Ricky Fataar | |
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Background information | |
Born | Durban, South Africa | 5 September 1952
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Years active | 1963–present |
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Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952) is a South African musician of Malay descent [1] who has performed as both a drummer and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a spoof on the Beatles, in which he performed as a member of the Rutles. He was also a member of the Beach Boys between 1971 and 1974, and has been the drummer for Bonnie Raitt for the last 35 years. Fataar is also a record producer, and has worked on projects scoring music to film and television.
Fataar's first childhood band was the Flames, a band from his birthplace of Durban, South Africa. He joined the band at the age of nine. The band made several recordings as well as touring all over southern Africa and before long they became quite popular in South Africa. By the time he was twelve years old he had already won the honour of being voted as the "Best Rock Drummer in South Africa".
In 1968, the band moved to London and began touring in the United Kingdom. On one of their tours, they were spotted by a founding member of The Beach Boys, Carl Wilson. He was impressed by their talent and offered to sign them to the Beach Boys new record label, Brother Records. [2] The band moved to Los Angeles and they recorded and released their 1970 album The Flame with Carl Wilson producing the album.
The Flames disbanded in late 1970, and Fataar and his former Flame bandmate Blondie Chaplin were recruited by the Beach Boys, in March 1972. [3] Fataar was asked to play drums for the band after drummer Dennis Wilson suffered a debilitating hand accident. The duo recorded two albums with the Beach Boys, and began touring with them in 1971. The 1972 Beach Boys album Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" featured musical and vocal contributions from Chaplin and Fataar. It also included two songs written by the duo, "Here She Comes" and "Hold On Dear Brother". On the band's next album, Holland , released a year later, both musicians recorded, and provided backing vocals, including the hit single "Sail On, Sailor", on which Chaplin sang as lead vocalist.
They also collaborated with Carl Wilson and Mike Love on the song "Leaving This Town". 1973 saw the first live album The Beach Boys in Concert , upon which Fataar performed. It featured a live version of the previously unreleased Chaplin/Fataar/Love collaboration "We Got Love", which was originally intended to be released on the Holland album, but was removed from the running order to make way for single "Sail On, Sailor". Both Fataar and Chaplin would later depart the band, with Fataar only appearing on the tracks "It's OK" and "That Same Song" off the Beach Boys' next studio album, 1976's 15 Big Ones .
In March 2019, Big Noise's Al Gomes and Connie Watrous presented a plaque from Roger Williams University to Fataar in Providence, RI at a sold-out Bonnie Raitt/James Taylor concert. The plaque commemorates the Beach Boys' 22 September 1971 concert at The Ramada Inn in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, now Roger Williams University's Baypoint Inn & Conference Center. The concert was the first-ever appearance of Fataar as an official member of the band, essentially changing the Beach Boys' live and recording line-up into a multi-cultural group. [4]
In 1978, Fataar starred in All You Need Is Cash , a mockumentary film known more commonly as The Rutles , a spoof on the real life history of the Beatles, which was a follow-up to a Saturday Night Live television sketch. The Beatlesque music for the Rutles was written by Neil Innes, formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and musical collaborator with Monty Python . Fataar's character was Stig O'Hara, the band's guitarist (analogous to George Harrison). He speaks no dialogue in the film, being sent up as "the quiet one" in it. [2] Fataar's then wife, Penelope Tree, also appeared in All You Need Is Cash, as Stig's wife, Penelope. The band's two records, The Rutles and Archeology, featured him playing guitar, bass, sitar, drums, and singing. He would also go on to record a single with Eric Idle as 'Dirk & Stig' titled, "Mr. Sheene" / "Ging Gang Goolie".
With Ryan Adams
With David Cassidy
With Peter Cetera
With Crowded House
With Tim Finn
With Tim Hardin
With Steve Harley
With Etta James
With Elton John
With Wendy Matthews
With Delbert McClinton
With Jenny Morris
With Keb' Mo'
With Anne Murray
With Robert Palmer
With Carrie Rodriguez
With Boz Scaggs
With Broderick Smith
With Phoebe Snow
With Pops Staples
With Bonnie Raitt
With Jennifer Warnes
With Dennis Wilson
With Womack & Womack
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
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1993 | Spotswood | Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album | Nominated | [5] |
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974 to 1987, it presented music awards from 1979 to 1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week . The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards. [6]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
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1983 | himself (with Mark Moffatt) for work with Tim Finn, Renée Geyer & Pat Wilson) | Best Record Producer of the Year | Won |
1984 | himself (with Mark Moffatt) | Best Producer | Nominated |
Fataar has also combined his talents as an actor and a musician, developing musical scores for both film and television. An example includes the composition of the score for an Australian film Spotswood .
