Jon Camp – Bass
Jon Camp (9 October 1949 — 13 December 2024) was the bassist for UK band Renaissance from 1972 to 1985. His main influences were instrumental groups such as The Shadows, The Outlaws, The Ventures and The Tornados. Camp’s first group, which had him on lead guitar, was called 7th Dimension. He soon joined another group, Pepper, who were looking for a bassist; Camp stole his friends bass, auditioned, and got the part, despite the fact Jon could not play the bass. Pepper became known for backing American soul artists who toured in the UK, including Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter, the Drifters, the Three Degrees, Gary U.S. Bonds and Four Tops. He was also in The Nocturnes, which featured Lyn Paul and Eve Graham of The New Seekers.
In 1972, Camp answered an ad in an issue of Melody Maker about a band looking for a bass player. This band was Renaissance and Camp played in the band from 1972 to 1985, during which he played on nine albums, performed both bass and guitar, and was a primary songwriter in the band during the later half of the 1970s. Camp was the male lead on the song “Song of Scheherazade” from the album Scheherazade and Other Stories. Camp left Renaissance in 1985.
For many years, Camp was the touring bassist for Roy Wood and played in a band with him called Helicopters. Through Wood, Camp met Robin George, who he toured with on a world tour featuring REO Speedwagon. Camp moved to Shropshire where he built a home studio. There he met keyboardist John Young (Lifesigns, Greenslade) and they formed the band Cathedrale with guitarist Brett Wilde, drummer Tony Bodene and vocalist Mark Goddard-Parker. Their only album was released in 2017. He joined forces with Maurice Douglas to form the duo Mojo, whose album was released in 2017.
Camp died on 13 December 2024 at the age of 75. A cause of death was not revealed but he did reportedly have Huntington’s disease at the time of his death.
(Biographical details from Wikipedia)
The band Renaissance were primarily known for their 1978 hit single ‘Northern Lights’. The bass part was a cut above the pop stuff of the day and features Camp on his signature double neck Rickenbacker! Prog heaven! The part has its own challenges especially a two octave run that may need repeated practice before you can execute it smoothly.