Rickey Medlocke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rickey Medlocke | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 17, 1950 |
| Genre(s) | Southern rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Blackfoot Lynyrd Skynyrd |
| Years active | 1970 - present |
Rickey Medlocke (born February 17, 1950) is a musician best known as the frontman/guitarist for the southern rock band Blackfoot and, more recently, as a guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd briefly in 1970 as a drummer before he left to pursue other musical interests but rejoined the band in 1996 as a lead guitarist.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Rickey started performing onstage at the age of three. His grandfather, Shorty Medlock, was a well-known delta blues musician and he taught Rickey how to play a miniature banjo. From there on his musical abilities grew and he had taught himself how to play guitar by the age of five and he was playing drums in Shorty's band at the age of eight. Over the next several years Rickey had mastered not only the banjo, guitar and drums but a variety of instruments such as the mandolin, dobro and keyboards. He also had a melodic singing voice and had taught himself how to sing and play guitar at the same time. By the time he was in high school Rickey had performed in all the school plays including, "The West Side Story," "Oklahoma!" and "Brigadoon," in addition to his musical pursuits. After graduating high school Medlocke had formed his first band, Blackfoot, where he was the lead vocalist and lead guitarist.
[edit] In Lynyrd Skynyrd
[edit] Drummer
Medlocke had grown up with the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and when Blackfoot's attempts to move north, to cities like New York and New Jersey, didn't seem to be successful Rickey called up Ronnie Van Zant who asked him to play drums for the newly formed Lynyrd Skynyrd. For the year of 1970 Medlocke played drums for Lynyrd Skynyrd but he felt that sitting behind a drum kit could never satisfy his energetic personality. In 1971 Rickey Medlocke decided to reform Blackfoot and he toured incessantly with them producing hits like "Train Train" and "Highway Song" until he finally decided to disband the band in the early 1990s.
[edit] Guitarist
For a while in the 1990s Rickey had thought about pursuing other career goals such as acting until he received a phone call in 1996 from Gary Rossington inviting him to rejoin Lynyrd Skynyrd as a lead guitarist and primary songwriter. Medlocke has been a member of the band ever since.
[edit] Vocalist
Ricky also sang the songs White Dove and Ain't Too Proud to Pray
[edit] Acting
Rickey Medlocke has been interested in acting since he was in High School where he was a part of many of the schools productions. In 2000 Rickey decided to pursue his acting career further and was cast in William Shatner's movie Groom Lake. He has also appeared on TV and in another yet-to-be released film.
[edit] References
 |
This article is uncategorized.
Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing. |
