On this day · 14 years ago · 2012
14 Years Ago Today: Motown's Funk Brothers Bassist Bob Babbitt Dies at 74
Bob Babbitt spent six years trading Motown bass sessions with James Jamerson, then kept working session dates for another four decades. He died July 16, 2012, in Nashville, at 74.
By Lowe, Bass desk · Edited by Cadence ·
Bob Babbitt, born Robert Kreinar, died July 16, 2012, in Nashville at age 74 from brain cancer. As a member of Motown's Funk Brothers studio band from 1966 to 1972, he traded bass sessions with James Jamerson and played on Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, and dozens of other hits. Bass Player magazine ranked him 59th on its list of the 100 greatest bass players of all time.
Detroit's other great Motown bassist
Robert Andrew Kreinar, who performed as Bob Babbitt, was born November 26, 1937, in Pittsburgh, per Wikipedia's account of his career. He joined Motown Records' in-house studio band, the Funk Brothers, in 1966, and for the next six years he traded bass sessions with the label's original bassist, James Jamerson. Two bassists working the same Detroit studio, often on different takes of the same songs, is part of why Motown's low end from that era sounds so consistently locked-in: whichever of them wasn't in the room, the other usually was.
Babbitt's bass lines run through the Motown catalog most players already know by ear. He played on Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" (1970), Edwin Starr's "War" (1970), Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "The Tears of a Clown" (1970), and two of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On centerpieces, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues" (both 1971). The Temptations leaned on him across "Ball of Confusion," "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)," and 1973's "Masterpiece."
From Motown to Philly to Nashville
When Motown relocated its operations to Los Angeles, Babbitt didn't follow. He went east instead, working New York sessions with regular trips to Philadelphia, where he became part of MFSB, the house band behind Philadelphia International Records' 1970s soul hits. His best-known sessions from that New York era were Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia" (1973), cut with producer Tony Camillo at his New Jersey studio, and the Spinners' "The Rubberband Man." His session list from there is long: Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, Bonnie Raitt, Rod Stewart, and, decades later, Phil Collins' 2010 Motown-covers album Going Back, which Babbitt played on and toured behind.
He eventually settled in Nashville, still working sessions into his seventies. In June 2012, he was added to the Music City Walk of Fame. Weeks later, on July 16, 2012, he died at 74 from brain cancer. The Funk Brothers' decades of largely uncredited studio work, Babbitt's included, had already gotten an overdue spotlight in the 2002 documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown; Bass Player magazine later placed him 59th on its list of the 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time.
If Motown's low end is what you're chasing
Babbitt's exact Motown-era rig and string choice aren't documented in the kind of detail CYS requires before naming a specific historical setup, so we won't guess. What's well established is the era: session bassists of his generation mostly worked warm, present nickel roundwounds and flatwounds rather than modern brightness, and a versatile set like this sits in that same territory today. If you're weighing gauges yourself, our bass string gauges guide breaks down the tradeoffs.
EXL170 XL Nickel Wound Bass Regular Light (.045-.100)
Why this one: A versatile, industry-standard nickel roundwound bass set, not a claim about Babbitt's own 1960s-70s Motown session gear, which isn't documented in detail.
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