Rick Parfitt, Dead at 68

Rick Parfitt, the archytypal rocker and Status Quo guitarist, died on the 27th from a sudden infection.

IN A WORLD FULL of affectation, Rick Parfitt was a musician who enjoyed his status as a rock star, wearing it with good grace and a broad grin.

The partnership he formed with fellow Telecaster-wielding guitarist and frontman Francis Rossi powered Status Quo from an aspiring and at times underrated psychedelic outfit to one of the biggest and most popular rock acts of the ‘70s. If the band’s crunchy sound was based on the twin-guitar axis of Parfitt and Rossi, their appeal also derived from the duo’s down-to-earth attitude.

Francis Rossi said, “He was louder and faster and more carefree than the rest of us”.

I have ‘Rockin all over the World’, bought on tape back in 1992 in Frankfurt or somewhere. Still an enjoyable album.

Richard John ‘Rick’ Parfitt, October 12th, 1968 – December 27th, 2016