Nathan East

Nathan Harrell East
(born December 8, 1955, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Is a jazz, R&B and rock bass player and vocalist.

East holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California, San Diego (1978). He has recorded, performed and co-written songs with performers such as Erick Clapton, Phil Collins and Stevie Wonder.Early life
Born to Thomas and Gwendolyn East, he is one of seven children (five boys and two girls) raised in San Diego, California, where the family moved when he was four. East first studied cello in seventh through ninth grades and played in his (Horace Mann) junior high school orchestra. At age fourteen he developed an interest in the bass guitar, playing in church (Christ the King) for folk masses with his brothers Raymond and David. He was active in his (Crawford) high school's music programs along with a local top 40 band called "Power". He has said his early influences included Charles Mingus, Ray Brown and Ron Carter on upright bass; and James Jamerson, Paul McCartney and Chuck Rainey on electric bass.
Musical experience
East has recorded, performed and co-written songs with Anita Baker, babyface, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Kenny Loggins, and Herbie Hancock. He co-wrote the Number one hit song "Easy Lover" for Phil Collins and Philip Bailey. East appears with Phil Collins on the "Live & Loose in Paris" DVD (1998) and on the Babyface Unplugged DVD (1997). He performed on the Grammy award winning Unplugged album with Eric Clapton which featured the classic song "Tears In Heaven"(1992). East, a long-time member of Eric Clapton's studio and touring bands since the early 1980's also played on Clapton's "Change The World" which won Song of the Year at the 1997 Grammy Awards. Nathan appears on Andrea Bocelli's, Vivere: Live in Tuscany (2007) and also appears on David Foster & Friends DVD (2008). He has also covered the Noriyuki Makihara song "24hr Supermarket".
Nathan appeared at the Barack Obama Inaugural Celebration Concert "We Are One" at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (2009)
East is one of the original members of the contemporary jazz group Fourplay, along with Bob James (keyboards), Lee Ritenour (later replaced by Larry Carlton) and Harvey Mason (drums). Their Grammy-nominated albums have earned platinum status, and have topped Billboard's contemporary jazz charts.
He has endorsed Yamaha instruments since 1981 and developed his own custom 5-string signature model in 1995, the BBNE2 (modeled after his early 1980s BB415 5-string bass), available worldwide. He has used a custom 6-string version of his signature bass since late 2003, along with a pair of 6-string TRB6P models finished in cherry sunburst and polar white. He also created with Yamaha the NE1 Parametric EQ Pedal otherwise known as the "Magic Box". Nathan also plays the Yamaha SLB200 Silent (Upright) Bass.
Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/


Web Side:
http://www.myspace.com/nathaneast
http://www.nathaneast.com/