English studio musician born 19 May 1938, in Isleworth, Middlesex. Died 5 September 2024. Flowers specialized in bass guitar, double-bass, and tuba, and became prominent performing with
David Bowie,
Elton John and then later
Lou Reed. It is his bass that opens Reed's
Walk On The Wild Side and underpins Bowie's
Space Oddity as well as the
Harry Nilsson song
Jump Into The Fire. In 1969, Flowers co-founded the group
Blue Mink. He was a member of
CCS and later featured in a mid-1970s line-up of
T. Rex. In 1979 he became a co-founder of the band
Sky. Since the band's demise in the early 1990s, Flowers had spent most of his time playing jazz. He also works as a bass guitar teacher, and leads many 'rockshops' at schools, helping children to create and perform their own songs, as well as covering many others. Flowers is also known for having composed the novelty hit
Grandad for
Clive Dunn.