Rick Vito was born October 13, 1949, in Darby, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia area), where his father was in the nightclub business.
Rick; "He always had a taproom with a jukebox. Back then, the supplier would give you free records. Once the new songs came in, the old ones came out, so we always got an endless selection. I still have a whole bunch of them, like the original Little Richard 45's."
When he was a kid, he was immensely influenced by Elvis. His mother played the Hawaiian guitar.
Rick; "We had this thing, with strings an inch up off the neck lying around the house. I really got a kick out of Ricky Nelson with James Burton at the end of every Ozzie and Harriet Show. To think that you used to be able to see James Burton playing that cool Rockabilly stuff on his Telecaster on TV every week. I have to say that Rockabilly was what first turned me around."
As a teenager Rick bought Chuck Berry albums, then Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and a few other famous artists of that time. He also picked up several of the early Stones LP's and learned every note Keith Richards played.
His obsession with the Stones led Vito to the classic blues players. By the time he was in college, he was a hardcore blues purist. He formed a band and began playing the college circuit semi-professionally. He was one teenager among many in the audience during Fleetwood Mac's first US tour in 1968. When he sat in the front row at the concert in The Electric Factory in Philadelphia, he became influenced by the band and especially by Peter Green. Right after the concert, he started to write his own blues songs.
Rick; "It was so non-glitzy and real, it was what i wanted to do."
The first real break Rick got was when he hooked up with Delaney & Bonnie (Bekka Bramlett's parents) out in L.A. in 1971. He toured with them, did some TV-shows and a little recording. For the rest of his career, Rick was heavily influenced by the Delaney & Bonnie album "On Tour With Eric Clapton". He was also a fan of the album "The Original Delaney & Bonnie and Friends" (a repackage of an early D&B album called “Accept No Substitute”) . And he wasn't the only one, artists like George Harrison, George Cocker, and Eric Clapton were all influenced by that record.
The first session Rick played on which was commercially released was Todd Rundgren's album "Something/Anything" from 1972.
| 1974 marked the blues recording debut of Rick Vito. John Mayall, who always has had a great eye for aspiring talent, hired Rick Vito for his band. he first appeared on the "New Year, New Band, New Company" album, released in February of 1975. That same year, he also played on folk great John Prine's fourth album "Common Sense" which includes the hilarious "Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard". Vito rounded off the year with December's Mayall album, "Notice To Appear" . |  |
In May 1976, John McVie rejoined his old employer, John Mayall, on his album "A Banquet In Blues" , playing bass on "Sunshine" along with Rick Vito on guitar.
Shortly after that, Rick left the band for a few years to return again in 1979 for the recording of the "No More Interviews" album on which he played the rhythm guitar, 12 string guitar, and slide guitar.
Rick was also in Roger McGuinn's group Thunderbyrd, a great band which had a lot of success with their live performances. They only recorded one album, but the record company didn't really promote it, so it never became a real hit.
Then in 1977, Rick toured with Bonnie Raitt as a substitute for guitarist and new father Will McFarlane. He later joined as a full-time band member in 1980 to support "The Glow," and stayed through early 1982 playing lead guitar on Bonnie's "Green Light" album. The four songs on which Rick played are "Keep This Heart In Mind", "Baby Come Back", "Talk To Me", and "Green Lights".
Another great musician also made a guest appearance on the Bonnie Raitt album, Jackson Browne. He was impressed by Rick's guitar skills and hired him for his own band, from which Vito became a member in 1982 untill 1985. He played lead guitar and did vocals on the "Lawyers In Love" album which was released in 1983. You can hear Rick on songs like "Lawyers In Love", "Tender Is The Night" and "On The Day".
Rick; "Working with Jackson Browne was when I really began to stretch out as a musician. I replaced David Lindley in the band and was put in the position of having to come up with solos and a style that were reminiscent of him in one sense, but still allowed enough freedom in my playing to mark me as an individual."