Working in his capacity as producer, Fataar has produced the music for various films that include High Tide and Les Patterson Saves the World .
Fataar has worked as a session musician, notably for Ian McLagan as well as other artists, as a drummer. Fataar emigrated to Australia in 1978 where he recorded with and co-produced albums for Tim Finn, played the drums on the Split Enz song "Message To My Girl", and also worked with Crowded House, Jenny Morris, Peter Blakeley, and Wendy Matthews as well as various other artists. [2]
In 1979 Fataar was introduced to Bonnie Raitt, and recorded on her Green Light album. In 1990, he joined up with Raitt, and has been a member of Raitt's band. [7] Fataar continued to work in between other projects as a sideman for many artists, also on Peter Cetera's first album, usually as a drummer.
In 1985, he teamed up with Tim Finn once again, appearing in the Australian film The Coca-Cola Kid where they play in a band performing a jingle in the studio.
The Rutles were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, later toured and recorded, releasing two studio albums and garnering two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes's death in 2019.
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk, and country. She was also a frequent session player and collaborator with other artists, including Warren Zevon, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, the Pointer Sisters, John Prine, and Leon Russell.
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Holland is the 19th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released January 8, 1973 on Brother/Reprise. It is their first album recorded without Bruce Johnston since 1965, their second with Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, and their final studio album created under the de facto leadership of Carl Wilson and manager Jack Rieley. The LP was originally packaged with a bonus EP, Mount Vernon and Fairway, which consisted of a 12-minute fairy tale written and produced by Brian and Carl Wilson.
Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" is the 18th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released May 15, 1972 on Brother/Reprise. The album is a significant musical departure for the band and is the first to feature the Flames' Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar as additions to their official line-up. It sold poorly and was met with lukewarm reviews, but later gained stature as a cult favorite among fans.
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"Sail On, Sailor" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1973 album Holland. It was written primarily by Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson with Ray Kennedy, Tandyn Almer, and Jack Rieley. The lead singer on the song is Blondie Chaplin, making this one of the band's few well-known songs not sung by Mike Love, Brian Wilson or Carl Wilson. The song was released as a single in 1973, backed with "Only with You", and peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard singles chart. A 1975 reissue charted higher, at No. 49.
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Terrence William "Blondie" Chaplin is a South African singer and guitarist from Durban, where he played in the band the Flames in the mid to late 1960s. From 1972 to 1973, he was a member of the Beach Boys and contributed to their albums Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" (1972) and Holland (1973). During his stint with the Beach Boys, he sang the lead on the popular song, "Sail On Sailor". Chaplin was a long-term backing vocalist, percussionist, and acoustic rhythm guitarist for the Rolling Stones on their recordings and tours over a 15-year period, starting in 1997. Chaplin has released two solo albums, Blondie Chaplin (1977) and Between Us (2006).
The Flames were a South African musical group formed in 1962, with their best-known lineup consisting of guitarists and vocalists Steve Fataar and Blondie Chaplin, bassist Edries "Brother" Fataar, and drummer Ricky Fataar. Considered one of the most influential and unique bands of 1960s South Africa, they stood out with their blend of soul and rock music, Indian background, and music, which was centered around albums and covers rather than singles and original songs. Their 1968 cover of The Impressions' "For Your Precious Love" reached #1 on the domestic charts and is their most popular song.
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch is a re-telling of the 1978 mockumentary All You Need Is Cash, in a modern setting. It premiered at the Don't Knock the Rock film festival on August 16, 2003.
The Rutles is a soundtrack album to the 1978 telemovie All You Need Is Cash. The album contains 14 of the tongue-in-cheek pastiches of Beatles songs that were featured in the film.
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