photo by steed media service

Bassist, "Baisden After Dark"

Keith Eaddy knew when he was a tyke exactly what he was going to do with his life. The versatile bassist developed a love affair with the four-string early on. "My brother and [I] got little guitars from the toy store when we were 7 and 5 years old," he explains. "And I had a little fake Fender bass my dad got for me around Christmastime." His father had picked up on the youngster's talent immediately. "He saw me playing my cousin's bass, just messing around, and he was like, 'Wow, you sound like you could play a little bit.' That was my first time playing bass, so I knew back then."

Eaddy grew as an instrumentalist, and began soaking up the work of the legendary bassists of the '70s and '80s - from across the total spectrum of popular music.

"Initially, I was a funkhead, listening to a lot of P-Funk; Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, all those cats. But, I was [also] into alternative stuff, like the Talking Heads," shares Eaddy. "If you saw my record collection, you'd be like 'I don't know what kind of music he's into.' From the Minneapolis pop-funk of Prince, to Stanley Clarke's more abstract leanings, Eaddy devoured it all. "[There] were so many people that it's hard to really say who in particular influenced me the most," he says, with a chuckle. Now, Eaddy is the bassist for the After Dark Band, in-house band for "Baisden After Dark," TV One's new late-night show starring radio host Michael Baisden. Eaddy is thoroughly pleased with the collective of musicians with whom he shares the stage. "You have so many diverse styles of music and experiences," he says. "Cats that have worked with Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson, Roy Hargrove - we come together onstage and, [though] some of the stuff is impromptu, the chemistry we have is based on that experience and diversity."-todd williams

Share this article with a friend