Doug Stegmeyer

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Doug Stegmeyer
Birth name Douglas Alan Stegmeyer
Born (1951-12-23)December 23, 1951
Flushing, New York U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Long Island, New York, U.S.
Genres Rock, pop
Occupation(s) Musician, producer
Instruments Bass, Vocals
Years active 1966–1995
Labels Columbia
Associated acts Billy Joel, Topper, Debbie Gibson, Hall & Oates
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster Bass
Rickenbacker 4001

Douglas Alan "Doug" Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 — August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as the bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel.

Career

Doug Stegmeyer met Russell Javors in high school. At age 15, Javors was performing songs with childhood friend Liberty DeVitto. From then, the boys, along with Howard Emerson, formed the band Topper.

Together they performed the songs that Javors wrote. Topper soon became noticed by Billy Joel. Soon, Joel found he needed a bassist on his Streetlife Serenade tour. Stegmeyer was the first musician that Billy took from Topper; at Stegmeyer's recommendation a year and a half later, Emerson,[1] Javors, and DeVitto joined Joel in the studio for his Turnstiles album and for the accompanying tour. Stegmeyer became a core member of Billy Joel's band, playing bass on all of Joel's studio albums from Turnstiles through The Bridge and the live albums Songs in the Attic and КОНЦЕРТ. Throughout his tenure with Joel, Stegmeyer was dubbed "The Sergeant Of The Billy Joel Band."[2]

Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates.

Final years and death

After being released from Joel's band in 1989 (along with Javors), Stegmeyer maintained a busy schedule recording and producing. On August 25, 1995, Stegmeyer died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Long Island home.[3][4]

See also

Credits

All albums listed are Billy Joel releases.

External links

References