Chris Wolstenholme

Chris Wolstenholme
Wolstenholme in 2013
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Tony Wolstenholme
Born	(1978-12-02) 2 December 1978 Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Genres	Alternative rock progressive rock hard rock space rock art rock electronica
Occupation(s)	Musician, multi-instrumentalist
Instruments	Bass, backing vocals
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Warner Bros., East West, Atlantic, Helium 3
Associated acts	Muse

Christopher Tony "Chris" Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician and singer. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the alternative rock band Muse. Wolstenholme also sometimes plays keyboard or guitar.

Early life

Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, Devon. There he played drums for a post-punk band. His future bandmates Matthew Bellamy and Dominic Howard played in another band, Rocket Baby Dolls. The two bands rehearsed in the same building. Bellamy and Howard asked Wolstenholme to play bass in their band; he taught himself to play and the band was renamed Muse.

Muse

In 2011, readers of Gigwise voted Wolstenholme the best bassist of all time. His favourite album is Helmet's Aftertaste.

In 2003, when Muse sued Nestlé, he was the main reason behind it, being against the company that had a dubious reputation when it came to the promotion of powdered milk to new mothers in the third world. At the time, he had had his third child.

Wolstenholme wrote and sang two songs on the album The 2nd Law, "Liquid State" and "Save Me". He said “‘Liquid State’ was written about the person you become when you’re intoxicated and how the two of them are having this fight inside of you and it tears you apart. ‘Save Me’ was about having the family, the wife and kids who, despite all the crap you've put them through, at the end of it you realise they’re still there and they’re the ones who pulled you through.”

Personal life

Wolstenholme married his girlfriend Kelly on December 23, 2003 and they have six children: Alfie (born 7 July 1999), Ava-Jo (born 31 December 2001), Frankie (born 26 August 2003), Ernie (born 20 October 2008), Buster (born 4 November 2010) and Teddi (born 5 January 2012). In April 2010, the family moved to Foxrock, Dublin; in 2011, they moved to London, due to the band's wishes to live in the same city while recording their new album. He remains an avid supporter of Rotherham United F.C., his hometown football team. He holds an honorary doctorate of arts from the University of Plymouth.

Wolstenholme has had problems with alcohol. In 2010, he told the Times he had been a "raging alcoholic". In an interview with Q he said that he would drink so much he would vomit blood, but that he would not grasp the seriousness of his situation. His bandmates had tried to broach the subject of his drinking several times without success. He eventually realised that unless he quit drinking, he would end up like his father, who died due to excessive drinking when Wolstenholme was seventeen. He went into rehab halfway during the recording of Muse's fifth album The Resistance. Since then, he has not drunk alcohol and said that his relationship with his family and bandmates has improved.

External links

• MUSE: Bassist Chris Wolstenholme. Bass Musician Magazine, 8 January 2009