By DONNA BALANCIA
Matthew Seligman, who played bass with Thomas Dolby, the Thompson Twins and The Soft Boys passed away on April 17 from a stroke following a diagnosis of COVID-19. He was 64.
Earlier this month, he was placed in an induced coma at St. George’s Hospital in London, according to longtime friends Kevin Armstrong and Dolby.
Seligman was an immensely talented bassist who was a founder of Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club and joined The Soft Boys in 1979. Aside from Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club, Seligman was in another band with Dolby called The Fallout Club. He then went on to join the Thompson Twins but returned to playing with Dolby and is on the 1982 album The Golden Age of Wireless and the famous track “She Blinded Me With Science” and the 1984 album The Flat Earth.
But Seligman was more than a supporting side man, he was a friend to many of those he accompanied.
“His manic bass run at the end of ‘Insanely Jealous’ and his stately propeller dive into the last chorus of the title track, as well as the insistent groove he brought to ‘Kingdom of Love’ are some of the finest bass playing I have ever witnessed,” wrote Soft Boys bandmate Robyn Hitchcock.
“As well as bass playing, he specialized in one-liners,” Hitchcock said. “’Pop music is about over-stating the obvious’ and ‘What you’ve proved to the music industry is that you can’t sell records’ are two of my favourites.”
Seligman was known for work on the fretless bass. He contributed to the recordings and music of David Bowie, Peter Murphy, Morrissey and Tori Amos, and fans, friends and colleagues gave tributes.
