Today in rock history, Rick Grech (Blind Faith) died in 1990, from drug related causes. Born in Bordeaux, France in 1946, Grech was a versatile, accomplished, and sought after British rock musician. He originally gained fame in the United Kingdom as the bass player for the progressive rock group “Family.” In the spring of 1969, former Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and former Traffic frontman Steve Winwood formed the supergroup Blind Faith; in need of a bassist, they immediately recruited Grech, whom they'd both jammed with when Clapton was in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Winwood was in the Spencer Davis Group. Grech recorded the first Blind Faith album with Clapton, Winwood, and drummer Ginger Baker, a former bandmate of Clapton's in Cream. Their self-titled debut album was regarded as a disappointment by critics, but Cream and Traffic fans in America enjoyed it, and the quartet toured the U.S. to support it. Clapton was disappointed with the quality of the music and the performances, and Blind Faith called it quits. After Blind Faith, Grech was active as a studio musician and made two unsuccessful attempts to form rock groups, but he eventually hooked up with another supergroup, KGB, in 1974. Consisting of Grech on bass, Michael Bloomfield (ex-Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag) on guitar, Carmine Appice (ex-Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert and Appice) on drums, Barry Goldberg on keyboards, and Ray Kennedy (co-writer of "Sail On, Sailor") on vocals, the group released its homonymous debut that year. Grech and Bloomfield immediately quit after its release, stating they never had faith in the project. The album was not critically well received. Eventually Grech grew tired of the rock scene and retired in 1977, returning to Leicester to sell carpets. He eventually developed a drinking problem, and in 1990 he died due to a brain hemorrhage. Let’s celebrate Rick’s life with this video from Blind Faith’s brief career. As always, thanks to www. garylessard.com and www.wikipedia.com for the trivia, and keep on rockin’
Personal to Mr. Whoamus - check out what Clapton's playing - another Tele attack!
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2 comments:
Cool indeed -- To be honest, I had no idea E.C. ever played the Telecaster. One correction to your fine blog entry though: this isn't "trivia" you're presenting; it's history!
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