Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the rock band Muse. Early life Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, Devon, where he played drums for a post-punk band. He met Matt Bellamy and Dominic Howard from another band while both bands rehearsed in the same building. Bellamy and Howard convinced Wolstenholme to take up bass and start a new band with them, initially called Rocket Baby Dolls. The band was renamed Muse in 1994. The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their stay at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. Guitarist Bellamy successfully auditioned for drummer Howard's band, Carnage Mayhem, becoming its singer and songwriter. They asked Wolstenholme, at that time the drummer for "Fixed Penalty", to join as bassist; he agreed and took up bass lessons. Other work Wolstenholme featured on bass for Moriaty's 2015 single "Bones". He also contributed to Rick Parfitt's posthumous solo album Over and Out, which was released in March 2018. Musicianship Wolstenholme's basslines are a central motif of many Muse songs; he combines bass guitar with effects and synthesisers to create overdriven fuzz bass tones. Wolstenholme cited the 2003 song "Hysteria", in which the guitar and bass play two different melodies, as a case where his bassline was as much of a lead instrument as the guitar. Like Bellamy, Wolstenholme uses touch-screen controllers built into a few of his instruments to control synthesisers and effects including Kaoss Pads or Digitech Whammy pedals. Wolstenholme mostly plays with his fingers, rather than a plectrum, as he prefers the sound for most songs. According to the producer Rich Costey, who has worked with Muse on several occasions, "His finger strength is staggering ... He hits the strings really goddamn hard. It sounds that way because that's the way he plays." Wolstenholme wrote and sang lead vocals on two Muse songs, "Liquid State" and "Save Me", from their sixth album, The 2nd Law (2012). Personal life Wolstenholme married his girlfriend, Kelly, on 23 December 2003. They have six children. In April 2010, Chris and Kelly moved to Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland. In 2012, they moved to London while Muse recorded. After Wolstenholme and Kelly divorced, Wolstenholme married Caris Ball on 1 December 2018, the day before his 40th birthday. The couple have two children,