Watch Ronnie Wood and Ronnie Lane trade guitar and bass solos with the Faces on Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed

Ronnie Lane, bass player of the Small Faces and the Faces, and solo artist in his own right,  was born on April 1st and reveled in his status as an April Fool: funny, mischievous and multi-talented. His nickname "Plonk" was derived – depending on who you believe – from either the sound he made in his early attempts to play bass or because he was so well-endowed his penis would make a 'plonk' sound if slapped on the table (yep, different times).

He got into bass playing by mistake. "I knocked about with a couple of bands that played in public houses or drinking taverns," he said. "We could never get a bass player. Down on the East End of London it seemed nobody wanted to play the bass unless he was a real loser who couldn't play a lead instrument. They thought they could play the bass cause it only had four strings. That was the attitude toward the bass.

"I was a mod at the time and I was listening to Booker T & the MG's and I was into the bass. So I thought, fuck it, I'll play the bass! I had already learned to play guitar - not very well - but I could get my hands around a song. So I talked my old man into buying me a bass guitar in 1963 or 1964. Strangely enough, that was the turning point. I went to this shop to buy the bass guitar that I had seen in the window and this little guy came up to me who was serving. I said, 'I'd like to have a look at that bass over there'. And he said, 'Ah that's the best bass in the shop. That's a great bass!' He was very enthusiastic and keen about Tamla Motown. I liked him."