On August 15, Bob Birch, Elton John’s longtime bassist and prolific session man when not on tour with Elton appears to have committed suicide at the age of 56 via gunshot to the head. (For those not familiar with Birch, he appears frequently on camera starting about 4:45 into this excellent version of Burn Down the Mission from about ten years ago.)
I’ve read nothing since Birch died as to why he chose to kill himself, and the circumstances surrounding the discovery of his death appear somewhat ambiguous. Various news reports have him being found either near his home or in his home and living in either a house or apartment. No suicide note appears to have been found.
Certainly it’s hard to know the state of someone else’s mind, but the guy seemed to have much to live for. He had a successful career, was relatively young, had a loving wife and son, and was about to go back on tour with Elton starting Sept. 7th.
The police say he appears to have committed suicide but they don’t seem all that adamant about it, but on the other hand I’ve read nothing to indicate they suspect foul play. Nothing has been said one way or the other regarding an autopsy.
So all in all, Birch’s death seems to involve a certain amount of ambiguity and I’m wondering if anyone has heard anything beyond the sketchy reports in the press.
I don’t know much about Mr. Birch or his case, and so can’t say for sure, but: depression’s a bitch. All those facts you name in the quote above don’t always matter/help. And often you’re not necessarily thinking rationally in that state.
Sure, I understand that. It’s the reason I prefaced my comments by acknowledging that it’s hard to know the state of someone else’s mind. One of the things that seems odd to me though is that there has been no mention of depression in any of the reports I’ve read about his death. Even Elton, who is usually pretty sympathetic and forthcoming about the struggles of people he’s close to, has said nothing about Birch suffering from it. At any rate I hope his death wasn’t due to foul play and that he didn’t suffer (from the gunshot, that is). Don’t know why but I’ve always felt something of an affinity for him. Davey Johnstone too.
The guy has a pretty impressive resume. (Cite, list at bottom of article). I’m not a musician but I suspect he was more than capable of coming up with whatever a song might need, poppin’ solo or otherwise. (Besides, when I think of Elton John songs, the need for a strong or catchy bass solo seems somewhat…unintuitive.)
In checking on this further today I came upon a comment to a report of Birch’s death by someone who said he’d seen Birch perform in Poland on July 7, and that he played sitting down throughout the performace. So it looks like he was suffering from a debilitating health problem but continued to play as long as he could.
RIP, Bob.
Btw, Mr. Mustard, I’m glad you enjoyed the performance I linked to. It was part of a fund-raising concert Elton did at the Royal Opera House in support of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Elton studied there in his youth, and the choir and orchestra were students at the academy at the time the concert was filmed. I can only try to imagine how much fun it was for them to join him in that performance. IMO, it’s one of the best concerts he’s ever done. The songs he performed that night can be found here. I recommend them highly.
Maybe I read it wrong but I thought he was making the joke that you tell he was depressed by the bass lines that he played. Not really funny but it didn’t strike me as either threadshitting or mod note worthy.
My impression was that HMS Irruncible was saying that as a bass player Birch was merely a journeyman musician who had done nothing of note in his career. I didn’t report his post but I did think it fit one of the board’s definitions of threadshitting (i.e., crapping on someone who just died in a thread intended to mourn or lament their loss).
I’d also question his apparent belief that the ability to craft a showy solo is what defines a good musician.
Still, yours is an interesting take and one I hadn’t thought of before. In thinking about it further though I doubt that Elton would continue to employ a musician whose depressive nature was reflected in his playing. Plus as I noted above, Birch appears to have been suffering recent problems with his physical health severe enough that he had to play while sitting down, so I think whatever it was that drove him to suicide was a fairly recent development rather than one which existed throughout his twenty year career with Elton.
I’m a huge Elton John fan and have seen him perform in concert almost 20 times since the mid '70’s. Bob Birch is a tremendous talent and has been a huge part of Elton’s band shows over the last 20 years.
Let me state very clearly that I have no insight as to why Bob chose suicide. As mentioned by others it seemed to me that Bob had so very much to live for.
The comment about Bob sitting through a show in Poland caused me to think about his behavior at the Million Dollar Piano show which my wife and I attended in Las Vegas this past February. At that show Bob did stand up, but seemed unsteady on his feet, moving very little and stepping quite gingerly when he did venture away from his stage location. It was noticable enough for my wife to speculate on whether he had a recent hip or knee replacement. It is idle conjecture, but perhaps he did not want to continue suffering from some sort of physical ailment.
