Rickey Medlocke

Infobox musical artist
Name = Rickey Medlocke

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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Instrument = Guitar, vocals, drums
Born = birth date and age|1950|2|17
Died =
Alias =
Genre = Southern rock, Hard rock
Associated_acts = Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Label =
Years_active = 1970 - present
URL =
Notable_instruments =

Rickey Medlocke (born February 17, 1950) is a musician best known as the frontman/guitarist for the southern rock band Blackfoot and, more recently, as a guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd briefly in 1970 as a drummer before he left to pursue other musical interests but rejoined the band in 1996 as a lead guitarist replacing Allen Collins permanently..

Early life

Rickey started performing onstage at the age of three. His grandfather, Shorty Medlock, was a well-known delta blues musician and he taught Rickey how to play a miniature banjo. From there on his musical abilities grew and he had taught himself how to play guitar by the age of five and he was playing drums in Shorty's band at the age of eight. Rickey was raised by Shorty and his grandmother. Over the next several years Rickey had mastered not only the banjo, guitar and drums but a variety of instruments such as the mandolin, dobro and keyboards. He also had a melodic singing voice and had taught himself how to sing and play guitar at the same time. By the time he was in high school, Paxon Senior Highschool Class of 1968, Rickey had performed in all the school plays including, "The West Side Story," "Oklahoma!" and "Brigadoon," in addition to his musical pursuits. After graduating high school Medlocke had formed his first band, Blackfoot, where he was the lead vocalist and lead guitarist.

In Lynyrd Skynyrd

Drummer

Medlocke grew up with the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. When Blackfoot's attempts to move north and play places like New York and New Jersey weren't successful enough for him, he called up Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant and was asked to play drums for that newly-formed band. Medlocke played the drums and sang lead on a few songs for them during 1970 but came to feel that sitting behind a drum kit could never satisfy his energetic personality, so in 1971 he reformed Blackfoot and began touring incessantly with them, producing hits like "Train Train" and "Highway Song" until he finally decided to disband the group in the early 1990s.

Guitarist

For a while in the 1990s Rickey thought about pursuing other careers (such as acting) until he received a phone call in 1996 from Gary Rossington inviting him to rejoin Lynyrd Skynyrd as a lead guitarist and primary songwriter. Rossington asked Medlocke if he remembered how to play such tunes as "Freebird", "Tuesday's Gone", and "Workin' For MCA", to name a few. Medlocke gave Rossington the reply he wanted, rejoined Skynyrd and has been a member of that band ever since. Occasionally, as in 2006 during Skynyrd's tour, Rickey will step away from Skynyrd briefly to join musicians like Shooter Jennings on stage.

Vocalist

Rickey sang vocals on the Lynyrd Skynyrd songs "White Dove", "Ain't Too Proud to Pray" and "The Seasons", all early 1970s Skynyrd songs. These three are most of the few Skynyrd songs recorded without Ronnie Van Zant singing lead vocals (guitarist Steve Gaines, who joined Skynyrd in 1976, sang lead vocals on "Ain't No Good Life" and shared lead vocals with Van Zant on "You Got That Right", both from the original band's final album "Street Survivors", released just before Van Zant and Gaines died in the crash of Skynyrd's charter plane). Rickey also sang lead vocals with Johnny Van Zant on the song "Pick 'Em Up", which appeared on the reconstituted Lynyrd Skynyrd album "Vicious Cycle".

Acting

Rickey Medlocke has been interested in acting since he was in high school, where he was part of many school productions. In 2000 Rickey decided to pursue his acting career further and was cast in William Shatner's movie Groom Lake. He has also appeared on TV and in another yet-to-be released film.

Personal

Rickey is presently not married but has been married twice.

References

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1310712/bio Biography at IMDB]
* [http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/rickeymedlocke/ Rickey Medlocke Yahoo Group]
* [http://www.myspace.com/rickeymedlocke Tribute page on MySpace]