Rick Danko

Rick Danko
Rick Danko was a canadian-born musician who sang, played Bass and acoustic guitar for the band. He sang lead on such rock classics as “The Weight” and “Stagefright”‘. Although popular with the rock critics. A big hit with fellow musicians but never the record buying public, “The Band”‘s albums sold moderately.The band’s first album “Music from Big Pink” contained the song classics “Chest Fever” and “The Weight”. Bob Dylan painted the album cover. The next album was simply entitled “The Band” and contained the classics “Rag Mama Rag”, “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. The latter becoming a big hit in 1971 for Joan Baez. In 1972 they released the 2 record live set “Rock of Ages” which is considered by most their strongest recording. Internal tensions within the band began to mount and subsequent releases sold poorly. In 1976 they recorded their swan song “The Last Waltz” which featured a myriad of guest artists including Bob Dylan and then broke-up for good. “The Band” was also famous for backing Bob Dylan and the bootlegged “Basement Tapes”. (which since has been released on CD). Danko fell into the role of the declining rock star. He formed a series of bands, did a couple of solo projects, toured the classic rock circuit and then died in his sleep on December 10th, 1999 at the age of 56