Rick Hayward

Rick was a wonderful musician/guitarist and a kind and lovely man. He played both acoustic fingerstyle guitar and electric rock and blues styles, with many different bands and artistes, and also solo.

Rick died on 6th November, 2012.

Heather Enid Wells writes:

Rick was originally from Yorkshire, and had played guitar since he was 14, originally under the name Rick Birkett. As a session guitarist for Blue Horizon he played and recorded in the late 1960s and 1970s with many top-class well known musicians, including Eric Clapton, Freddie King, Jack Bruce, Lightnin' Slim, Mitch Mitchell, and many more. He was a member of Christine Perfect’s band and of The Accent and Jellybread, and completed an LP with The Zombies.

Rick also had a solo LP of his own material produced by Mike Vernon and released by Blue Horizon on vinyl, which is very collectable now. The tracks on that album, plus all the tracks recorded for Rick's follow-up album (which was never released at the time), have since been reissued on CD by Sunbeam Records.

In 2006, Rick wrote, played, sang and recorded another solo album, "Fighting With Shadows", which we released on Travelling Records. He asked me to also upload the tracks from this album on to SoundClick, but I'm afraid I never got around to it at the time. I am now putting that right and, in due course, the whole album will appear here on free play and free download, for people to enjoy, as Rick wished.

Rick played live all over the country, and abroad.

Rick had a wide range of influences, from the old American Bluesmen (several of whom he worked and recorded with) to the folk, pop, psychedelic and rock scenes in the late 1960s and beyond. He was particularly inspired by Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Davy Graham, and John Martyn.

Rick had two Taylor acoustic guitars and a PRS electric when I knew him. He was using an AER 'acoustic-style' amp.