1. Richard Clare Danko was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
23 Facts About Rick Danko
1. 2.
Rick Danko was born on December 29,1943 in Blayney, Ontario, a farming community outside the town of Simcoe, the third of four sons in a musical family of Ukrainian descent.
3.
Rick Danko especially liked country music, and often his mother would let him stay up late to listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio.
4.
Rick Danko drew inspiration from the music of his eldest brother, Junior.
5.
Rick Danko's second-eldest brother, Dennis, was an accomplished songwriter, and his younger brother, Terry, became a musician.
6.
Rick Danko made his musical debut playing a four-string tenor banjo and guitar for his first-grade classmates, and while various sources differ slightly, all suggest he was headed to a professional career early.
7.
Hawkins invited Rick Danko to join the Hawks as rhythm guitarist.
8.
Around this time, Hawks bassist Rebel Paine was fired by Hawkins, who, wasting no time, ordered Rick Danko to learn to play the bass with help from other members in the band.
9.
Rick Danko is featured in the documentary film Festival Express, about an all-star tour by train across Canada in 1970.
10.
Rick Danko eventually moved from the Fender Jazz Bass to an Ampeg fretless model and later a Gibson Ripper for The Last Waltz.
11.
On July 21,1990, in Roger Waters's stage production of The Wall Concert in Berlin, Rick Danko sang on the Pink Floyd songs "Comfortably Numb" and "Mother", the former with Van Morrison, Roger Waters, and Levon Helm, and the latter with Helm and Sinead O'Connor.
12.
Rick Danko recorded demos and made a number of appearances on albums by other artists throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and, in 1997, released Rick Danko in Concert.
13.
Two years later, a third solo album was released, and Rick Danko was at work on a fourth at the time of his death.
14.
In 1994, Rick Danko was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Band.
15.
Rick Danko pleaded not guilty, but acknowledged having used heroin and stated that he would seek help if he were allowed to return to the United States.
16.
On December 10,1999, days after the end of a brief tour of the Midwest that included two shows in the Chicago area and a final gig at the Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rick Danko died of heart failure in his sleep at his home in Marbletown, New York.
17.
Rick Danko was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth, whom he had married in 1989, a stepson, Justin, and a daughter, Lisa, from his first marriage.
18.
Rick Danko was buried next to Eli at Woodstock Cemetery, Woodstock, New York.
19.
In Rick Danko, he had the perfect complementary player, one of the finest bassists and one of the gentlest souls.
20.
Rick Danko played a mid-sixties sunburst Fender Jazz Bass on the 1966 World Tour with Bob Dylan, and on the recording of Music from Big Pink and The Band, as well as early live shows by the Band, including Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival.
21.
Rick Danko was seen performing with Fender Precision Basses and he owned four Gibson Rippers, and would change out the pickups to experiment with different tones.
22.
Rick Danko's other main bass throughout the 1990s was a red electric hollowbody bass from the Norwegian Workshop Guitar Company with two types of Alembic Pickups.
23.
Rick Danko's amp of choice was a blueline Ampeg SVT, and he used a 1959 Fender Bassman.