Pitman was born on February 12, 1920 and grew up in a household full of musicians. His father worked as a staff bassist for programming at NBC. Bill Pitman got into music at the age of five and throughout high school, he made regular trips from New Jersey to Manhattan as an admirer of the local jazz scene.

He also served during World War II, after which he relocated to Los Angeles. Bill Pitman started playing in jazz clubs in LA at the age of 31 in the 1950s. He rose to prominence after getting a regular gig in Peggy Lee’s backing band. Pitman then became a regular performer for The Rusty Draper Show, a radio show that he worked with for three years.

Pitman’s popular works include recording on the Ronettes’ Be My Baby and the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations, Bob Dylan‘s Mr. Tambourine Man, and Barbra Streisand’s The Way We Were.

The artist also played the ukulele intro on BJ Thomas’ Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.

Upon hearing the news of his demise, netizens took to Twitter to pay their tribute to the legendary musician:

Bill Pitman started working as a session artists in 1957

Pitman started his work as a session artist in 1957. Phil Spector recruited Pitman into his ensemble of session players. The session players, all belonging to LA, had a rotating lineup.

It was later named The Wrecking Crew, whose first hit was Spector’s 1958 single To Know Him Is To Love Him. After giving out the hit, Pitman was soon in demand for Capitol Records and other Los Angeles-based artists.

At the time, his session colleagues included Glen Campbell, Carol Kaye, and Leon Russell. Pitman collaborated with popular artists including Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, among others.

He also contributed to various films including Elvis Presley’s 1961 film Blue Hawaii, and other movies including MAS*H (1970), Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), Dirty Dancing (1987) and Goodfellas (1990).

Pitman appeared in the documentary The Wrecking Crew in 2008, where he spoke about his work with the informal and expansive group of musicians.

The documentary was directed by Denny Tedesco, son of fellow Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco.

Tedesco, in a tribute to Pitman, wrote on Facebook:

He also contributed to various advertising jingles and film soundtracks, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Goodfellas. The artist also toured with the likes of Burt Bacharach and Vicki Carr throughout the 1970s. Bill Pitman also performed in the MGM Grand Hotel’s headlining band.

The artist retired in 1989 and continued to play music privately as a hobby.

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