Can You Believe Geddy Lee Was “Nervous” To Meet A Bass Player

Geddy Lee, the bassist of the renowned band Rush, is no stranger to the limelight. However, even famous musicians like Lee can experience moments of nervousness, a feeling typically associated with those who aren’t accustomed to being on stage. Surprisingly, Lee’s encounter with a fellow bassist managed to shake up this usually composed and collected music star.

In 2018, Geddy Lee embarked on an ambitious literary project called “Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass.” This passion project, spanning 400 pages, showcased his extensive bass collection. The book traced the instrument’s history and featured a series of interviews with some of the most esteemed bassists in the world of rock.

Moreover, during a 2019 interview with the Toronto Sun, Lee revealed that these encounters were not only memorable for the stories shared but also for the anticipation and nervousness that preceded them. One particular meeting stood out from the rest.

This was a meeting that somehow managed to make Lee feel nervous. It wasn’t because of the person’s fame, even though that person was a prominent figure in rock music—the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman. Instead, Lee’s apprehension stemmed from a deeply personal memory from his teenage years when he was just starting out as a bass player.

It was Bill Wyman’s work in the Rolling Stones song “2120 South Michigan Avenue” that set Lee on the path to becoming a bassist. Mastering Wyman’s bass line was the key to securing his first-ever gig. Therefore, meeting Wyman, the man behind the bass line that launched his career, was a momentous occasion for the musician.

Geddy Lee expressed his feelings about meeting Bill Wyman:

“When I first met Bill Wyman, I was a bit nervous because he was such a central figure to me when I first started playing. The very first song I had to learn to be accepted in my local group of garage band players was a Rolling Stones song called ‘2120 South Michigan Avenue.’ And if you could learn that Bill Wyman bass part, then you were considered worthy. So that song got me my first gig with some of my local degenerates in my neighborhood. I must have been about 15 or 16.”