Claim: The Who is a band.

John Alec Entwistle -LRB- 9 October 1944 -- 27 June 2002 -RRB- was an English musician , singer , songwriter , composer , film and music producer . In a music career that spanned more than 40 years , Entwistle was best known as the original bass guitarist for the English rock band the Who . He was the only member of the band to have formal musical training . He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who in 1990 .   Entwistle 's instrumental approach used pentatonic lead lines , and a then-unusual treble-rich sound -LRB- `` full treble , full volume '' -RRB- created by roundwound RotoSound steel bass strings . He was nicknamed `` The Ox '' and `` Thunderfingers , '' the latter because his digits became a blur across the four-string fretboard . In 2011 , he was voted as the greatest bass guitarist of all time in a Rolling Stone magazine reader 's poll. , and in its special `` 100 Greatest Bass Players '' issue in 2017 , Bass Player Magazine named Entwisle at number seven . According to the Biography Channel , Entwistle is considered by many to be the best rock bass guitarist that ever lived , and is considered to have done for the bass what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar .