James Lee Jamerson
January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983
He was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases until 1971), and is now regarded as one of the most influential bass players in modern music history. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. As a session musician, he played on twenty-three Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits, as well as fifty-six R&B number-one hits.
In its special issue “The 100 Greatest Bass Players” in 2017, Bass Player magazine ranked Jamerson number one and called him “the most important and influential bass guitarist”. In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jamerson number one in its list of the 50 greatest bassists of all time.
Jamerson married Annie Wells shortly before graduating from high school. They had four children. His son, James Jamerson Jr. (1957–2016), was a professional session bassist and a member of the disco band Chanson. He had two other sons, Joey and Derek, and a daughter, Dorene (Penny).
Long troubled by alcoholism, Jamerson died of complications from cirrhosis of the liver, heart failure, and pneumonia on August 2, 1983, in Los Angeles. He is interred at Detroit’s historic Woodlawn Cemetery.
Motown’s founder Berry Gordy called Jamerson an “incredible improviser” and said, “I, like some of the other producers, would not do a session unless at least two of the Funk Brothers were present – namely, Benny Benjamin and James Jamerson.” However, Jamerson, along with the other Funk Brothers, received little formal recognition for his lifetime contributions. His work was uncredited until later in his career, and he remained largely anonymous, even to bassists who emulated his style. The first time he was credited on a major Motown release was in 1971 for his performance on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. He was noted as “the incomparable James Jamerson” on the record’s sleeve.
Jamerson was the subject of a book by Allan Slutsky in 1989 titled Standing in the Shadows of Motown. The book includes a biography of Jamerson, transcriptions of his bass lines, and two CDs in which 25 bassists such as Pino Palladino, John Entwistle, Chuck Rainey, and Geddy Lee speak about Jamerson and play the transcriptions. His story was featured in the subsequent 2002 documentary film of the same title. Jamerson’s work has continued to be the subject of various publications.
Jamerson was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, among the first-ever group of “sidemen” to be inducted. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, and he was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007 both as a member of the Funk Brothers. In 2009 he was inducted into the Fender Hall of Fame by fellow Motown session bassist and friend, Bob Babbitt. He received the Bass Player magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. He received the Samson, Hartke, and Zoom International Bassist Award in 2012. He was awarded a bust at the Hollywood Guitar Center’s Rock Walk, and in 2013 the Funk Brothers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2015 songwriter and bassist Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys named Jamerson as his favorite bassist.
Jamerson has received several accolades in his home state of South Carolina. These include a two-day tribute hosted by the Charleston Jazz Initiative and the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center (2003), the Gullah/Geechee Anointed Spirit Award (2008), the Independent Tone Award for lifetime achievement (2016), the Dr. Martin Luther King Dream Keeper Award (2018), induction to the Lowcountry Music Hall of Fame (2018), induction to the Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame (2018). Also, the South Carolina Senate, the House of Representatives, and the town of Edisto Island have passed resolutions in recognition of his contributions.