Chuck Rainey was once referred to as America’s hardest working bass player. His bass playing on television, motion pictures, and recordings is a testament to his legendary and well-respected style, feel, and concept for the instrument, and its role in organized music. His distinctive bass lines are featured in many commercials and are an integral part today’s music across all music listening and viewing platforms. Charles Walter Rainey III was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a native son ship of Youngstown Ohio where he was raised and educated. C.F. trained him as a trumpet player in the classics. Chuck was trained by C.F. Brown, James Ramsey, and John Busch in the classics. He switched to Baritone Horn at Lane college in Jackson. In the early 1960’s, he was an integral part of the school’s well-known and widely traveled ‘brass ensemble. After returning from military service and college, he learned to play the guitar and eventually became a professional guitarist with Youngstown and Cleveland bands. His guitar playing abilities were limited by his lack of improvisational skills from his formal training. After realizing that his skills as a guitarist were better at playing single-note patterns, he began to learn how to play an ‘electric’ instrument. The dawn of a new era of American commercial music was marked by his arrival in New York City in the spring 1962. After a three-and-a-half year stint in New York with King Curtis, the legendary FT. Worth sax player, Chuck began a distinguished career as a sideman’ in the studio with Bernard Purdy and Eric Gale, Richard T. and Donny Hathaway to name a few. He is without a doubt the most recorded bass player in recorded music history and the most copied by all bass players. Chuck recorded and toured with many of the greatest artists of that time during the 1963-1971 period. These include King Curtis and Etta James, Sam Cooke, Etta Jane, Jackie Wilson, Harry Bellefonte (al Kooper), The Supremes, Labelle. Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Quincy Jones, and Roberta Flack. He is also notable for his participation in ‘The King Curtis All Stars,’ the second Beatle Tour of the US. There he pledged to return to the USA as soon as the Universe pleased. His career as a studio musician grew after he moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1972 as a member the Quincy Jones big band. His unique style also opened up opportunities for him in the television and film industry. He can be heard playing on musical themes and in the source songs of many motion pictures, TV series, sitcoms and sitcoms. He has also been a composer, arranger, and producer in his career. Chuck was awarded a grant by The Ohio Arts Council in 1981. He joins a select few musicians who have received prestigious awards. These include 17 gold or platinum records, the Dean Markely Life Time Of Achievement Award, the Bass Player Magazine/New York Bass Collective “Life Time Achievement” Award, and a record 35-year consecutive place in the top 10 music polls (category – bass) in Downbeat Magazines. The list goes on. His brilliant musicianship and conceptual genius contributed greatly to the success of rhythm, pop, jazz fusion, and rock.
