A multi-instrumentalist, he was brought up in Vallejo
in the San Francisco Bay area of California and began his long association
with music when he joined the orchestra in his local grammar school.He first concentrated on playing
the tuba, which he would also play in the Veteran Municipal Band when he
was twelve, but by the time he hit his teenage years he was playing the
bass violin followed by the electric bass.After moving to Sacramento, California, when he was just
fourteen he began to be opened up to different genres of music when he was
confronted with the sound of band music by Lionel Hampton and attended jazz
and classical concerts.After
what could possibly be seen as a natural progression, he would play in jazz
clubs and a hotel in Sacramento and San Francisco.His first experience of playing
with a known star of the time, it was in 1958, was when he backed Big Momma
Thornton but it would not be long after this that he would join the Navy and
study harmony and musical theory at the Navy School of Music in Washington.He was in service until 1961 when
he studied at the San Diego State College and after leaving there he made
the move to Los Angeles where he would try his luck in the industry.After playing with several bands he
joined up with the 16-year old Billy Preston in The Billy Preston Review
where he played the valve trombone and electric bass.Things were moving for him and he
performed on an album by the "Four Freshmen" but they would soon see a
downturn after the Watt Riots of 1964 when he was banned from playing on
the black music scene.He began
to do session work and soon he would perform on The Association's first
album which catapulted them to success as well as making his name as a
session musician known.Soon
the work came rushing in and his credits include his work with Neil
Diamond, Barbra Streisand. The Archies, Bobby Sherman, Tiny Tim, Carlos
Montoya, Dionne Warwick, The Ventures, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Leonard
Nimoy, Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Ponys, Johnny Mathis, The Everly Brothers
and many more.In 1968 he
joined the backing band for Elvis Presley and he toured and recorded many
albums with him, and at the same time still did studio work with other
bands such as The Doors.In
1971 he moved to Canada, but still kept up his work with Elvis Presley, but
in 1975 he moved back to Los Angeles to work with Elvis Presley until his
death in 1977.After this
tragic turn of events he would return to working with other artists and
toured with Bob Dylan.His
recording career became extremely busy again and as well as working with
the band Mink DeVille he would record with Tanya Tucker, John Denver, Elvis
Costello, Richard Thompson, Tom Petty and Sam Philips among others.As a songwriter he wrote the final
song Elvis Presley would work on "Fire Down Below". He is still currently
recording and occasionally will sit in on an improv jazz session.He has three sons and Jason Scheff took
over the lead vocals and plays bass for Chicago after Peter Cetera left.
