Canadian musician and singer Rick Danko was born on this day in 1942. Rick Danko is best remembered as one of the singers and the bass player for The Band- the greatest rock band in North American history [at least in my opinion} It was Danko’s house in Saugerties, New York where The Band members moved into and recorded some of their greatest music and the great album by Bob Dylan {with The Band backing him up} “The Basement Tapes.”  Two of my favourite albums of all times were the first two albums by The Band “Music From Big Pink” and “The Band” it doesn’t get any better than that.

Rick Danko was the lead singer on such great songs by The Band as “This Wheels On Fire” “Long Black Veil”, “When You Awake” and “The Unfaithful Servant” My favourite song that Danko sang on with The Band is the heartbreaking “It Makes No Difference”

Rick Danko died in 1999 of drug related heart failure at the age of 56.