- published: 04 Apr 2012
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Richard Roman Grech (1 November 1946 – 17 March 1990) was a British rock musician.
Educated at Corpus Christi RC School, Leicester, he played violin in the school orchestra, Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in 1965, replacing Tim Kirchin. Family released their first single, "Scene Through The Eye of a Lens," in September 1967 on the Liberty label in the UK, which got the band signed to Reprise Records. The group's 1968 debut album Music in a Doll's House was an underground hit that highlighted the songwriting talents of Roger Chapman and John "Charlie" Whitney as well as Chapman's piercing voice, but Grech also stood out with his rhythmic, thundering bass work on songs such as "Old Songs New Songs" and "See Through Windows," along with his adeptness on cello and violin.
Released in February 1969, Family Entertainment, the group's second album, was a major turning point for Grech personally. In addition to playing bass and violin, he wrote three of the album's other songs: "How-Hi-The-Li," "Face In the Cloud," and "Second Generation Woman," which was first released as a single in Britain in November 1968. This song featured Grech on lead vocals, leading Family through a cheeky lyric about a woman who "looks good to handle from a personal angle," with an arrangement that recalled the Beatles's "Paperback Writer" and owed an obvious debt to Chuck Berry. Tellingly, however, all of Grech's songs contained obvious drug references - "How Hi-The-Li" wondered aloud if Chinese premier Chou En-Lai "gets high with all the tea in China" - and drugs would eventually plague Grech throughout his career.
The Beat Club is a mostly techno music group that was founded in the late '80s by Ony Rodriguez and Mirey Valls in Miami, Florida.
Ony Rodriguez began his career in the late 80’s as a rhythm guitarist and producer with EMI recording group, The Voice In Fashion. Even after attaining minor commercial success, Ony Rodriguez decided to pursue his personal interests and style of music more and started The Beat Club. What began as an ongoing “free-form” studio jam with friends led to the international hit “Security”, and his departure from The Voice In Fashion.
Influenced by the likes of the “Miami Bass” movement, New Order and Kraftwerk, Ony’s music relied less on his main instrument of the guitar and more on his love for electronics.
Initially on Atlantic Records, The Beat Club was offered the opportunity to become the first recording act to be signed to New Order manager and Manchester’s Factory Record mogul, the late Rob Gretton’s own personal label robsrecords. The Beat Club went on to release several recordings in the UK resulting in the singles “Security” which reached no. 92 in the UK Singles Chart (recorded by, and featuring New Order’s Bernard Sumner), “Dreams Were Made To Be Broken” and “X”.
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.
In the mid 1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand". Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos, another band he formed and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to music. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.
rick grech - second generation woman
Blind Faith Jam (Part 1 and Part 2).wmv
Family "How Many More Years (You're Gonna Wreck My Life)"
Roger Chapman (Family) Interview - Face To Face With Rick Wakeman
FAMILY - The Weaver's Answer Live At The Beat Club 1970
Blind Faith, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, Ric Grech. LP, Vinyl
Virtual Pub, "Kiss the Children", Gram Parsons/Ric Grech cover, April 30, 2013.
Family - Family Entertainment (1969) [Full Album]
Blind Faith - Do What You Like (Studio version) 1/2
Blind Faith - Do What You Like (Studio version) 2/2
Blind Faith - Spending All My Days
KGB - Workin For The Kids