William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bassist of the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on its first 19 studio albums. After his departure, he occasionally took part in live performances with the Rolling Stones and recorded with them in 2023. He also performed as a backing vocalist and bassist for the blues rock band Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings from 1997 to 2018. Wyman was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Rolling Stones in 1989.
Wyman was born William George Perks on 24 October 1936 at Lewisham Hospital in Lewisham, South London, the son of bricklayer William George Perks and Kathleen May "Molly" Perks (née Jeffery). One of six children, he spent most of his early life in Penge, South East London. Wyman described his wartime childhood as "scarred by poverty", having survived The Blitz and enemy fighter plane strafing that killed neighbours.
Wyman attended Oakfield Primary School, passing his eleven plus exam to gain entry to Beckenham and Penge County Grammar School from 1947 to Easter 1953, leaving before the GCE exams after his father found him a job working for a bookmaker and insisted that he take it.
In January 1955, Wyman was called up for two year national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). In the autumn, after signing for an extra year, he was posted to Oldenburg Air Base in Lower Saxony, West Germany where he spent the rest of his service in the Motor Transport Section. He heard the beginnings of rock and roll in dancehalls such as "Zum Grünen Wald" and, after purchasing a radio, also on American Forces Network (AFN). In August 1956, he bought a guitar for 400 Deutsche Mark and in 1957 formed a skiffle group on camp with Casey Jones.
Wyman took piano lessons from age 10 to 13. A year after his marriage on 24 October 1959 to Diane Cory, an 18-year-old bank clerk, he bought a Burns electric guitar for £52 (equivalent to £1,042 in 2025) on hire purchase, but was not satisfied by his progress. He switched to bass guitar after hearing one at a concert by the Barron Knights. He created an electric fretless bass guitar by removing the frets on a second hand UK-built Dallas Tuxedo bass and played this in a south London band, the Cliftons, in 1961.
He legally changed his surname to Wyman in August 1964, taking the phonetic surname of a friend, Lee Whyman, with whom he had done national service in the Royal Air Force from 1955 to 1957.
The Rolling Stones and 1980s side projects
When drummer Tony Chapman told Wyman that a rhythm and blues band called the Rolling Stones needed a bassist, he auditioned at a pub in Chelsea, London, on 7 December 1962 and was hired as a successor to Dick Taylor. The band were impressed by his instrument and amplifiers (one of which Wyman modified himself, and a Vox AC30). Wyman was the oldest member of the group.
In addition to playing bass guitar, Wyman frequently provided backing vocals on their early records, and through 1967, in concert as well. He wrote and sang lead on the track "In Another Land" from their sixth studio album Their Satanic Majesties Request, which was released as a single and credited solely to Wyman, making it his first official solo single. The song is one of two Wyman compositions released by the Rolling Stones; the second is "Downtown Suzie" (sung by Mick Jagger), on Metamorphosis (1975), a compilation album of Rolling Stones outtakes. The title "Downtown Suzie" was chosen by their erstwhile manager Allen Klein without consulting Wyman or the band. The original title was "Sweet Lisle Lucy", named after Lisle Street, a street in the red-light district in Soho, London.
Wyman was close to Brian Jones; they usually shared rooms while on tour and often went to clubs together. He and Jones spent time together even when Jones was distancing himself from the band. Wyman was distraught when he heard the news of Jones' death, being one of two members (Charlie Watts was the other) to attend Jones' funeral in July 1969. Wyman was also friends with guitarist Mick Taylor. Like the other Rolling Stones, he has worked with Taylor since the latter's departure from the band in 1974.
Wyman has kept a journal throughout his life, beginning as a child, and used it in writing his 1990 autobiography Stone Alone and his 2002 book Rolling with the Stones. In Stone Alone, Wyman says he wrote the riff of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" with Jones and Watts. Wyman mentions that "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was released as a single only after a 3–2 vote within the band: Wyman, Watts and Jones voted for, Jagger and Keith Richards against, feeling it not sufficiently commercial.
Wyman also played on The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, released 1971, with Watts, Howlin' Wolf, Eric Clapton, and Steve Winwood, and on the studio album Jamming with Edward!, released in 1972, with Ry Cooder, Nicky Hopkins, Jagger and Watts. He played bass guitar on at least two tracks on John P. Hammond's studio album I Can Tell (1967).
In July 1981, Wyman's solo single "(Si Si) Je Suis un Rock Star" became a top-20 hit in many countries. Also in 1981, Wyman composed the soundtrack album Green Ice for the film of the same name, starring Ryan O'Neal and Omar Sharif. In the mid-1980s, he composed music for two films by the Italian director Dario Argento: Phenomena (1985) and Opera (1987).
In 1983, Wyman helped organise a fundraiser for Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis in the form of a concert tour with a group calling themselves Willie and the Poor Boys. The group played shows in the US and the UK that included a rotating group of guest musicians, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. The effort was inspired by Wyman's friend and former Small Faces and Faces musician Ronnie Lane. The group produced an album of the same name that lists Wyman, Charlie Watts, Geraint Watkins, Mickey Gee, and Andy Fairweather Low as principal members, plus Ray Cooper, Jimmy Page, Willie Garnett, Chris Rea, Steve Gregory, Paul Rodgers, Kenney Jones, Henry Spinetti, and Terry Williams.
In February 1986, Wyman alleged to author Bill German that Jagger tried several times to throw him out of the band. German chose not to report this in his Beggars Banquet newsletter given the poor state of relations within the band.
Wyman made a cameo appearance in the British black comedy film Eat the Rich (1987). He produced and played on a few albums by the British hard rock band Tucky Buzzard.
Following the Rolling Stones' 1989–90 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tours, Wyman left the band in January 1993. The Rolling Stones have continued to record and tour with Darryl Jones on bass guitar, but not as an official member of the band.
Wyman formed the cross-generational blues rock band Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings in 1997. The band featured a regularly rotating line-up of musicians and performed cover versions of blues, soul, rock and roll, jazz, and occasional Rolling Stones songs. Wyman rarely performed vocals, but typically sang lead vocals on Chuck Berry's 1964 song "You Never Can Tell" and the Rolling Stones' 1969 song "Honky Tonk Women".