Rick Parfitt
| Rick Parfitt OBE |
|
|---|---|
Performing with Status Quo in Örebro, Sweden on 18 July 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard John Parfitt |
| Born |
12 October 1948 Woking, Surrey, England |
| Died |
24 December 2016 (aged 68) Marbella, Spain |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1964–2016 |
| Associated acts | Status Quo, Band Aid |
| Website | www |
| Notable instruments | |
|
Fender Telecaster Fender Esquire Gibson SG Junior Gibson Les Paul Junior |
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Richard John "Rick" Parfitt, OBE (12 October 1948 – 24 December 2016) was an English musician, best known as a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist for rock band Status Quo.
Parfitt was born in Woking, Surrey on 12 October 1948. His father was an insurance salesman "who was a drinker and a gambler", and his mother worked in cake shops. He described his upbringing as "wonderful", and described his childhood self as a "typical naughty boy". Parfitt first started to learn to play the guitar at the age of 11.
In 1963 Parfitt was playing the 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 Parfitt a performing job. At the camp Parfitt joined Jean and Gloria Harrison, performing at the time as the double act The Harrison Twins, to form a cabaret trio called The Highlights. Following the season, the Harrison Twins' manager Joe Cohen—who had been one of the Keystone Cops—arranged for The Highlights to perform at Butlins in Minehead. It was at Butlins that Parfitt met future Status Quo partner Francis Rossi, who was playing with Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan in a band called The Spectres (soon to be renamed Traffic Jam) — a forerunner to Status Quo. After Parfitt became friends with the band, their manager Pat Barlow invited him to join the group as they needed another singer.
In 1967, Traffic Jam changed their name to The Status Quo (they soon dropped the definite article and later still would often be known simply as 'Quo'), beginning Parfitt's almost 50-year career in the band. Early successes came with the Rossi-penned hit "Pictures of Matchstick Men". The single became the group's only Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100. Though the follow-up was the unsuccessful single, "Black Veils of Melancholy", they had a hit again the same year with a Marty Wilde song, "Ice in the Sun", which climbed to number eight. The band's 1972 album Piledriver, which reached number 5 and spent a total of 37 weeks on the UK Albums Chart.
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