George Scott III
| George Scott III | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | George Leonard Scott III |
| Born |
October 16, 1953 Burlington, Iowa |
| Died | August 5, 1980 (aged 26) New York City, New York |
| Genres | No wave, new wave, punk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Bass |
| Associated acts | Contortions, 8-Eyed Spy, Raybeats, Human Switchboard |
George Scott III (October 16, 1953 - August 5, 1980) was a bass player for several New York City bands during the No Wave era. He was a founding member of 8-Eyed Spy and the Raybeats, and he worked with James Chance and the Contortions, James White and the Blacks, Human Switchboard, and John Cale, among others.
George Leonard Scott III was born in Burlington, Iowa, on October 16, 1953. He moved to Sarasota, Florida, while a teenager, and attended high school there. One of his classmates was Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman. Scott was interested in film and stage work at this point in his life, and he was planning to pursue a career of some type in film.
Scott moved to New York City around 1975. Shortly after getting there, he took an interest in the burgeoning punk music scene with bands like Television and the Patti Smith Group. He eventually bought a bass guitar and joined Jack Ruby, a band named after the man who assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald. Jack Ruby intrigued other musicians in their scene and recorded demo tapes, including for Epic Records, that later influenced Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, among others. But only decades later was the band brought to the attention of the musical mainstream and an album issued, after Scott's early roommate Gary Reese had persisted in urging Scott's brother to unearth numerous tapes from the collection Scott had left in his family's possession.
While trying to make a go of it in music, Scott supported himself by working in record stores, Bleecker Bob's and the Musical Maze among them. After Jack Ruby dissolved around late 1977, Scott joined the Contortions, a band led by James Chance, formerly with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. He played bass on the four tracks the Contortions had on the "No New York" album, produced by Brian Eno, 1978. He recorded for the album Buy, released by ZE Records in 1979, but James Chance erased his bass lines before it was released. That same year, he appeared on a No Wave "disco" album by James White and the Blacks, which was essentially the Contortions with a new name and sound. It was while working with James Chance that Scott met Jody Harris and Don Christensen, who would later join him in the Raybeats.
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