Died On This Date (December 10, 1999) Rick Danko / The Band
themusicsover Rick Danko
December 29, 1942 – December 10, 1999
Rick Danko was a rock musician, singer and songwriter best known for his time spent in The Band, arguably Canada’s most celebrated band. Around 1960, Danko found himself opening a show for Ronnie Hawkins, whose back up band, the Hawks included Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm. Hawkins was impressed enough after hearing Danko to invite him to join his band on rhythm guitar, later switching to bass. The Hawks eventually added Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson and split from Hawkins in 1963. They continued on touring throughout Canada and the northern U.S. until they got a call from Bob Dylan asking them to support him on the road. Going simply as the Band by the late ’60s, they secured a deal with Capitol Records and delivered their debut, Music From Big Pink, one of rock music’s true masterpieces. That was followed by albums like The Band, Stage Fright, and Cahoots which only added more songs to one of rock’s finest catalogs. Danko sang lead on many of the groups best songs. On Thanksgiving night of 1976, the Band performed what would be their final show as that unit at San Francisco’s Winterland. To the surprise of the audience, the Band proved to be the greatest backing band of all times as a cavalcade of the era’s most respected performers showed their own respect by joining them on stage throughout the evening. That list included Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, and Dylan, each arguably giving the single greatest live performance of their careers. Fortunately, the evening was captured on film by Martin Scorsese, who released it theatrically as The Last Waltz, often noted as one of popular music’s greatest concert films. Following the break up of the Band, Danko recorded a handful of albums that sold moderately at best. In later years he participated in re-formed, but not complete, versions of the Band. By the late ’90s, he was suffering from drug and alcohol addictions possibly attributed to injuries sustained in a car accident, as well as weight issues that put him in the obese range. On December 10, 1999, Rick Danko, age 56, died in his sleep.
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