Kenny Aaronson

American bass guitar player

Kenny Aaronson (born April 14, 1952, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American bass guitar player. He has recorded or performed with several notable artists such as Bob Dylan, Rick Derringer, Billy Idol, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Foghat, Sammy Hagar, Billy Squier, New York Dolls, and Hall and Oates. Since 2015, he has been the bass player for The Yardbirds.

He started playing drums at the age of eleven, following in his older brother's footsteps. Aaronson switched to electric bass at the age 14 after becoming enamored by the bass on Motown records and was strongly influenced by James Jamerson. As a teenager he played bass for Brooklyn based hard rock band Dust, which included Marc Bell (a. k. a. Marky Ramone) and Richie Wise, which released two albums in 1971 and 1972 on the Kama Sutra Records label. In 1973, Aaronson joined the New York band Stories, whose single, "Brother Louie", reached #1 on the Billboard, Cashbox and Record World charts. From 1976 to 1979, Aaronson played bass for Rick Derringer.

In 1988, Aaronson was named Bassist of the year by Rolling Stone. That year Aaronson also toured with Bob Dylan, but he was forced to leave the tour after developing skin cancer. Aaronson underwent surgery, which was successful in defeating the disease. Aaronson was the bassist in the house band for the MTV Guitar Greats Show where along with Dave Edmunds, Chuck Leavell and Michael Shrieve, he backed up artists such as Steve Cropper, Brian Setzer, Dickey Betts, Link Wray, Neal Schon, Johnny Winter, Lita Ford, Tony Iommi and Dave Gilmour. Kenny also auditioned for the Rolling Stones in 1994. Aaronson has toured and recorded with a variety of artists including Billy Idol, Billy Squier, Foghat, Brian Setzer, Dave Edmunds, HSAS (with Sammy Hagar, Neal Schon, and Michael Shrieve), Mick Taylor, Graham Parker, Hall and Oates, Edgar Winter, Robert Gordon, Leslie West Band, Rick Derringer and Joan Jett among others. Aaronson was a regular member of Jett's backing group the Blackhearts from 1991 to 1995. Aaronson was one of the few Blackheart band members to co write a track with Jett. The song, "World of Denial", was recorded for the 1994 album "Pure and Simple" but was not released in the U. S. until 2001's Fit To Be Tied Great Hits by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts".

In July 2011, Aaronson supported singer/songwriter John Eddie and played with Corky Laing & The Memory Thieves. Also in 2011, Aaronson recorded with ex Bongo's singer Richard Barone on a tribute album for The Runaways. Aaronson joined the New York Dolls and toured in the summer of 2011 supporting Mötley Crüe and Poison. More recently, 2014 recorded with Gar Francis of the Doughboys, Kurt Reil of The Grip Weeds and Bruce Ferguson of The Easy Out a self titled full length album under the name The Satisfactors. In June 2015 the first single of the album called Johnny Commando reached Top 10 in The Netherlands at Ned. FM Radio. In November 2015, he joined the British band The Yardbirds. In 2016, Aaronson was featured on former Mambo Sons guitarist/songwriter Tom Guerra's second solo album Trampling Out the Vintage, and in 2018, co wrote three songs with Guerra, originally intended for The Yardbirds, which were included on Guerra's third solo album, American Garden. In 2020, Aaronson once again figured prominently on Tom Guerra's fourth solo album ‘’Sudden Signs of Grace,’’ and also appeared in the video for the title track. In 2022, Aaronson played a major role in "Sentimental Junk," Guerra's fifth solo album.