Keith Wilkinson (musician)
Keith Wilkinson is a British musician from South Shields in the northeast of England who was bassist for the band Squeeze between 1985 and 1996 recording 7 albums; ‘Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti’ (Prod Laurie Latham) ‘Babylon and On’ ‘Frank’ (Prod.E.T. Thorngren) ‘Around and a Bout’ (Live) ‘Play’ (Prod. Tony Berg, Mixed by Bob Clearmountain) ‘Some Fantastic Place’ (Pete Smith, Bob Clearmountain) and ‘Ridiculous’ (Prod. Pete Smith, Mixed by Mark Stent). Squeeze toured these albums extensively, especially in the UK and US, where they were very successful, headlining at prestigious venues such as Madison Square Garden as well as playing stadium shows and opening for artists such as David Bowie, Sting and Fleetwood Mac.
Before Squeeze, in 1983/84, he recorded and toured the Difford and Tilbrook album (Prod. Tony Visconti). Between 1986 and 1992 he was also the bassist for Jools Holland appearing on ‘A World of his Own’ ‘The Full Complement’ and ‘A-Z the Geographers’ Guide to the Piano’. Other artists he has recorded for during this period include Paul Carrack, Michael Penn and Howard Jones as well as concert work with Marcella Detroit.
Wilkinson’s career began as a co-founder of the band Nasty Pop who formed in Liverpool and signed to Island Records in 1974 recording ‘Nasty Pop’ (mixed by Tony Visconti) before moving to EG records and releasing ‘Mistaken ID’ on the Polydor label.
In 1978 he joined CBS’ Edinburgh based band Café Jacques (Prod. Rupert Hine) recording the single ‘International’ and touring extensively in Europe supporting the Kinks.
Between 1979 and 1982 he undertook an extensive range of session work recording for artists such as Junior Giscombe (Bob Carter), Lynx (Bob Carter), Peter Blegvad (David Lord), Jane Kennaway (Steve Lillywhite) as well as undertaking a U.S. tour with Julian Marshall’s Eye to Eye (MD. Gary Katz). After Squeeze Wilkinson wrote and recorded soundtrack music with Jon Etkin Bell for several TV series made by Mentorn Productions, including the soundtrack for the original version of The Diana Years, as well as performing and recording with the band Oceanhead.
In 2011 he joined The Jar Family – a song writing collective from the north east of England, playing bass and producing the first two albums ‘The Jar Family Album’ and ‘Jarmalade’ (Mixed by John Cornfield). There is also a third album ‘Family First’ (Prod. Rupert Christie).
He is a co-director of the company Yellow Brick Entertainment, instigated and headed by his wife Meredith Cork (Garbage, Merz, Marcella Detroit, Jimmy Miller, The Clear, Affairs, The Buzzard Orchestral).
They have a son, Sam, who is an actor.