Phil Collins and Jeff Beck bassist Mo Foster have died

The session guitarist has toured and recorded with Phil Collins and Jeff Beck for five decades.

He has played on over 400 albums, including Collins’ Hello I Must Be Going, Frida from ABBA’s Something’s Going On, the soundtracks for For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy and Revenge Of The Pink Panther, as well as works by Gerry Rafferty, Brian May, Ringo Starr, Cher, Jose Carreras, Elkie Brooks, Nigel Kennedy, Sheena Easton, Meatloaf and Kenny Rogers.

He has also played or toured with Van Morrison, Cliff Richard, Sting, Eric Clapton, Dusty Springfield and Joan Armatrading, performing his last gig on May 2 – shortly after he was diagnosed with liver cancer – at Pizza Express on Dean Street with a jazz fusion band Mo Foster and Friends.

Lifelong friend and fellow session guitarist Ray Russell noted a “life well lived” in a Facebook post: “There wasn’t a two-day gap between Mo and I calling each other. One time he was with ABBA’s Frida at Sweden, I was in Italy with Greg Walsh We spent evenings on the phone talking about everything from music to surreal humor.

Longtime collaborator and fellow musician Ray Russell. (Image: Courtesy of Moe Foster’s family)

He added that Mo will “get out of the groove right in the middle” and “contributes to strong melodic lines”.

“He was a ‘master of making the most horrible things funny.’ His values ​​and integrity were emblazoned in everything he wrote, played and composed. An empty chair, a lead waiting to be joined to a bass, and an amp that will be silent. But you will stay for a long time, the song is over.’

In 2004, Moe found the original recorded version of Manfred Mann’s Handbags and Gladrags in his closet. The band’s songwriter and lead singer, Mike D’Abo, wrote: “He was an extremely sweet, humorous yet humble character, and an extremely talented bass player. He was fluent in many different genres of music, although jazz was always his particular passion. I know he will be missed by many other musicians.”

Moe Foster with his wife Kay. The bassist lived in Belsize Park for 45 years. (Image: Courtesy of Moe Foster’s family)

Foster, who has lived in Belsize Park for 45 years, played bass and drums while studying maths and physics at Sussex University in the mid-60s. He quickly gave up his life as a lab technician, instead forming the prog-rock jazz band Affinity, fronted by Ronnie Scott.

By 1971 he was a regular session musician, but he also wrote songs, including co-writing with Ringo Starr and writing his own album, Belsize Lane. Friend and neighbor David Stark, who is the editor of Songlink International, said: “I was a roadie at his last gig, I drove him there and he struggled but it was absolutely fantastic.”

He said Mo was known for his humorous industry anecdotes, which he recorded in his book British Rock Guitar. (McNider and Grace)

“He was just a great guy who took no prisoners. Everyone knew him as a great storyteller about everyone in the music business that he played with. He had a million stories and a great sense of humor.

“He was also the ultimate session bassist—the most well-known in the music community, if not the general public. He was respected by all the other session players because he was a great character and a great musician who knew his stuff. ”

Lyricist Gary Osborne, who co-wrote with Elton John and on Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds album, described Mo as “a professional and entertainer through and through”.

“Moe was a wonderful and talented person, imbued with the kind of humor that only musicians seem to possess. I had the pleasure of seeing his last concert just two months ago. He was barely strong enough to lift the bass and said afterwards that it was ‘never felt so heavy’, but his playing was as always flawless.’

Moe Foster 1944-2023 is survived by his wife Kay. There will be no memorial service, but there are plans to hold a memorial concert and celebration of his life in London.