Guy Pratt – Bass Guitarist Who Performed with David Bowie
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Guy Pratt is one of Britain’s most respected bass guitarists, recognised for an outstanding career spanning more than four decades. Although best known internationally for his work with Pink Floyd and David Gilmour, he also shares a unique place in David Bowie’s history through two very different moments separated by more than twenty years.
In 1983, while still at the beginning of his professional career, Pratt supported David Bowie as bassist with the Australian band Icehouse during part of Bowie’s legendary Serious Moonlight Tour. More than two decades later he stood beside Bowie on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall during David Gilmour‘s concert of 29 May 2006, a performance that became Bowie’s final concert appearance in the United Kingdom.
Those two appearances frame an extraordinary musical journey that saw Guy Pratt develop into one of the world’s most sought-after session bassists, performing with artists including Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Bryan Ferry, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Roxy Music, Robert Palmer and countless others. His versatility, musical instinct and distinctive sense of humour have made him one of the most admired figures in modern rock music.
- Full name: Guy Alan Pratt
- Born: 3 January 1962, Lambeth, London, England
- Profession: Bass guitarist, vocalist, composer, songwriter and broadcaster
- Bowie connection: Icehouse support musician during the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour and bassist during David Bowie’s final UK concert appearance at the Royal Albert Hall on 29 May 2006
- Also known for: Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets and the Rockonteurs podcast
Early Life
Guy Alan Pratt was born in Lambeth, London, on 3 January 1962 and grew up in nearby Peckham. Music and entertainment were already part of family life. His father, Mike Pratt, was an actor and songwriter best known for portraying Jeff Randall in the television series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and for writing Tommy Steele’s much-loved children’s song The Little White Bull.
Although creativity surrounded him from an early age, Pratt did not immediately pursue music as a profession. After leaving school he briefly worked as a graphic designer before deciding that playing bass guitar offered the career he truly wanted. The decision would prove life-changing.
Launching a Professional Career
Icehouse performing live in 2012. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / licensed for reuse.
Pratt’s first major opportunity arrived at the remarkably young age of nineteen when he joined the Australian rock band Icehouse. At the time the group had become one of Australia’s biggest international exports, and the position immediately placed the young bassist on major concert stages around the world.
Touring with Icehouse quickly established Pratt as an accomplished live musician with exceptional versatility. His confident performances attracted attention throughout the music industry and would soon lead to an unexpected connection with David Bowie during one of the biggest tours of the decade.
Supporting David Bowie – The Serious Moonlight Tour
In 1983, Guy Pratt‘s career took an important step forward when he joined the Australian rock band Icehouse. During that year, Icehouse was selected as a support act for the European leg of David Bowie’s hugely successful Serious Moonlight Tour, giving the young bassist the opportunity to perform before the large audiences that followed Bowie across Europe.
Icehouse supported David Bowie at selected concerts during the European leg of the Serious Moonlight Tour. Documented appearances include shows in West Germany, France, England, Sweden, the Netherlands and Scotland. Guy Pratt performed as Icehouse’s bassist and was not a member of David Bowie’s touring band.
Although Pratt was not a member of David Bowie’s touring band, performing with Icehouse on the tour proved to be an invaluable experience. Night after night he witnessed one of the world’s biggest live productions at close quarters while gaining experience on major arena stages early in his professional career.
The Serious Moonlight Tour followed the worldwide success of Bowie’s Let’s Dance album and became the largest and most commercially successful tour of his career to that date. For Icehouse, the support slot introduced the Australian band to new audiences across Europe, while for Guy Pratt it provided an important opportunity to develop as a live performer in an international touring environment.
Looking back, Pratt has described those early years with Icehouse as a crucial period in his musical development. The experience helped establish his reputation as a reliable and versatile bassist, qualities that soon led to work with artists including Bryan Ferry, Robert Palmer and, a few years later, David Gilmour and Pink Floyd.
An Early Connection with Bowie
Although Guy Pratt and David Bowie did not perform together during the Serious Moonlight Tour, the tour created Pratt’s first direct connection with Bowie’s world. More than two decades later, that connection would come full circle when Pratt joined Bowie on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall as a member of David Gilmour‘s touring band.
Royal Albert Hall – 29 May 2006
More than twenty years after first appearing on the Serious Moonlight Tour, Guy Pratt found himself sharing the stage with David Bowie under very different circumstances. On 29 May 2006, during the closing night of David Gilmour‘s On an Island tour at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Bowie appeared as a surprise guest before a sold-out audience.
Video: Arnold Layne – Royal Albert Hall, 29 May 2006
Guy Pratt was a member of David Gilmour‘s touring band, performing alongside Gilmour, Richard Wright, Phil Manzanera, Dick Parry, Steve DiStanislao and Jon Carin. The evening became one of the most memorable concerts of Gilmour’s career and, in retrospect, one of the most significant moments in David Bowie’s later performing life.
David Bowie joined the band for two songs: a powerful performance of Syd Barrett’s Arnold Layne, followed by Pink Floyd’s classic Comfortably Numb. The appearance delighted the audience and reunited Bowie with musicians he had admired for many years.
Guy Pratt remembers rehearsing with David Bowie
“Arnold Layne… He knew that song inside out, upside down. It was like he’d been doing it every night. It was fucking insane.”
