Tony Franklin

Tony Franklin is a bassist's bassist, and his fretless playing is something I could listen to for hours. Known as the Fretless Monster, this Derby-born musician brought that singing, vocal-like tone to the Firm alongside Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers, then turned up everywhere from Blue Murder to sessions with Whitesnake and Kate Bush. His credit list reads like a who's who of rock. What I admire is his versatility; he slides between hard rock and delicate session work without ever losing his identity. A fretless bass can sound mushy in lesser hands, but in his it sings, and that is a rare gift.

Name (English)

Tony Franklin

Name (Japanese)

トニー・フランクリン

Reading

とにー・ふらんくりん

Born

April 2, 1962 (age 64)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Tiger

Origin

Derby, United Kingdom

Occupation

musician / guitarist / session musician

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.tonyfranklin.net
• Xhttps://x.com/FretlessMonster
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%88%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3

Tags

• musician
• guitarist
• session musician

Last updated

2026-06-02

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