Biography
Rick Grech (born Richard Roman Grech on 1 November 1946; died 17 March 1990) was a British rock musician. Also known as Ric Grech, he originally gained notice in the UK as the bass guitarist for the progressive rock group Family. He later played bass in the blues-rock supergroup Blind Faith and with Traffic.
Grech joined Family when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in 1965, replacing Tim Kirchin.
In the spring of 1969, former Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and former Traffic frontman Steve Winwood formed the supergroup Blind Faith; in need of a bassist, they immediately recruited Grech, whom they'd both jammed with when Clapton was in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Winwood was in the Spencer Davis Group. Unfortunately, Grech failed to give Chapman and Whitney adequate notice, and Family was due to start a U.S. tour with Ten Years After. Grech agreed to go on the tour until Family could replace him, but he proved to be unreliable when Family played their first American show on April 8, 1969 at the Fillmore East in New York, being so disoriented he could barely play. Returning to England, Grech recorded the only Blind Faith album with Clapton, Winwood, and drummer Ginger Baker, a former bandmate of Clapton's in Cream.
After Blind Faith split in 1969, Grech and Winwood stayed with Baker to form Ginger Baker's Air Force, a "supergroup" which also included Denny Laine (ex-Moody Blues) on guitar, Chris Wood (ex-Traffic) on sax and flute, and several other musicians; when that group ended, Winwood reformed Traffic with original members Wood and Jim Capaldi, and Grech joined as their bassist.
During 1973-74, Grech played in one of numerous versions of the late Buddy Holly backing band The Crickets.
In 1974 Grech joined KGB. Consisting of Grech on bass, Mike Bloomfield (ex-Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag) on guitar, Carmine Appice (ex-Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert & Appice) on drums, Barry Goldberg on keyboards, and Ray Kennedy (co-writer of "Sail On, Sailor") on vocals, the group released its debut album that year. Grech and Bloomfield immediately quit after its release, stating they never had faith in the project. The album was not critically well-received.
Grech retired from music in 1977 and moved back to Leicester. In 1990 he died of kidney and liver failure at the age of 43, as a result of alcoholism.
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