Bill Church lived the rock & roll life for over 20 years, touring the world while playing and recording with Van Morrison, Ronny Montrose, and Sammy Hagar.
A “military brat” born in Fairbury, Nebraska in 1948, he started playing guitar in Germany in early 1960s with some other military brats in a band called The Blue Stars then switched to bass when the bass players’ parents got ‘rotated.’ Upon his own family’s return the states in 1964, Bill started playing the Reno casino circuit with several bands including The Justice V who opened their own all-ages venue “The Door,” which became a legendary hangout in that area.
In 1967, a little discouraged with the Reno scene and wanting to be where the action was, Bill moved to San Francisco, rented a place in the Haight and got to know all the key rock & roll players in the area, including Ronnie Montrose. Those two then started the band Sawbuck and in 1971 Bill Graham helped them produce an album. About this same time, Bill and Ronnie were hired by Van Morrison to play on and tour behind the Tupelo Honey and Saint Dominic Preview albums. Then in 1973 Ronnie formed his own band “Montrose” with Bill on bass, and 24-year-old Sammy Hagar on vocals. That lasted till 1975 when Sammy decided to start his own band and took Bill with him.
Sammy and Bill played and toured together for over 10 years and released 10 albums. Sammy often referred to Bill as the steadying influence in the band, the solid one (typical bass player). On stage, Sammy called him “The Electric Church,” a nickname given to him by Barbara Streisand’s drummer, Scott Matthew, who saw Bill playing at a recording session and said, “That dude is electric!”
Sammy and Bill’s playing relationship ended in 1985 when Sammy decided to join Van Halen. Bill was involved in a few music projects after that but mostly went into semi-retirement and came to live close to his parents in Fresno, who had relocated here in 1967. Bill is still here and still active in the local music community, as is his brother Bob, a drummer who works at Bentley’s Drum Shop. And Bill & Sammy are still friends.