Tina Weymouth | |
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 Weymouth in the Tom Tom Club band (1986) | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Martina Michèle Weymouth (1950-11-22)November 22, 1950 (age 75) Coronado, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Tom Tom Club |
| Formerly of | Talking Heads |
Spouse | |
| Website | tomtomclub |
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 "Tina Weymouth Tribute Film,Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame |
Martina Michèle Weymouth (/ˈweɪməθ/WAY-məth; born November 22, 1950)[2][3][4] is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of thenew wave groupTalking Heads and its side projectTom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, Talking Heads drummerChris Frantz.[5] In 2002, Weymouth was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.[6][7]
Weymouth was born November 22, 1950, inCoronado, California,[3] the daughter of Laura Bouchage andU.S. NavyVice AdmiralRalph Weymouth (1917–2020). Her mother was aFrench-Breton immigrant fromBrittany[8] and her father was American.[9] Weymouth's maternal great-grandfather isAnatole Le Braz, a Breton writer.[9][10] The third of eight children, her siblings include Lani and Laura Weymouth, who are collaborators in Tina's bandTom Tom Club, and architectYann Weymouth, the designer of theSalvador Dalí Museum in Florida.
Weymouth was raised in a devoutRoman Catholic family.[11] Because of her father's military career, the family relocated frequently: When she was two years old, they moved fromSan Diego County to Hawaii, and later to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Los Angeles and Iceland, before eventually settling in theWashington, D.C. area.[11] Weymouth described herself as a "very, very shy" child, which she attributed to her family's frequent relocations.[11]
When she was 12, Weymouth joined the Mrs. Tufts’ Potomac English Hand Bell Ringers, an amateur music group directed by Nancy Tufts, and toured with them.[12] At 14, she started to teach herself the guitar.[11][13]
Her early inspirations came fromBob Dylan andPeter, Paul & Mary.[12]
As a student at theRhode Island School of Design, she metChris Frantz andDavid Byrne, who formed a band called the Artistics.[14] She began dating Frantz and served as the band's driver. After graduation, the three of them moved to New York City. Since Byrne and Frantz were unable to find a suitablebass guitar player she joined them at the latter's request and began learning and playing the instrument.
As a bass player she combined the minimalistart-punk bass lines of groups such asWire andPere Ubu with danceable,funk-inflected riffs to provide the bedrock of Talking Heads' signature sound.[15]
Full members of theCompass Point All Stars, Weymouth and Frantz formedTom Tom Club in 1980, which kept them busy during a fairly long hiatus in Talking Heads activity.[2] Later on, when it became obvious that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne had no interest in making more Talking Heads albums, Weymouth, Frantz, andJerry Harrison reunited without him for a single album calledNo Talking, Just Head under the name "The Heads" in 1996, featuring a rotating cast of vocalists. Weymouth has been critical of Byrne, describing him as "a man incapable of returning friendship".[16]
She co-produced theHappy Mondays' 1992 albumYes Please! and in 2001 contributed backing vocals and percussion for thealternative rockvirtual bandGorillaz on their track "19-2000".[17]
Weymouth was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[18] She collaborated withChicks on Speed on their cover of the Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood" for their album99 Cents in 2003 along with other female musicians such asMiss Kittin,Kevin Blechdom,Le Tigre, andAdult'sNicola Kuperus.[19] "Wordy Rappinghood" became a moderate dance hit in Europe, peaking at number two in theDutch Top 40,[20] number five on theBelgian Dance Chart,[21] and at number seven on theUK Singles Chart.[22]
Weymouth and Chris Frantz married in 1977. The couple moved toFairfield, Connecticut, in 1985, where they raised their two sons.[23]
Tina's paternal niece,Katharine Weymouth, daughter of prominent architectYann Weymouth, was named publisher and chief executive officer ofThe Washington Post in 2008 until her resignation in 2014.[24][25]
In March 2022, Weymouth and Frantz were in a car collision with a drunk driver. Weymouth suffered a fractured sternum and three fractured ribs.[26]
In 2020,Rolling Stone ranked her as the 29th greatest bass player of all time.[7]
Weymouth has inspired many female bassists includingEste Haim[27] andVictoria De Angelis ofMåneskin.[28]
Born on November 22, 1950, in Coronado, CA, Weymouth's family moved quite a bit early on, as her father served in the Navy.
Arrière-petite-fille d'Anatole Le Braz, TinaWeymouth est elle-même célèbre: membre fondateur du TomTom Club, elle fut aussi la bassiste des Talking Heads, groupe emblématique du punk new wave des années70-80.[Great-granddaughter of Anatole Le Braz, Tina Weymouth is famous herself: a founding member of the Tom Tom Club, she was also the bassist of the Talking Heads, an emblematic new wave punk band of the 70s and 80s.]
In March, 2007, Weymouth described Byrne as "a man incapable of returning friendship". She told Glasgow'sSunday Herald: "Cutting off attachments when a thing/person is perceived to have served its purpose or there is a perceived threat to ego is the lifelong pattern of his relations".
She [Katharine Weymouth] is a niece of Tina Weymouth, the bass guitarist in the new wave band Talking Heads.
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