He is a bass player multi-musician and singer born in the City by the Bay, San Francisco, California who began his professional career after a friend had said he should rent a bass guitar and become involved with a local band.
When he was 16 he became a member of The Mystiques who became the band Frumious Bandersnatch but he would eventually move to The Steve Miller Band in 1971.
In 1972 he joined up with a group of musicians that were known as the golden Gate Rhythm Section that would soon become known as Journey. The group asked him to leave for “creative differences” in 1986, and from 1988 to 1996 he was a founder of the bands VU, The Storm and Sy Klopps Blues Band.
He also performed in a tour with Michael Bolton. Journey re-united in 1996, and he is still performing with them, and Frumious Bandersnatch were also brought back together to record an album from 2002 to 2004.
He has released one solo CD called The Hive. He is noted for using the four bottom strings of a 5-string guitar on his bass, which gives a different sound to the instrument.
Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Valory
- http://www.rossvalory.com/Ross-Valory-Bio_p4.html
- http://www.journeymusic.com/index2.html
- http://www.journey-zone.com/Sections/Band/Journey/valory.htm