On Dec. 10, 1999, Rick Danko, bassist and singer for The Band, died at his home in Woodstock, N.Y. Born Dec. 29, 1942 in Ontario, at age 17, Richard Clare Danko began opening for Ronnie Hawkins, whose band included Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. Danko joined the band as rhythm guitarist but quickly switched to bass. After a falling out, the musicians left Hawkins and would later back Bob Dylan after his switch from acoustic folk to electric rock music. Danko traded in his Fender Jazz Bass for a Ampeg fretless (later a Gibson G-3) creating a sound like no other. By the end of 1999, a lifetime of pushing himself over the edge left Danko out of shape, barely recognizable. After a brief tour, his heart finally gave out, and he died in his sleep. His drug use, which had earned him a harsh prison sentence in Japan for months in 1997 (commuted for Danko's activeness in environmental causes), was not a cause.
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