This is something that has had me wondering why he would have done it since I heard the news, and I’ve done my best to put together whatever I can figure from anything about him on the internet leading up to the tragic night of August 15. You can find several YouTube videos of Elton John shows from this year posted, but none are filmed by an official concert video crew, they are all amateur video “cellphone” videos, like they were trying to keep it low key ? In the amateur videos, Bob Birch was sitting in a chair behind the piano, (his usual spot), quite out of site, and hard to see. Even when Elton John introduces the band, he doesn’t get up to bow, obviously incapacitated. If you look at his tour schedule for the last month leading up to his tragic death, there were no shows scheduled for the end of July, or for August, normally a very busy time for tours. The next shows that were scheduled, are two shows with Elton John performing solo, without the band , on September 7th, here in Sarnia Ontario, and the 8th in Peterborough Ontario. The next show back with the band is September 11th, with the new bass player Matt Bissonette, a friend of Bob Birch, and the brother of Bob’s good friend, drummer Greg Bissonette. It seems to me that it was already decided that Bob was stepping down, and may even have suggested Matt as his replacement. It seems like they had left the schedule open to allow time for Matt to learn the material and show, and for ample time to practice with him. I’m in no way suggesting anyone had any idea that mr. Birch was going to take his life throught it all, but that maybe he was going through something debilitating and painful and decided this was the best thing for himself and his family. In any case it was the loss of a great musician, and from everything you can read about the man, a nice guy as well.
Just a side note about his musicianship. He was so sought after as a session player, and played on so many peoples albums out there that there’s a good chance that aside from Elton Johns music, he played on at least one song that you love from some other performer out there. He will be missed.
Thanks for additional info, Gatekeeper, especially in regard to developments with Matt Bissonette. I hadn’t heard anything yet regarding Elton’s plans for a new bass player.
My curiosity was piqued originally by varying reports as to where Birch’s body was found and by the apparent reluctance of the authorities to classify his death as a suicide. In short, I was hoping his death wasn’t the result of a robbery or drug deal gone bad. I think it’s pretty clear by now that Birch had a major health issue going on and that it was likely the reason for his suicide.
I happened upon a Youtube video interview with Elton the other day that took place at his home in France. He told the interviewer that he likes to spend time there during the six weeks he takes off in the summer. I suppose Bob might have been trying to hang in for Elton until the summer break, which would allow Elton and the band time to recuit a new bassist and get him up to speed.
I think i can shed light on your question about bob birch.I’m a long time Elton fan.back in the early nineties while on tour with Elton, bob was hit by a bus in Toronto breaking his back and both legs. Well if you ever knew somebody with back problems you know its very painful. I don’t think he quite recovered from that accident.the reason he was sitting down this past summer on tour was because his back went out.(i found out from another band member)
In one obit from an LA paper it mentioned his struggle with pain and now is at peace.
I hope this helps.
It does indeed, and also fills in some areas of incongruity such as his seeming good health and laughing good humor while playing sitting down, and playing with Elton’s band until shortly before his death, which I would have thought unlikely in the case of cancer, etc. Thank you. It’s good to be able to put this to rest in my mind. I appreciate your following up with this post.
Gosh, for me the long term bassist for Elton John was Dee Murray.
The original Elton John lineup - and also the people who made all the classic Elton what it was - they created some of the best music of the era. Elton John: acoustic and electric pianos, clavinet, mellotron, ARP String Ensemble, synthesizer
harpischord, backing vocals Davey Johnstone: acoustic, electric, and Leslie guitars, mandolin, piano Nigel Olsson: drums, backing vocals Ray Cooper: shaker, congas, gong, jawbone, tambourine, bells, bell tree, cymbals, triangle, bongos Dee Murray: bass, backing vocals
RIP though, whoever this guy was.
to it a bit. Bob was a good friend for many years, and was the bass player in my wife’s band (the singer Rainey: raineyonline.com) before getting the gig with Elton John. I will miss him, his talent, and his wit.
After his devastating accident, Bob struggled with crippling pain. I heard through a mutual friend that he was trying to wean himself from pain killers, but had fallen and re-injured his back before the tour in which he is seen sitting down on stage.
Once he’d achieved enough success to ensure his family’s future, and his son had reached college age, I think he just decided that he couldn’t face the pain any longer. Reportedly he got up in the middle of the (probably sleepless) night, walked out of his house and around the corner, and shot himself. So sad.
Bob Birch, and his wife Michelle, were customers of my at a very high end boutique store at Cesar’s Forum Shoppes . As I saw them both every month, while Bob was touring with Elton . It was said to me Bob was struggling with physical ailments , and pain from his accident many years ago , and suffered in excruciating back pain .
I was shocked when I heard of this very sad news . As Bob was so kind . Bob hid his pain well, always was really genuine and kind .
RIP Bob
I’ve not heard nor read a bad word about the guy. This thread plus things I’ve read about him online make me wish I’d known him in person. Thanks for your posts, goose30 (and for the informative and touching obit), GRob and Victoria.