On This Day in Guitar and Bass History: August 5
Edited by Sleuth · Reviewed
On August 5, three influential bassists were born decades apart: Rick Huxley of the Dave Clark Five (1940), session legend Willie Weeks (1947), and Toto's David Hungate (1948). Randy Jo Hobbs, bassist for The McCoys and the Winter brothers, died on this date in 1993, the same calendar date his old bandmate Rick Derringer was born.
On August 5 in guitar history
1940 · Born
Dave Clark Five bassist Rick Huxley, briefly rock's No. 2 bass player, is born
Rick Huxley was born in Dartford, Kent, England, and switched from guitar to bass as the Dave Clark Five's classic lineup formed, anchoring hits like Glad All Over and the US number-one Over and Over across a run of 18 Ed Sullivan Show appearances.
Source: Rick Huxley played bass with the Dave Clark Five · 2016-02-11
1947 · Born
Session bassist Willie Weeks, rated by George Harrison over Paul McCartney, is born
Willie Weeks was born in Salemburg, North Carolina. His 3.5-minute bass solo on Donny Hathaway's Live (1972) became one of the most studied recordings in bass guitar history, launching session and touring work with George Harrison, David Bowie, and the Rolling Stones.
Source: Willie Weeks
1948 · Born
Toto founding bassist David Hungate is born
David Hungate was born in Troy, Missouri. A first-call Los Angeles session bassist through the 1970s, he co-founded Toto in 1976 and played bass on the band's first four albums, including 1982's Grammy-winning Toto IV, before leaving for a second career as a Nashville session player.
Source: David Hungate
1993 · Passed
The McCoys' Randy Jo Hobbs dies at 45, on bandmate Rick Derringer's birthday
Randy Jo Hobbs, bassist for The McCoys during the Hang On Sloopy era and later for both Johnny and Edgar Winter, died of heart failure tied to drug-related complications in a Dayton, Ohio hotel room. He was 45. Per Wikipedia's account of the band's history, the date was also the birthday of his old McCoys bandmate Rick Derringer, who died in 2025 at age 77, consistent with an August 5, 1947 birth.
Source: Randy Jo Hobbs
Why we track this
Bass history doesn't only happen on round-number anniversaries. This page collects what's actually documented for August 5, and it grows every time we verify another event for the date. Three influential bassists, from a British Invasion pioneer to two of the most-recorded session players of the 1970s, share this birthday, and a fourth bassist's death fell on the exact date his old bandmate was born. If today has you thinking about your own low end, the Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Bass is still the closest thing the instrument has to a default set.
Start your own August 5
Whichever era of this page speaks to you, from Rick Huxley's British Invasion bass lines to Willie Weeks's Donny Hathaway solo to David Hungate's Toto IV, the through-line is four strings under someone's hands. If yours need a change, our string gauge and scale length guide covers how gauge choice affects tension and feel.
EXL170 XL Nickel Wound Bass Regular Light (.045-.100)
Why this one: A versatile, industry-standard nickel roundwound bass set and a safe starting point no matter which era of bass history brought you here today.
More bass and guitar history
This page is part of an evergreen series, one per calendar day, filled in as we verify more events. Read the full stories behind Randy Jo Hobbs, David Hungate, Willie Weeks, and Rick Huxley, check today's news desk for what's happening right now, or head to the full history index to see which dates are live so far.