John Lodge was born on July 20 1943, in Erdington, Birmingham. He took an interest in music while he was very young, and he received his first Fender bass guitar when he was 16. He was 14 years old when he met future band mate Ray Thomas. The two of them formed their own band, El Riot & The Rebels while they were still in high school. He attended Birmingham College of Advanced Technology, where he studied engineering. He took a year off from music while he did so.
It was in 1966 that John Lodge was contacted by Ray Thomas to replace bassist Clint Warwick. John Lodge would remain a member of The Moody Blues until they stopped touring in 2019. He made his first appearance with The Moody Blues on their classic album Days of Future Passed. Over the years he would contribute several songs to Moody Blues albums, including "Ride My See-Saw" (from In Search of the Lost Chord), "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" from Seventh Sojourn, and"Nervous" from Long Distance Voyager. He co-wrote "Gemini Dream," from Long Distance Voyager, with Justin Hayward. Altogether John Lodge played on 15 studio albums with The Moody Blues.
In 1975, Justin Hayward and John Lodge collaborated on the album Blue Jays. He released three solo albums: Natural Avenue (1977), 10,000 Light Years Ago (2015), and Days of Future Passed – My Sojourn (2023). His EP Love Conquers All was released earlier this year.
The Moody Blues have been one of my favourite bands ever since childhood, and John Lodge was much of the reason for that. He hade a melodic style of playing bass, which was perfectly suited to The Moody Blues' progressive rock/psychedelic rock music. Like the other members of The Moody Blues, he was also a great songwriter. As mentioned above, he wrote some of The Moody Blues' most iconic songs. A musician of immeasurable talent, he was much more than a singer in a rock and roll band.
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