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Ricky Gardiner (31 August 1948 – 13 May 2022) was a Scottish guitarist and composer.
Biography
Gardiner joined his first band, the Vostoks, at school in 1962. Next there were the Kingbees and the System, with whom he formed
Beggars Opera in 1969.
He played in his own outfit with this band, Beggars Opera, and also with friends
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
and
Iggy Pop. For Bowie he played lead guitar on the 1977 album ''
Low''. For Pop he worked on his album ''
Lust for Life'' the same year: the issue included "
The Passenger", regarded as one of Pop's best songs,
for which Gardiner composed the music. Bowie biographer David Buckley described it as being "possessed with one of the greatest riffs of all time".
On 19 October 1977, Gardiner was selected by
Tony Visconti
Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...
to play guitar for the pre-recorded backing of Bowie's performance on
"Heroes" on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...
''. The recording was made at
Good Earth Studios
Dean Street Studios is a commercial recording studio located at 59 Dean Street, Soho, London, England.
History
The premises are first known to have been used as a film studio in 1950s, which then became Zodiac Studios.
The studio was bought by p ...
in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develo ...
, London with Bowie, Visconti, and pianist
Sean Mayes
Charles Thomas Sean Mayes (17 March 1945 – 12 July 1995) was a British pianist and writer.
Born in Stone Allerton, Somerset, Mayes was schooled in Bristol. He won a place at Trinity College, Cambridge, Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtai ...
. Gardiner emulated
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...
's guitar sound by using feedback as he had not realised an
EBow
The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...
had been used: "I was asked to reproduce Robert Fripp's line", he told Stephen Dalton in 2001, "I did not realise at the time that he
ripphad used an EBow. I did my best using feedback alone. As we went through the song, my amplifier started dying. As the song finished, so did the amp.".
From the 1970s, Gardiner played and composed in a variety of music styles, including
ambient,
classical, and rock.
In 2017, photographs Gardiner took at the
Château d'Hérouville
The Château d'Hérouville is a French 18th century château located in the village of Hérouville, in the Val d'Oise département of France, near Paris. The château was built in 1740 by "Gaudot", an architect of the school of Rome, from the r ...
, during the making of David Bowie's ''Low'' album in 1977, were included in a hardcover book that accompanied the vinyl and CD box set of ''
A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)
''A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)'' is a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 29 September 2017. A follow-up to the compilations '' Five Years (1969–1973)'' and '' Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)'', the set ...
'', alongside photographs by
Anton Corbijn,
Helmut Newton,
Andrew Kent
The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a crucial conflict of the Texas Revolution. In 1835, colonists from the United States joined with Tejanos (Mexicans born in Texas) in putting up armed resistance to the centralization of ...
,
Steve Shapiro,
Duffy, and others.
Gardiner said that he suffered from
electromagnetic hypersensitivity
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) is a claimed sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, to which negative symptoms are attributed. EHS has no scientific basis and is not a recognised medical diagnosis. Claims are characterized by a "variet ...
, which he believed he contracted through exposure to high levels of computer radiation and
magnetic fields
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...
.
Gardiner died on 13 May 2022, aged 73, after a long battle with
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
.
"Ricky Gardiner", 16 May 2022
Bowiewonderworld.com, Retrieved 16 May 2022
References
External links
An interview with GardinerPersonal website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Ricky
1948 births
2022 deaths
20th-century Scottish male musicians
21st-century Scottish male musicians
Scottish male guitarists
Progressive rock musicians
People educated at Craigmount School
Musicians from Edinburgh