Ross Valory

At 75 years old, Ross Valory physical status not available right now. We will update Ross Valory's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Career

Ross Valory was born on February 2, 1949 in San Francisco, growing up in Lafayette, California and attended Acalanes High School. In high school, he played clarinet, bass clarinet and guitar. His mother introduced him to jazz, particularly Dave Brubeck. He played with Frumious Bandersnatch followed by Steve Miller Band appearing on Rock Love. He was joined by guitarist David Denny, drummer Jack King and bassist Bobby Winkelman, all of whom would become members of the Steve Miller Band. In fact it was Jim Nixon, the manager of Frumious Bandersnatch, who would introduce Valory to Journey band members along with Prairie Prince, later of The Tubes who originally sat in on drums. Valory later joined the Golden Gate Rhythm Section which was later renamed to Journey.

Aside from his termination from the group during the Raised on Radio album sessions and the album's supporting tour in 1986, Valory has played on all of Journey's albums to date. For Raised on Radio, he was replaced on bass in the studio by Bob Glaub on three songs, while the remaining songs were played by Randy Jackson, who also played on the subsequent tour. Though he returned to the band when they reformed in 1995, Valory was dismissed from Journey again in 2020, with Jackson replacing him once again.

One of Valory's techniques is to string a four-string bass with the bottom four strings of a 5-string set. Thus, instead of the usual E-A-D-G arrangement, his bass is strung as B-E-A-D, which he calls Nashville Tuning. This adds the five string depth to the songs, while allowing the quick fingering of a four-string neck. Valory recorded Escape with an Ovation Magnum II, used a Peavey and a Steinberger for Frontiers, and a Fender Jazz up until the Departure album.

Valory also played for The V.U., The Storm, and the Steve Miller Band.

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