— Guy Pratt, reflecting on the Royal Albert Hall rehearsals
Performing with Bowie
Pratt later recalled that Bowie arrived at rehearsals with an extraordinary knowledge of Syd Barrett’s music. While Arnold Layne seemed completely natural to him, Bowie approached Comfortably Numb rather differently. According to Pratt, Bowie freely admitted that he was far less familiar with the song but possessed the remarkable confidence to make it his own almost immediately.
Video: Comfortably Numb – Royal Albert Hall, 29 May 2006
The rehearsal also created a memorable moment involving Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright. Wright had been singing the shared vocal on Comfortably Numb throughout the tour and was initially reluctant to give it up. Once he learned that David Bowie would be performing the song, however, the atmosphere quickly changed, creating one of the lighter moments remembered by the band.
Guy Pratt on Bowie performing Comfortably Numb
“He was winging Comfortably Numb… Boy, that I could ever wing anything like Bowie.”
For Guy Pratt, the evening represented far more than another prestigious concert. Having first encountered David Bowie as a young support musician in 1983, he was now performing alongside one of his musical heroes as an equal member of David Gilmour‘s band. It was a fitting full-circle moment in an already remarkable career.
David Bowie’s Final UK Concert Appearance
The Royal Albert Hall performance would later assume even greater historical significance. Although nobody in the audience realised it at the time, Bowie’s appearance on 29 May 2006 became his final live performance in the United Kingdom. Following his heart attack in 2004, Bowie had largely withdrawn from touring, making only a handful of carefully chosen guest appearances.
His performances of Arnold Layne and Comfortably Numb with David Gilmour are therefore remembered not only as a celebration of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, but also as one of the final opportunities for British audiences to witness David Bowie performing live. Guy Pratt was one of the musicians privileged to share that historic moment on stage.
Life After the Royal Albert Hall
Following the Royal Albert Hall concert, Guy Pratt continued his long-standing collaboration with David Gilmour while remaining one of the music industry’s most respected session bassists. His reputation had been built on exceptional versatility, impeccable timing and an instinctive understanding of how to support both songs and performers without ever drawing unnecessary attention to himself.
Alongside his continuing work with Gilmour, Pratt remained closely associated with Pink Floyd’s legacy. He performed with Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, celebrating the band’s early psychedelic repertoire, and continued touring internationally with David Gilmour, including performances supporting the acclaimed Luck and Strange album released in 2024.
Session Musician to the Stars
Throughout his career, Guy Pratt has worked with an extraordinary range of internationally renowned artists. His recording and touring credits include Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, Robert Palmer, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Iggy Pop, Tom Jones, Elton John, Gary Moore, Coverdale • Page, The Pretenders, Womack & Womack, Electronic, Echo & the Bunnymen, Natalie Imbruglia, The Orb, All Saints and many others.
Unlike many session musicians who become associated with a single artist or musical style, Pratt has successfully moved between rock, pop, electronic music, film scores and television productions. His adaptability has made him one of Britain’s most consistently employed bass guitarists for more than forty years.
Composer, Author and Broadcaster
Away from the concert stage, Pratt has enjoyed an equally diverse creative career. He has composed music for television, documentaries and theatre productions, while also writing and producing recordings for numerous artists. His work as a composer includes music for television series such as Spaced, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and Linda Green, together with music for films and documentaries.
In 2007 he published his autobiography, My Bass and Other Animals, an entertaining and highly regarded account of life as one of Britain’s busiest professional musicians. The book combines humorous stories from the road with thoughtful reflections on the realities of session work and has become a favourite among musicians and music fans alike.
Pratt also established himself as a respected broadcaster through the popular Rockonteurs podcast, co-hosted with guitarist Gary Kemp. Together they have interviewed many of the biggest names in rock music, offering listeners unique insights into the creative process behind some of the world’s best-known recordings.
Legacy
Guy Pratt occupies a unique position within David Bowie’s collaborative history. Unlike musicians who spent years in Bowie’s touring or recording bands, Pratt’s connection with Bowie is defined by two remarkable moments that bookend more than two decades of his own career.
As a young bassist with Icehouse, he first encountered Bowie during the Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983. More than twenty years later he shared the stage with Bowie at London’s Royal Albert Hall during what would become Bowie’s final live performance in the United Kingdom. Few musicians can claim to have witnessed such different chapters of Bowie’s performing career from such unique perspectives.
Today, Guy Pratt remains widely respected not only as one of Britain’s finest bass guitarists but also as a gifted storyteller, composer, broadcaster and author. His musicianship, professionalism and enthusiasm for live performance continue to inspire both audiences and fellow musicians around the world.
Official Website & Further Information
Guy Pratt remains active as a touring musician, author, broadcaster and recording artist. Through his official website and social media channels he continues to share news of current tours, recording projects, live performances and the acclaimed Rockonteurs podcast.
His official website can be found at:
www.guypratt.com
DavidBowieWorld.com is dedicated to documenting the careers of David Bowie’s collaborators through carefully researched historical information and, where available, first-hand contributions from the artists themselves. This page will continue to be updated as new verified information becomes available.
Article Origin
This article has been researched and written for DavidBowieWorld.com as part of the site’s ongoing series documenting the musicians, producers, engineers, designers and creative collaborators who contributed to David Bowie’s extraordinary career. Particular attention has been given to Guy Pratt‘s documented appearances alongside David Bowie in 1983 and at the Royal Albert Hall on 29 May 2006, placing those performances within the wider context of his distinguished international career.