The band that Rick was in that had backed Jackson Browne also backed Greg Copeland on his 1982 album “Revenge Will Come”.
| Rick then became the lead guitarist for Bob Seger, and played on both the "Like A Rock" album and tour (a grueling, nine-month affair). Drummer Russ Kunkel, who'd worked with Rick on the Jackson Browne albums, recommended him to Bob Seger. The first thing he did with Seger was "Like A Rock". The whole track had already been finished, except for the long passages that begged for some kind of solo guitar. Rick suggested using his slide guitar on it . They recorded it all in one take and Bob loved it. He kept calling Rick back for more studio sessions, and finally asked him to go out on tour with him. |  |
Rick was very naive about how big Bob Seger was until he was on the road with him. Playing to sold-out houses, every night for nine months. He had never played to crowds that size before. This experience with Seger would prepare him well for his Fleetwood Mac experience.
| In 1987, Fleetwood Mac released their "Tango In The Night" album and shortly after the release, Lindsey Buckingham decided to leave the band. Billy Burnette and Rick Vito were hired. Rick himself explains how this happened; "This literally appeared out of nowhere, just a phone call one day. Mick and i played together on a Billy Burnette demo session one night. Apparently, he really liked the way I played and sort of filed it away in the back of his mind. Then, about two or three weeks before Lindsey announced that he wouldn't be touring or staying with the band, Mick, Billy Burnette and Kenny Gradney, who all played together in Mick Fleetwood's Zoo, came in to catch a gig of mine at Josephina's. Everybody sat in, and we had a nice, informal jam. I think it must have refreshed Mick's memory about my playing, singing, or whatever. I mean, he had his choice of just about anybody, you know? But apparently, his instincts told him I was the right guy for the job. He insisted to the other Mac members that I tried out before they looked at anyone else. I'll be forever grateful to Mick for that." |
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They didn't have much time to practice with the other band members because the album was already a big success and the tour already planned. Mick, John, Christine, and Stevie encouraged the two newcomers to freely express themselves and their own styles. Since Rick had played as a session and background guitarist for a long time, that wasn't too much of a problem for him. He took care of the lead guitar and vocals on the Tango In The Night tour and did a great job, performing the Mac classics.
| For 1990's "Behind The Mask" Rick wrote the up-tempo "Stand On The Rock", co-wrote a few songs with Stevie Nicks, like "Love Is Dangerous" and "The Second Time" and wrote "When The Sun Goes Down" with Billy Burnette. Although some people didn't really take to Rick and Billy (probably because they replaced the extreme popular Lindsey Buckingham), they clearly brought a new and vibrant sound to the band. Their presence clearly made it possible to revive on stage some of the old Peter Green era blues classics. "Oh Well" and "I Loved Another Woman" had already been performed during the Tango In The Night tour, but on the "Behind The Mask" tour they also brought back "Stop Messin' Round" (which hadn't been performed live on stage since 1968). Rick's "Stand On The Rock" (from the "Behind The Mask" album) was also a big live hit with the fans. |  |
In 1991, not long after the band finished the Behind The Mask tour, Rick decided to leave Fleetwood Mac for personal reasons.
Almost immediately he went into the studio to record his first solo album, "King Of Hearts", for Modern Records. The tracks on the album were a mix of Rock and Blues tracks, mostly written by Vito himself. Stevie Nicks, who had also recently left Fleetwood Mac made a guest appearance on the album. They dueted on the single "Desiree" and Stevie sang backup on another song called "Intuition". The cool rhythms and torrid solos of "I'll Never Leave This Love Alive" are heartrending, while "Poor Souls In Love" prays with power riffs and spaghetti-western tones. His classy instrumental "Walking With The Deco Man" dances the fine line between swing and shuffle.
