High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a jazz, R&B and rock bass player and vocalist. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California, San Diego (1978). He has recorded, performed and co-written songs with performers such as Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and Stevie Wonder. Born to Thomas and Gwendolyn East, he is one of seven children (five boys and two girls) raised in San Diego, California, where the family moved when he was four. East first studied cello in seventh through ninth grades and played in local Horace Mann junior high school's orchestra.