Jon Brant

Jon Brant (born February 20, 1954 in Chicago) was the bass player for the band Cheap Trick from 1981 to 1987. In addition to his work with that band, Brant has also played with artists including Chris Spedding, Micki Free, Robert Gordon, Lou Reed, and Diana Ross. He was also bassist for the band Red Siren, or Siren after they legally had to change their name.

When Tom Petersson, the original bassist for Cheap Trick, left in 1980, the three remaining band members chose a much-publicized replacement with Pete Comita. Comita was fired before the end of the year after having only played on Cheap Trick's contributions to the "Heavy Metal" soundtrack. With a new album due out in 1981, Cheap Trick went into the studio sans bassist, and Rick Nielsen played all the bass and guitar parts himself, while auditioning replacement musicians for the tour. They chose Los Angeles-based, Chicago-born bassist Brant as bassist, who joined and is credited with playing bass on their 1982 album "One on One", on which he overdubbed the bass parts on three songs for which Nielsen had originally played bass.

Brant played on all of the tracks of the band's next three studio albums and co-wrote the hit "Tonight It's You" from 1985's "Standing on the Edge". In 1987, when Petersson decided to rejoin the band, Brant was summarily dumped. He remains good friends with drummer Bun E. Carlos to this day, and the two of them occasionally play together in "The Bun E. Carlos Experience", a side-project blues band.

Brant rejoined Cheap Trick briefly on stage to play bass during "If You Want My Love" and "She's Tight" during the band's 25th anniversary concert. In 2004, when Petersson was unable to tour briefly after the birth of his child, Brant re-joined the band for a month of shows as opening act for Aerosmith. Brant started the tour with Cheap Trick a few days after returning from a month long tour of bases in the Middle East. He performed in Baghdad, Djibouti, Africa and the UAE. Brant returned once again in 2007 to Cheap Trick for one show in Augusta, Georgia. It is unknown why Brant was filling in for Petersson.

Brant performed with legendary blues artist Lynne Jordan for several years in Chicago, then played for a few years with new age artist Nicholas Gunn. Brant also competes in the equestrian sport of eventing.

Brant performs with Native American artist Micki Free. The two perform regularly at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Florida and other venues around the world.