Rick Nielsen
| Rick Nielsen | |
|---|---|
Nielsen playing at Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" show in Milwaukee, WI in February 2011
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard Alan Nielsen |
| Born |
December 22, 1948 Elmhurst, Illinois, US |
| Genres | Rock, hard rock, power pop |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Associated acts | Cheap Trick, Fuse, Sick Man of Europe, Foo Fighters |
| Website | cheaptrick |
Richard Alan "Rick" Nielsen (born December 22, 1948) is the lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Cheap Trick. He is well known for having many custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, including his famous five-neck guitar.
Nielsen was born into a musical family, with both parents being opera singers. His father, Ralph Nielsen, also directed symphonies, choirs and recorded over forty solo albums. During Rick's teens, the family owned a music store in Rockford, Illinois, and he learned to play a number of instruments. After playing drums for six years, Rick changed direction, learning how to play guitar and keyboards.
His first school band was The Phaetons, which mutated into The Grim Reapers (which later included Tom Petersson in its line up). The Grim Reapers became Fuse which released one poorly received studio album before disbanding in 1970. Nielsen joined the Nazz for a short time (replacing Todd Rundgren), before forming the short-lived Sick Man of Europe in Philadelphia in 1972 with Tom Petersson (drummer Bun E. Carlos joining soon after). In 1973, Nielsen, together with Carlos formed Cheap Trick. Petersson joined later that year, and with Robin Zander joining in the fall of 1974. Nielsen wrote almost all of the songs for Cheap Trick's first few albums.
Nielsen has enjoyed many highlights with Cheap Trick, including having a #1 US single "The Flame." Amongst personal highlights, Nielsen, together with Carlos, was invited to record a session on August 12, 1980 with John Lennon for his upcoming Double Fantasy album. Their contributions did not appear on the released album, only becoming officially available in 1998.
Nielsen's on-stage appearance is influenced by Huntz Hall of The Bowery Boys; he wears a flipped up old style ball cap, his face resembles Hall's, and some of Nielsen's on-stage antics have been compared to Hall's too. Nielsen is also well known for wearing a bowtie.
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Wikipedia