Daryl Hall and John Oates have issued a statement marking the passing of their bass player T-Bone Wolk on the weekend.
58-year old Wolk died suddenly from a heart attack.In a statement Daryl Hall said, “To say that I am shocked is the ultimate understatement. T-Bone was my musical brother and losing him is like losing my right hand. It’s not if I will go on, but how. T-Bone was one of the most sensitive and good human beings that I have ever known. And, I can truly say that I loved him”.
John Oates is equally distraught. “His character was pure and his unique and quirky personality touched everyone he encountered,” he said about T-Bone. “His musical sensibility was peerless, any instrument that he touched resonated with a sensitivity and skill level that I have never experienced while playing with any other musician. He possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of styles and musical history which he referenced to support all the artists that he played with over the years. He became our band's musical director over time leading by example and by the deference and respect that everyone who played alongside him so rightfully accorded him. He made everyone he played with better. So many times when I'm working on a musical passage or part, I think to myself: "How would T-Bone play this" and aspire to his level every time I perform. To this day I always keep one of his "I Love Vermont" guitar picks with me where ever I go and know in my heart that starting today the Heavenly Band just got one of the greatest multi-instrumentalist of all time and that band will from this day forward sound better than they ever have before”.
T-Bone Wolk was a regular in the Saturday Night Live band and has worked with Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Laurie Anderson, Robert Palmer, Elvis Costello and Shawn Colvin over the years. He also played on Jimmy Barnes ‘Freight Train Heart’.
