RP
Rick Parfitt
Actor, Additional Credits
Born October 12, 1948Died December 24, 2016 (68 years)
Richard John Parfitt, OBE (12 October 1948 – 24 December 2016) was an English musician, best known as a rhythm guitarist, singer and songwriter with rock band Status Quo.
Parfitt began his career in the early 1960s, playing in pubs and holiday camps. He joined Status Quo in 1967 when they were looking for an additional singer. He wrote songs for the band and remained with them for 49 years. He occasionally guested with other bands, and recorded an unreleased solo album in 1985. In 2016, Parfitt temporarily retired from touring with the band due to ill health, and died in December of that year. His only solo album, Over and Out, was released posthumously in 2018.
Richard John Parfitt was born in Woking, Surrey, on 12 October 1948. His father Richard was an insurance salesman "who was a drinker and a gambler", and his mother Lillian worked in cake shops. He described his upbringing as "wonderful", and described his childhood-self as a "typical naughty boy". He first started to learn to play the guitar at the age of 11.
In 1963 Parfitt was playing 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 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. Here, 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. "I remember wandering over there one afternoon for the first time and watching them rehearse," Parfitt recalled. "I may still have been in my silver lamé suit, which I used to wear all the time. They were playing [Chuck Berry's] 'Bye Bye Johnny' and it sounded absolutely fantastic."
After Parfitt befriended the band, their manager Pat Barlow invited him to join, 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 and Ronnie Scott song, "Ice in the Sun", which climbed to number eight. The band's 1972 album Piledriver, which reached number 5, spent a total of 37 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. ...
Source: Article "Rick Parfitt" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Parfitt began his career in the early 1960s, playing in pubs and holiday camps. He joined Status Quo in 1967 when they were looking for an additional singer. He wrote songs for the band and remained with them for 49 years. He occasionally guested with other bands, and recorded an unreleased solo album in 1985. In 2016, Parfitt temporarily retired from touring with the band due to ill health, and died in December of that year. His only solo album, Over and Out, was released posthumously in 2018.
Richard John Parfitt was born in Woking, Surrey, on 12 October 1948. His father Richard was an insurance salesman "who was a drinker and a gambler", and his mother Lillian worked in cake shops. He described his upbringing as "wonderful", and described his childhood-self as a "typical naughty boy". He first started to learn to play the guitar at the age of 11.
In 1963 Parfitt was playing 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 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. Here, 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. "I remember wandering over there one afternoon for the first time and watching them rehearse," Parfitt recalled. "I may still have been in my silver lamé suit, which I used to wear all the time. They were playing [Chuck Berry's] 'Bye Bye Johnny' and it sounded absolutely fantastic."
After Parfitt befriended the band, their manager Pat Barlow invited him to join, 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 and Ronnie Scott song, "Ice in the Sun", which climbed to number eight. The band's 1972 album Piledriver, which reached number 5, spent a total of 37 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. ...
Source: Article "Rick Parfitt" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Filmography
| 2014 | The Big Fat Quiz of the Year · as Self |
| 2014 | Play It Loud: The Story of Marshall · as Self - Status Quo |
| 2012 | Hello Quo · as Self |
| 2012 | Status Quo: Down Down (Prices Are Down) · as Rick Parfitt |
| 2010 | Daybreak (2010) (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2009 | Status Quo: Pictures - Live at Montreux · as Self |
| 2007 | James May's 20th Century (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2007 | Comic Relief (I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles · as Self - Dinner Party Guest |
| 2006 | The ONE Show (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2005 | Live Aid Remembered · as Self |
| 2005 | Spicks and Specks (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2004 | Status Quo - Live Legends · as Self |
| 2003 | Brainiac: Science Abuse (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2002 | Top Gear (TV Series) · as Self |
| 2002 | Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (TV Series) · as Self - Performer |
| 2002 | A Celebrity Audience with Jimmy Jones · as Self - Audience Memeber |
| 2000 | BBC Breakfast (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1999 | Loose Women (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1999 | It's Slade · as Self |
| 1998 | Clarkson (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1998 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (TV Series) · as Self - Contestant |
| 1995 | Queen: Champions of the World · as Self |
| 1993 | GMTV (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1992 | Soccer AM (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1991 | Noel's House Party (TV Series) · as Self - Gotcha Recipient |
| 1990 | Les Nuls, The Show (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1989 | Status Quo - Perfect Remedy Tour 1989 · as Self |
| 1989 | Geld oder Liebe (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1988 | This Morning (TV Series) · as Self - Performer |
| 1987 | Going Live! (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1986 | Hale & Pace (TV Series) · as Self - Status Quo |
| 1985 | Billy Connolly: An Audience with Billy Connolly · as Self - Audience Member (uncredited) |
| 1985 | Live Aid · as Self |
| 1984 | Surprise Surprise! (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1984 | Band Aid: Do They Know It's Christmas? · as Rick Parfitt |
| 1982 | Saturday Superstore (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1982 | Champs-Elysees (TV Series) · as Self - Status Quo |
| 1981 | Wetten, dass..? (TV Series) · as Self - Musician |
| 1979 | Cannon and Ball (TV Series) · as Self - Status Quo |
| 1978 | An Audience With (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1974 | Tiswas (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1972 | Pebble Mill at One (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1971 | The Generation Game (TV Series) · as Self - Surprise Guest |
| 1971 | The Old Grey Whistle Test (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1964 | Top of the Pops (TV Series) · as Self |
| 1960 | Coronation Street (TV Series) · as Rick Parfitt |
| 1955 | This is Your Life (UK) (TV Series) · as Self |