Scott Thunes

Scott Thunes (pronounced "too-nis") (born January 20, 1960) is a bass player, formerly with Frank Zappa, Wayne Kramer, Steve Vai, Andy Prieboy, Mike Keneally, Fear, The Waterboys, Big Bang Beat, and others. Thunes was raised in San Anselmo, California.He played with Zappa's band from 1981 to 1988, and plays on such albums as The Man From Utopia, Them or Us, Broadway the Hard Way, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Does Humor Belong In Music?, The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life, Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention, Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, Make a Jazz Noise Here, and Guitar, a double-album compilation of Zappa's live guitar solos. His most prominent bass performance can be heard on Frank Zappa's Valley Girl, which peaked at #32 on the Billboard Hot 100. He played bass on Frank Zappa's Jazz from Hell, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1988. Thunes lives in Northern California with his wife Georgia, and his children Hazle Nova and Virgil Mars. In February 2012, Thunes performed in California with Dweezil Zappa and the "Zappa Plays Zappa" band. In October 2013, he performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium in 2017. In June 2017, he performed in a concert of Frank Zappa's music with the Czech Philharmonic under conductor Sarah Hicks. Thunes has been a rock band teacher at the Marin School of the Arts since 2017.