An American musician, singer-songwriter and film score composer. A prominent bass guitarist, Sklar has contributed to thousands of albums as a session musician and has collaborated with a number of well-known performers and recorded soundtracks to films and television shows. He is known for his distinctive long flowing beard and has the nickname "Father Time".

Born in Wisconsin, Sklar's family moved to Southern California when he was very young. Sklar started playing piano at the age of 5 and by the time he started secondary school his intention was to continue to study the piano. There were, however, a surfeit of pianists and no string bass players and, when given the possibility to study the bass, Sklar made the change.

Sklar studied music at California State University, where he met James Taylor who invited him to play bass at some venues. As Taylor's career took off, Sklar also started to be in demand for recording work with other artists and his long career began.

In the 1970s, Sklar worked so frequently with drummer Russ Kunkel, guitarist Danny Kortchmar and keyboardist Craig Doerge that they eventually became known as The Section and recorded 3 albums under that name between 1972 and 1977.