BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Birth name: Daniel Ivan Hicks
Origin: Arkansas, USA
Instrument: Musician, songwriter, vocal
Genre: cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing
Born: December 9, 1941
Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Died: February 6, 2016 (aged 74)
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Daniel Ivan Hicks (December 9, 1941 – February 6, 2016) was an American singer-songwriter who combined cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing, bluegrass, pop, and gypsy music in his sound. He led Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.
He is perhaps best known for the songs “I Scare Myself” and “Canned Music.” His songs are frequently infused with humor, as evidenced by the title of his tune, “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?” His latest album, Live at Davies, was released in 2013, capping over forty years of music released under his name.
In March 2015, Hicks announced on his website that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer, and he died eleven months later.
Hicks was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on December 9, 1941. His father, Ivan L. Hicks (married to the former Evelyn Kehl), was a career military man. At age five, an only child, Hicks moved with his family to California, eventually settling north of San Francisco in Santa Rosa, where he was a drummer in grade school and played the snare drum in his school marching band.
At 14, he was performing with area dance bands. While in high school, he had a rotating spot on Time Out for Teens, a daily 15-minute local radio program, and he went on to study broadcasting at San Francisco State College during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Taking up the guitar in 1959, he became part of the San Francisco folk music scene, performing at local coffeehouses. Hicks joined the San Francisco band The Charlatans in 1965 as drummer.
In 1967, Hicks formed Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks with violinist David LaFlamme. LaFlamme left to form It’s a Beautiful Day, and was quickly replaced by jazz violinist “Symphony” Sid Page. Vocalists Sherry Snow and Christine Gancher, guitarist Jon Weber, and bassist Jaime Leopold filled out the band, unusual in having no drummer. This line-up was signed to Epic and in 1969 issued the album Original Recordings, produced by Bob Johnston. The first Hot Licks line-up lasted until 1971 and then disintegrated.
As time passed, this particular Hot Licks band became Hicks’ “classic” band, in part due to Page’s passionate fiddling, combining swing and classical training, as well as Price’s sultry jazz vocals in the style of Anita O’Day, reflecting her pre-Hicks performing experience. This particular group reunited for a 1991 taping of an hour-long Austin City Limits television broadcast in the 1992 season.
The 1992 reunion program also featured Hicks’ new group, The Acoustic Warriors, a combination of folk, swing, jazz and country styles. The Acoustic Warriors band consisted of Dan Hicks, Brian Godchaux on violin and mandolin, Paul “Pazzo” Mehling (founder of the Hot Club of San Francisco) on guitar and Richard Saunders on bass.
In 1993 the Acoustic Warriors continued to perform locally around San Francisco and on the road, but this edition placed Paul Robinson on guitar, Nils Molin or Alex Baum on string bass, Stevie Blacke on mandolin and Josh Riskin on drums.
Hicks recorded one CD with the Acoustic Warriors. Shootin’ Straight was released by Private Music in 1996. Recorded live at McCabe’s in Santa Monica, it featured Jim Boggio on accordion/piano, Stevie Blacke on mandolin/violin, Paul Robinson on guitar, Alex Baum on bass and Bob Scott on drums.
Hicks continued to play in bands of other names, and he also began using the Hot Licks name again. Michael Goldberg reviewed Hicks’ comeback album, Beatin’ the Heat (2000):
Films
In the Michael Apted film Class Action (1991) with Gene Hackman, Hicks is seen performing with Eisenberg and Price at Rosatti’s in San Francisco. He also can be seen in several documentary films, including Revolution (1968) and Rockin at the Red Dog (1996).
In March 2015, Hicks announced on his website that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer, and he died eleven months later.
Dan Hicks passed away on February 6, 2016 (aged 74)
Discography
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (aka Original Recordings) (1969)
Where’s The Money? (1971)
Striking It Rich (1972)
Last Train to Hicksville (1973)
It Happened One Bite (1978)
Shootin’ Straight (1994)
The Amazing Charlatans (1996)
Return to Hicksville (1997)
Early Muses (1998)
Beatin’ The Heat (2000)
The Most of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks (2001)
Alive and Lickin’ (2001)
Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks – With an All-Star Cast of Friends – DVD/CD package (2003)
Selected Shorts (2004)
Tangled Tales (2009)
Crazy for Christmas (2010)
Live At Davies (2013)