John Giblin

Giblin is exactly the kind of musician I find most fascinating: the indispensable sideman whose fingerprints are all over records you love without ever seeing his name on the cover. Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Kate Bush, Simple Minds, Brand X. That is a staggering range of contexts to thrive in, and it speaks to a player who served the song rather than his own ego. The fact that he moved fluidly between jazz, classical, rock, and the avant-garde tells me he was a genuine listener first. His 2023 passing closed a quietly remarkable career, but the low end he laid down endures.

John Giblin (26 February 1952 – 14 May 2023) was a Scottish musician who worked as an acoustic and electric bass player spanning jazz, classical, rock, folk, and avant-garde music. He was a member of Brand X in 1979 and Simple Minds from 1985 to 1988. Giblin also worked as a session musician for a variety of artists including Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Kate Bush and Elkie Brooks.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Name (English)

John Giblin

Name (Japanese)

ジョン・ギブリン

Reading

じょん・ぎぶりん

Born

February 26, 1952 – May 14, 2023

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Pisces / Dragon

Origin

Lanarkshire, United Kingdom

Blood type

Private

Height

Private

Agency

Private

Occupation

bassist / guitarist / musician / bass singer

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Private

University

Private

Spouse

Private

Children

Private

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.johngiblin.com
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AE%E3%83%96%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3

Tags

• bassist
• guitarist
• musician

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.