Rick Danko Dies; Played Bass For Dylan, And The Band

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. - Rick Danko, a country boy from Canada who helped shape American rock 'n' roll as a bass player and singer with The Band, died yesterday at his home. He was 56.

Ike Phillips, a friend and general manager of Woodstock radio station WDST-FM, said Mr. Danko died in his sleep a day after his birthday.

The cause of death was not immediately known. In 1997, Mr. Danko was arrested in Japan for heroin smuggling and acknowledged a drug habit.

Mr. Danko and fellow musicians Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel were Bob Dylan's backup group before they made it big in their own right with the 1968 album "Music From Big Pink."

It was followed by such albums as "The Band," "Rock of Ages" and "The Last Waltz."

Harmonizing by Mr. Danko, Helm and Manuel gave The Band its unique sound on such songs as "The Weight," "Up On Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." Mr. Danko sang lead on such songs as "Stage Fright."

The Band was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Born into a musical family in Simcoe, Ontario, Mr. Danko quit school at 14 to play in rock 'n' roll bands. At 17, he joined Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, whose members included the musicians who would later become The Band.

The group spent the early 1960s touring in Canada and the South. They split from Hawkins in the mid-'60s and began playing backup for Dylan after the folk musician went electric.

The Band played at the original Woodstock in Bethel in 1969. After The Band split up in 1976, Mr. Danko went on to a solo career. The Band reunited in 1983.