Name Bill Wallace Role Music performer | Genres Rock and roll Music group The Guess Who | |
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Born May 18, 1949 (age 74)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ( 1949-05-18 ) Instruments Bass guitar, Bass Trombone Associated acts The Gettysbyrg Address, Logan Avenue Comfort Station, Dianne Heatherington and the Merry Go-Round, Brother, The Guess Who, Crowcuss, LesQ, Kilowatt Albums Rockin', Live at the Paramount, Artificial Paradise, Power in the Music, #10 Similar People Kurt Winter, Garry Peterson, Jim Kale, Domenic Troiano, Leonard Shaw | ||
William R. "Bill" Wallace (born May 18, 1949) is a Canadian bassist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He started his musical career in the 1960s, with a Winnipeg band called The Gettysbyrg Address. He later performed in bands such as, Logan Avenue Comfort Station, and Dianne Heatherington and the Merry-Go-Round. He eventually joined his friends Kurt Winter and Vance Masters in Brother. Wallace was the lead singer and bassist. Brother was on its way to becoming the most popular rock band in Winnipeg, when Randy Bachman left The Guess Who at the height of that band's popularity. The Guess Who scrambled to replace Bachman, and did so with two of the most talented guitarists in Winnipeg: Winter, and Greg Leskiw. This meant the immediate demise of Brother. In time, Masters and Wallace would both find themselves joining The Guess Who.
Wallace replaced Jim Kale in mid-1972, not long after the release of "Live at the Paramount", which was the first album on which guitarist Donnie McDougall appeared, after replacing Leskiw. While still in Brother, Wallace co-wrote the eventual Guess Who hits "Bus Rider" and "Hand Me Down World" with Masters and Winter, but has never received writing credit. Wallace (nicknamed Wee Willy by Burton Cummings) wrote and co-wrote many Guess Who hits including "Clap for the Wolfman", "Road Food", "Follow Your Daughter Home", and sang lead on "Bye Bye Babe".
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wallace played with several Canadian bands such as Crowcuss, LesQ, and Kilowatt, achieving regional and cross-country radio hits. He was the lead singer on many songs, including the 1983 Kilowatt song, "I'm Not a Kid Anymore."
In 2000, Kale could not accompany the original members of the Guess Who on their Running Back Thru Canada Tour, so Wallace was called, and became the permanent bassist of the Guess Who. Before rejoining the Guess Who, Wallace had been teaching music in his hometown of Winnipeg.
In 2001, he received an honorary music doctorate at Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba with the rest of The Guess Who.
Wallace is currently retired from teaching.