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Rick Danko was -- and will forever be known as -- one of the three singing members of
the Band, as well as their bassist. Their principal lead singer on the first album, he was second of the members to join the group back in its days backing
Ronnie Hawkins, and the second of its members to pass away.
He was born Richard Clare Danko on December 29, 1943, in Greens Corner, Ontario, Canada, near the town of Simcoe. The latter is in a part of Ontario populated by a large number of families descended from expatriate Southerners from the United States, and the echoes of Southern culture ran through the music and language in the area, with a special emphasis on country music.
Danko's whole family played or sang, and he was playing banjo for his classmates as early as the first grade. As a boy, he listened to
Hank Williams, among other country artists of the late '40s and early '50s, in addition to gospel and R&B, with
Sam Cooke and
Fats Domino both strong influences during his teen years. He gave up school to go into music full-time when he was in his mid-teens, and made the jump to the big time -- relatively speaking -- by joining
Hawkins' backing band, the Hawks, at age 17. Guitarist
Robbie Robertson was already a member of a couple of years' standing at that point, and
Danko was initially the group's rhythm guitarist, but he soon learned to play bass and switched to the four-string instrument. He not only mastered the electric bass but also the upright acoustic bass, and became an amazingly accomplished player on both instruments at a very young age.
Danko was part of the split with
Hawkins when the group broke away from their former employer, and he was along for the ride when they got picked up as
Bob Dylan's backing band, and for the switch in name from the Hawks to
the Band. And when they emerged to fame in their own right in 1968, it was as equals -- initially, at least, no member was more or less prominent than any other in terms of their sound; this changed somewhat as
Robbie Robertson (also their in-house songwriter) began receiving greater exposure, but in the beginning and for the first few years, everyone had an equal part and was equally important in the eyes of the public.
Danko's bass work was distinctive enough, but along with
Levon Helm and
Richard Manuel, he was also one of the three singing members of the group, and his lead vocals were all over their debut album,
Music from Big Pink. But
Danko was badly injured in an automobile accident soon after that album's release -- people write about
Dylan's motorcycle accident from this era, but relatively few realize that the man who sang lead on most of
Music from Big Pink broke his neck and back in nine places, and spent months in traction recovering. He was back for their second album,
The Band, and he became one of the most memorable new vocalists in rock during this period, his performances on songs such as "When You Awake," "The Unfaithful Servant," and "It Makes No Difference" among the most searingly beautiful in '60s and '70s rock.
The group got through its prime years with some shifts in emphasis and changes in its dynamics --
Manuel and
Helm became much more visible as singers after the debut album, and
Robertson had what amounted to a lock on the songwriting as well; and eventually, amid the stresses of touring and performing, recording and meeting the obligations of their record label, all of the members decided it was time to move on to develop identities separate from the group. In 1977, less than a year after
the Band played what was supposed to be its farewell concert,
Danko was signed to Arista Records, and his self-titled debut solo album appeared in 1978, unfortunately a little too close to the release of
the Band's swan song,
The Last Waltz, as a movie and LP set.
Danko got good reviews from those critics who could devote the time and space to it, but
the Band's release eclipsed any chance he had to find an audience as a solo artist, and by 1980,
Danko was without a recording contract. He subsequently rejoined
Helm,
Manuel, and keyboardist
Garth Hudson in a re-formed version of
the Band (sans
Robbie Robertson) for a tour, which yielded a superb concert video (released on laser disc as well). It was to be the last time that the four members would work together -- in early March of 1986, pianist/singer
Richard Manuel, succumbing to years of struggling with alcohol and drug problems, committed suicide.
Danko re-emerged in the mid-'80s in various musical ensembles and combinations, with other ex-
Band members (including a film appearance with
Helm,
Hudson, and
Manuel in the movie Man Outside), as well as working with
Paul Butterfield and
Jorma Kaukonen, among others. He and
Helm became part of ex-
Beatle Ringo Starr's
All-Starr Band, and he also participated in such live events as the
Roger Waters concert presentation of
The Wall in Berlin, and -- with his fellow ex-members -- was part of a
Band reunion in the
Bob Dylan 30th-anniversary tribute concert at Madison Square Garden.
For all of this activity,
Danko was not -- and had not been for some time -- a well man. He'd shown signs of having an addictive personality fairly early in his post-
Ronnie Hawkins career, and as was later revealed, the car accident in 1968 had exacerbated a precarious psychotic condition. And although he'd kept matters under control, there was a price to be paid in terms of his health. Meanwhile, he kept busy musically, joining with American '60s folkie
Eric Andersen and Norwegian singer/songwriter
Jonas Fjeld for a project that was released as Danko/Fjeld/Andersen in 1993. That same year, he was part of the re-formed
Band's Jericho album, a critical success that was followed three years later by High on the Hog. A year after that came Ridin' on the Blinds, a follow-up to Danko/Fjeld/Andersen, and in 1998 came
the Band's
Jubilation; it would be the last time that the three active original members worked together on a
Band project.
Danko toured occasionally during this period, but his physical condition made it difficult for him to go on the road; his weight increased dramatically as his health declined, and he was nowhere near his best at some shows. He was also arrested for an attempt to smuggle heroin into Japan, and during the trial he revealed that he had become addicted to the drug while seeking a relief from the constant pain he'd been in since the car accident in 1968.
Yet on a good night, or at a good recording session, he could still surprise fans by recapturing much of his past glory. His live album Rick Danko in Concert, recorded at two 1997 shows, is everything one could wish for in a live performance from the man, vocally and instrumentally; and Live on Breeze Hill, although more uneven, cut with
the Band's
Garth Hudson, has its transcendent and near-transcendent moments, most notably
Danko's performance on "Crazy Mama," and even the band standards come off OK. A brief tour in late 1999 proved him closer to the end than anyone wanted to think -- on December 10, 1999, just under three weeks before what would have been his 56th birthday,
Rick Danko died in his sleep of heart failure. ~ Bruce Eder