Remembering Andy (Andrew Wood)

Jeff Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American rock bassist and one of the founding members of Pearl Jam.

Ament was born in Havre, Montana. He began playing the bass guitar as a teenager and would usually play along with The Clash and The Police records. Jeff would later relocate to Seattle, after quitting college and moving there from his native Montana in the early 1980's with his band Deranged Dection. He became aquainted with fellow Seattle musicians Stone Gossard and Steve Turner, and he was asked to join their new band Green River in 1983. Green River are commonly considered to be the first grunge band and achieved a considerable local reputation, but in-fighting within the band led to a break up in 1987. Ament and Gossard recruited local 'celebrity' Andrew Wood and formed Mother Love Bone in 1987. Things looked to be going well, with the band signing to a major label and released the critically acclaimed album Apple, until Wood's tragic and untimely death shortly before the album's release in 1990. It was at this point that Ament and Gossard almost parted company, but stuck around for the Temple of the Dog project which featured future Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam was formed just after in 1990.

Jeff is an extremely accomplished bassist, and is particularly noted for his work with the fretless bass, upright bass, and twelve-string bass guitar. He also makes a major songwriting contribution to the band, penning one of Pearl Jam's biggest hits, Jeremy as well as Nothingman, Low Light and Nothing As It Seems.

Aside from music, Jeff is a talented skateboarder, basketball player and graphic artist. When he initially went to college in Montana, it was to get an art degree or a basketball scholarship. With his brother Barry Ament, Jeff runs Ames Bros., an art production company that produces tour posters and album artwork for many bands as well as Pearl Jam. He has a side project band named Three Fish.

Jeff currently lives in Missoula, Montana.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 Jul 2006, 16:49 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 4 Jul 2006