Dan Hicks dead at 74 after cancer battle

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By ( Louder ) published

Founder of The Hot Licks and early drummer with the Charlatans was a leader of the 'San Francisco sound'

Dan Hicks has died at the age of 74 after a two-year battle with cancer.

The founder of Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks was diagnosed with throat and liver cancer in 2014.

His wife Clare says: “My darling darling husband left this earth early this morning. He was true blue, one of a kind, and did it all his own way always.

“To all who loved him, know that he will live forever in the words, songs, and art that he spent his life creating. He worked so hard on each and every detail – they are all pure Dan.”

Arkansas-born Hicks started his musical career as the drummer with San Francisco folk rock band the Charlatans in 1965. The band, along with Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, were considered leaders of the ‘San Francisco sound.’

In 1967, he formed The Hot Licks, also known as Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks, and gained arguably his biggest successes with the songs I Scare Myself and Canned Music.

His latest release was 2013’s Live At Davies. Hicks passed away in California.

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.