Rick Danko |
 |
|
Thu. December 16.1999 3:02 AM EST |
||
Public, Peers Pay Tribute To Rick DankoLate bassist for The Band eulogized at funeral, public memorial in Upstate New York. by Staff Writer Brian Hiatt |
||||
|
||||
 |
Rick Danko, former bassist for The Band, died Friday in his sleep at age 56. ( ) |
|
||
Robbie Robertson, former guitarist/songwriter for The Band, paid an emotional
tribute to his late bandmate Rick Danko on Wednesday (Dec. 15) during a
public memorial in Bearsville, N.Y. Robertson took the stage early in the afternoon
"[It was] unbearably poignant, just beautiful and very touching," Danko's publicist, Carol Caffin, said. "It was basically the things he missed about Rick — 'I miss your voice, I miss your hands.' " Butch Dener, The Band's road manager, described the letter as "old-friend stuff." Robertson, who wrote most of the group's most famous songs, including "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (RealAudio excerpt), was the sole original member of The Band not to rejoin the group when it reunited in 1983, seven years after it broke up. The two-hour memorial service, attended by about 500 people at the Bearsville Theatre, also featured musical performances from Danko's friends, including singer/songwriters John Sebastian and Jules Shear, attendees said. Shear, perhaps best known as the original host of "MTV Unplugged," performed "Too Soon Gone," a song he co-wrote for The Band's 1993 album, Jericho, mourners said. Sebastian, former leader of the '60s folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful, performed a solo harmonica version of "Amazing Grace," Dener said. "Sebastian played some beautiful harp," he said. Toward the end of the ceremony, most of the musicians present took the stage to perform a version of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," led by Danko's keyboardist, Aaron Hurwitz, according to Caffin. The Band covered "I Shall Be Released" on their debut album, Music From Big Pink (1968). The memorial was preceded by a private funeral service earlier in the day in nearby Woodstock, N.Y., which was attended by all of the surviving members of The Band, mourners said. Many people from Woodstock, which Danko called home, attended both services, according to Jim Peters, owner of Nipper, a local record store. "Half the town was there. ... They had traffic stopped at both ends of town," he said. "Rick would've loved [this tribute]," Caffin said, "because the stories that people were telling were so Rick. [He] would've been very happy, very proud." Danko, whose high voice marked such classics as "Stage Fright" (RealAudio excerpt) and "The Weight," died in his sleep Friday morning at age 56. No cause of death has been announced, but friends have said he struggled with a severe weight problem. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
The Band's Danko Struggled To Improve Health, Friends Say |
|
Best Of '99: The Band's Rick Danko Dies At 56 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Rick Danko |
|
All news for Rick Danko |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
