29 Facts About Rick Parfitt

Rick Parfitt began his career in the early 1960s, playing in pubs and holiday camps.

Rick Parfitt joined Status Quo in 1967 when they were looking for an additional singer.

Rick Parfitt wrote songs for the band and remained with them for 49 years.

Rick Parfitt occasionally guested with other bands, and recorded an unreleased solo album in 1985.

In 2016, Rick Parfitt temporarily retired from touring with the band due to ill health, and died in December of that year.

Richard John Rick Parfitt was born in Woking, Surrey, on 12 October 1948.

Rick Parfitt's father Richard was an insurance salesman "who was a drinker and a gambler", and his mother Lillian worked in cake shops.

Rick Parfitt described his upbringing as "wonderful", and described his childhood-self as a "typical naughty boy".

Rick Parfitt first started to learn to play the guitar at the age of 11.

In 1963 Rick Parfitt was playing guitar and singing in The Prince of Wales Feathers, a pub on Warren Street in Camden, London, when his father was approached by an agent from Sunshine Holiday Camp on Hayling Island, who gave Rick Parfitt a performing job.

Rick Parfitt played guitar on the song "It's an Illusion" recorded for the 1984 album Strange Frontier by Roger Taylor.

Rick Parfitt wrote and recorded a solo album Recorded Delivery in 1985, but it was never released.

Edwards and Rich were subsequently invited by Rick Parfitt to join Status Quo.

In 2006 Rick Parfitt released his guitar refacing overlay invention, the "guitar facelift", which was licensed by guitar manufacturer Fender.

In December 2009, Rick Parfitt teamed up with Rolf Harris for the single "Christmas in the Sun", following on from the 2008 Status Quo hit "It's Christmas Time" which Rick Parfitt wrote with Wayne Morris.

On 1 December 2017, a press release from the earMusic record label on Status Quo's website announced that Over and Out, a solo album planned by Rick Parfitt, would be released posthumously on 23 March 2018.

Rick Parfitt had worked on the album during his hiatus from the band following a heart attack in 2016, completing vocal and guitar tracks, but dying before he had had an opportunity to produce it.

One of Rick Parfitt's guitars, the one synonymous with his legendary image was a white 1965 Fender Telecaster.

Rick Parfitt had a throat cancer scare in December 2005.

Rick Parfitt suffered a heart attack in December 2011 and underwent surgery on the following day.

On 1 August 2014, while on a European tour with Status Quo, Rick Parfitt was hospitalised in Pula, Croatia, forcing the cancellation of six shows on the tour.

Rick Parfitt had suffered a heart attack while on his tour bus after performing a concert in Austria, and had a stent inserted.

Rick Parfitt was clinically dead for several minutes, resulting in mild cognitive impairments.

Rick Parfitt was linked romantically to Page 3 girl and glamour model Debee Ashby in the mid-1980s.

Rick Parfitt went on to marry his second wife and former girlfriend, Patty Beeden, in 1988.

Rick Parfitt subsequently became engaged to fitness instructor Lyndsay Whitburn, whom he married in 2006 after a three-month courtship.

Rick Parfitt died in a Marbella hospital at lunchtime on 24 December 2016 from sepsis, after being admitted on Thursday evening, 22 December, following an infection of a pre-existing shoulder injury.

Rick Parfitt's funeral was held at Woking Crematorium on 19 January 2017.

In June 2017, a blue plaque to Rick Parfitt was unveiled on Jubilee Square, in his hometown of Woking.