanley Clarke.
13.
The song got quite considerable airplay and Walling and Mo Foster appeared together on the BBC children's programmes Blue Peter and Granada TV's Get It Together.
14.
At the latter end of the 1980s Mo Foster decided that he would like the freedom to perform, produce and record his own music rather than that of someone else.
15.
Mo Foster was able to call on some of his many friends who happened to be some of the UK's foremost session musicians to help him.
16.
Mo Foster seeks to present an insider's view of this creative world, and to convey a sense of the absurdist flavour of musicians' humour.
17.
Mo Foster died from liver and bile duct cancer on 3 July 2023, at the age of 78.
18.
Mo Foster has played on hundreds of commercially released recordings and soundtracks.
19.
On 14 October 2014, Mo Foster was presented with a BASCA Gold Badge Award in recognition of his unique contribution to music.