Jeffrey Glenn Myers, known professionally as Toby Myers, has passed away at the age of 75. Myers is celebrated for his work as a bassist and multi-instrumentalist for John “Cougar” Mellencamp and Roadmaster, respectively. According to an obituary, Myers died after a long battle with cancer.
Myers was born in Indianapolis, IN in 1949 and began cultivating his bass skills in a music shop next to where his mother did the family’s laundry in his hometown of Traders Point.
Myers’ next door neighbor was keyboard player Michael Read, one of the founding members of Pure Funk, a group Myers would eventually join before the band changed its name to Roadmaster.
The band was eventually discovered by Todd Rundgren, which led to them earning a record deal and releasing four albums with Village/Mercury Records.
After this experience with Roadmaster, Myers toured around the globe and recorded with John Mellencamp from 1982 to 1999. Myers decided to hang it up, though, after his son Cash was born in 1999. He practiced his craft in his studio and rehearsal space in Nashville, Tennessee.
His only child, Cash was born in 1999; he decided to stop touring and be a stay at home dad. He still had a music studio and rehearsal space in Nashville, Indiana.
In a 1987 television interview, Myers discussed Mellencamp’s recording process and the way they would try to write new songs.
He said: “Since we don’t have the luxury of trying out new stuff in front of crowds, John usually, if he’s got something he’s written on the road he’ll bring it to the soundcheck and we’ll do it there – see if it works out. You know, you can pretty much tell in the big room how it’s gonna work out. And so, ‘Hard Times for a Common Man [later changed to ‘Honest Man’],’ one of the tunes on this record, was worked out on the last tour. So, that’s how he does it.”