Then in 1997, Rick played the guitar on the debut album, "A Voice Like Yours", from the country duo The Killens.
| Rick recorded his second solo album in 1996 and called it "Blues Town".The album features such studio heavyweights as Resse Wynans (formerly of Stevie Ray Vaughn's Double Trouble) and Glen Worf. It wasn't released at that time as it was only used to secure a record deal. It took until 1998 before it was officially released. By then the title had changed from "Blues Town" to "Pink & Black" and a few tracks were taken off; others were added. This time it wasn't released by the people at Modern Records but at the rather unknown Varese Sarabande Records label in November of that year.
There are a wide variety of music styles on this CD, fifties rock, country, blues, ... One of the songs is a cover of the Mac classic "I Loved Another Woman". Some other songs on "Pink & Black" are the rocking "I Wouldn't Lay My Guitar Down", the country song "Lazy Love", and the instrumental "Streamliner". The album was among the five nominees for the "1999 Nashville Music Awards". |
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After Bonnie Raitt recorded her "Fundamental" CD, she asked Rick to rejoin her band for the Fundamental tour. He gladly obliged. Some of the other musicians that played with him in Bonnie's band at the time were James "Hutch" Hutchinson on bass, former Beach Boys member Ricky Fataar on drums, and Jon Cleary on piano. Rick's job was to play the lead guitar and some backing vocals, but he also performed the song "Good Man, Good Woman" as a duet live on stage with Bonnie.
Rick Vito is a unique performer in that he has a developed a self-described "original traditional" style simply by staying faithful to his musical roots."I haven't tried to be a part of any trend." I've always just tried to play with feeling. That feeling, maybe that has personality to it. I think these people heard something in my playing that they could lend to their own music. In all of those situations, I was never asked to come in and play a certain way. I just did my thing and it worked within the context of the music that they were writing at that time. But people move on, they want to try different things. That's why I'm not a lifelong member of Bob Seger's band or Bonnie Raitt's band or any of these other people. It's a flavoring."
In 2000 he signed with a German record label called Hypertension Music and released his next cd entitled "Lucky Devils" in March of that year in Europe. His Lucky Devils band did a promotion tour of some German and Swiss clubs in April and May 2000. After that he joined John Fogerty's band for a World Tour as the supporting act for Tina Turner.
In the last couple of years, Rick has continued to record his own albums along with chalking up some more guest appearances. Among Rick’s guest appearance highlights lately have been on the Rosie Flores album ”Speed of Sound” which he produced. He played on every song, and even wrote a track from it called “Devil Love”. In fact, there is a picture of him in the CD's liner notes. The album received rave reviews, just as his solo work has earned over the years.
2001 saw the release of his rocking “Crazy Cool” album which included a re-recording of “Love is Dangerous”, a song he wrote with Stevie Nicks for the 1990 “Behind the Mask” album. He also released the impressively distinct “Bandbox Boogie” recording in 2003.
Though these Hypertension label albums are hard for U.S. fans to find in stores, they can easily be purchased on his newly redesigned website
There is also a new DVD available in the U.S. for Vito fans. You can purchase it on Amazon.com or at Best Buy. "Rick Vito in Concert" was fimed in Germany during Rick's 2001 "Lucky Devils" tour.for the long-running German concert show "Ohne Filter."
The album features 12 songs from Rick's solo albums performed live with his Lucky Devils band -- Tommy Kay, Jim DeJulio, and Paul Eckman.
Rick's also had some of his songs appear on television shows lately. "Real Sex". "Without A Trace", “Third Watch” “Everwood” “Felicity” and “Thieves” have all featured his songs playing in the background.
The slide guitarist continues to put out blues albums year after year on his own terms. In 2004 it was "Rattlesnake Shake" and in 2006 he put out an album in the UK called "Talk That Talk".
Although Rick's impressive session work have made him an in-demand studio and touring musician, Rick always makes plenty of time to live the quiet family life these days in his 20-acre farm outside of Nashville, in Franklin, Tennessee, together with his wife Aimee, son Francesco and daughter Ara.
Research: Jan Freedland & John Fitzgerald
Written by: Jan Freedland & John Fitzgerald
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