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Rick Parfitt

Rick Parfitt

Acting

Biography

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.

Known For

Top of the Pops
6.7

The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show.

Top of the Pops

1964
Top Gear
7.6

This fast-paced and stunt-filled motor show tests whether cars, both mundane and extraordinary, live up to their manufacturers' claims. The long-running show travels to locations around the world, performing extreme stunts and challenges to see what the featured cars are capable of doing. The current hosts are Paddy Mcguinness, Chris Harris and Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff.

Top Gear

2002
Champs-Elysées
6.8

No description available.

Champs-Elysées

1982
Sacrée Soirée
5.7

No description available.

Sacrée Soirée

1987
An Audience with...
5.3

An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.

An Audience with...

1978
Going Live!
8.0

Going Live! was a Saturday morning magazine show, broadcast on BBC1 between 1987 and 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Peter Simon, Emma Forbes, and puppet Gordon the Gopher. The show was broadcast during the autumn to spring seasons, with other shows such as the 8:15 from Manchester and Parallel 9 taking over during the summer months. It was preceded by Saturday Superstore, and succeeded by Live & Kicking. In 1988, when the second series started, Greene was hurt in a helicopter crash with her then boyfriend, Mike Smith. Guest presenters stood in for her including T'Pau's Carol Decker. Similarly, in 1992-93 during the final series, Schofield was starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was unable to present the show. A third presenter took his place. Originally, Neighbours actor Kristian Schmid took the role but soon left after problems with his work permit. Various other celebrities to stand in included Shane Richie and Robbie Williams during his Take That days.

Going Live!

1987
The BRIT Awards
10.0

The biggest night in the British music calendar, the BRIT Awards celebrate the biggest successes in music & promote new talent.

The BRIT Awards

1977
Surprise, Surprise
6.6

Surprise, Surprise is a British television programme originally hosted by Cilla Black and produced by London Weekend Television for ITV. It ran for 14 series from 6 May 1984 to 5 September 1997, after which four annual specials were produced between 1998 to 2001. In 2012, the show returned after a 11-year hiatus. The revived version is produced by ITV Studios and presented by Holly Willoughby. The show is currently in its second series.

Surprise, Surprise

1984
Les Nuls, l'émission
8.6

No description available.

Les Nuls, l'émission

1990
Geld oder Liebe
7.0

No description available.

Geld oder Liebe

1989
All Star Mr & Mrs
N/A

No description available.

All Star Mr & Mrs

2008
Live Aid
7.9

Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: watched live by an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations. "It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid...!"

Live Aid

1985
Live Aid Against All Odds
N/A

Documentary which traces the story of Live Aid from its humble beginnings, a pop tune cobbled together in the back seat of a taxi, to the eve of the biggest televised event ever. Artists from the time tell the story of the day that music rocked the world. Organiser Bob Geldof recalls how after 12 weeks of manic preparation, the big day finally arrived.

Live Aid Against All Odds

2005
The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas?
8.0

Forty years on from the release of the hit single by charity supergroup Band Aid, this documentary unearths 75 minutes of rare and previously unseen film footage from the day of recording

The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas?

2024
An Audience with Billy Connolly
8.3

Billy Connolly delivers his special brand of stand-up comedy and abrasive humour in front of a celebrity audience.

An Audience with Billy Connolly

1985
Bula Quo!
4.1

Status Quo play a series of shows in Fiji and become embroiled in a secret Russian Roulette ring lorded over by Jon Lovitz.

Bula Quo!

2013
Status Quo - Pictures Live at Montreux 2009
8.3

Status Quo's album "Pictures" (released in November 2008) celebrated 40 years of Status Quo filling the UK charts with hit after hit. The album was an instant success, charting at No.8 and selling over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone. In July 2009 the Pictures live tour landed at Montreux in Switzerland as part of the world famous festival.

Status Quo - Pictures Live at Montreux 2009

2009
John Peel's Record Box
8.0

John Peel's Record Box is a documentary film made by Elaine Shepherd, released on 14 November 2005 on Channel 4. It was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award. It is about a small private collection of the British radio DJ John Peel who died in 2004 at the age of 65. Peel's main archive contained more than 100,000 vinyl records and CDs. This smaller private collection, however, contains 143 singles - some of them doublettes - stored in a private wooden box representing some of his personal favourites. According to the documentary, there are no singles by Peel's favorite group, The Fall, because he kept them in a separate box. The film features interviews with John's wife Sheila Ravenscroft, radio DJs and artists like Mary Anne Hobbs, Sir Elton John, Ronnie Wood, Roger Daltrey, Fergal Sharkey, Jack White, Michael Palin and Miki Berenyi.

John Peel's Record Box

2005
Queen: Champions of the World
8.3

This documentary on the music group Queen includes performance and rehearsal footage, and exclusive interviews from backstage at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.

Queen: Champions of the World

1995
No image
N/A

Live at Wembley

Status Quo Reunion Tour 2013