Biography
Known for his flamboyant approach to the bass, T.M. Stevens worked alongside major figures across pop and rock while occasionally releasing his own solo albums. He first gained notice during the 1980s through session contributions to recordings by Joe Cocker, James Brown, Nona Hendryx, Taylor Dayne, Cyndi Lauper, the Pretenders, Billy Squier, and Tina Turner. Throughout the following decade he remained one of rock’s most sought-after and adaptable session players, appearing on additional releases by Billy Joel, Steve Vai, and Stevie Salas. He also took on production and arrangement duties for the 1997 tribute album Black Night: Deep Purple Tribute, which featured appearances by Joe Lynn Turner, Corey Glover, Will Calhoun, Bernie Worrell, and others. During the same period Stevens began issuing solo material, beginning with 1995’s Boom, followed by 1997’s Sticky Wicked and 1999’s Radioactive. Into the early years of the twenty-first century he maintained a steady schedule of session engagements, including work on a posthumous Tupac Shakur album and projects by Syleena Johnson, among others, and delivered his fourth solo album overall, Shocka Zooloo, in 2001. That same year he realized a longstanding goal of performing on screen by taking a role in director Masashi Yamamoto’s film Limousine Driver. T.M. Stevens died on March 10, 2024, at the age of 72.