Colin Bass, also known as Sabah Habas Mustapha (born May 4, 1951 in London, England), is a British progressive rock musician, bassist, record producer, also an active member of a prog-rock band Camel.

History

Colin Bass started his musical career in 1968 as a guitarist in a band called Krisis in 1968. Then he moved to Velvet Opera in 1970 as a bassist, making with them his recording debut on the single "She Keeps Giving Me These Feelings" for Spark Records, now available as bonus track on the re-issue of the "Ride a Hustler's Dream" album on Repertoire Records.. In 1972 he met Ernie Graham with whom he created Clancy, releasing two consecutive albums for Warner Bros. until it disbanded in 1976. From autumn 1976 till spring 1977 he played with Steve Hillage's band touring USA and European countries ending their tour in London. In 1979 Colin Bass joined Camel. They recorded two albums and toured together in Japan and Europe. In 1981 he left the band for a short time to pursue a solo career in Paris, France. He rejoined Camel in 1984 during their tour. After 1984 the group suspended their activity for almost eight years. In the meantime Colin played with London based group African band Orchestra Jazira, and in 1985 he joined 3 Mustaphas 3 as Sabah Habas Mustapha. From that moment many of his works were signed with that name. In 1991 the 3 Mustaphas 3 mysteriously disappeared and Colin created a duo with another Mustaphas member Ben Mandelson (also known as Hijaz Mustapha). The band was called The Tension Mounting Boys. From 1991 he's been playing again with Camel frequently. In 1994 Sabah Habas Mustapha created a record company in Indonesia, and released his best selling album Denpasar Moon signed by that name. The album included a song under the same title, which was a successful hit. There were over 50 covers of the song released. Unfortunately Bass didn't get much of the royalties due to the intricate nature of Asian laws. Three years later Bass moved to Java. There he worked with many local musicians blending different ethnic styles of music with progressive rock. He also toured many European countries like Poland. He recorded some of his albums there too. Colin Bass has also been a radio presenter in Berlin (RBB radiomultikulti). In 2002, Colin played on Amarok's album Neo Way.

Discography

As Colin Bass

• 1998 - An Outcast Of The Islands
• 1998 - As Far As I Can See EP
• 1999 - Denpasar Moon EP
• 1999 - Live At Polskie Radio 3 2 CD
• 1999 - Poznań Pie – Live In Concert VHS
• 2000 - Live Vol. 2 - Acoustic Songs
• 2002 - Gently Kindly
• 2003 - In The Meantime
• 2003 - An Outcast Of The Islands – Remastered + 3 bonus tracks
• 2005 - Planetarium - With Józef Skrzek

As Sabah Habas Mustapha

• 1994 - Denpasar Moon
• 1998 - Jalan Kopo
• 1999 - So La Li
• 2001 - Sambasunda – Berekis
• 2004 - Denpasar Moon 2004 – remastered + bonus

With Camel

• 1979 - I Can See Your House From Here
• 1981 - Nude
• 1984 - Pressure Points – Live In Concert
• 1991 - Dust and Dreams
• 1993 - Never Let Go – Live 2 CD
• 1996 - Harbour Of Tears
• 1997 - On The Road 1981
• 1998 - Coming Of Age - Live CD and DVD
• 1999 - Rajaz
• 2001 - The Paris Collection – Live
• 2002 - A Nod And A Wink

With 3 Mustaphas 3

• 1987 - Shopping
• 1990 - Soup of the Century
• 1991 - Friends, Fiends & Fronds
• 2001 - Play Musty For Me

Links

• Colin Bass' homepage