ricky
lancelotti
this is from the liner notes to wonderful wino, the lost episodes version:
"the version of this
song is especially notable for the presence of one of the most powerful and
disctinctive singers to perform with any zappa band, the late ricky lancelotti.
said frank: "he auditioned for the band, passed, went home and got
ripped, and broke his arm. i said
'rick, you're not going to make the tour.'
he used to carry a .45. he
had a cassette in which he imitated 100 cartoon voices in 60 seconds. i thought
he was really talented. he wanted
to get work as a cartoon voice guy, but never did.
o.d.'d. an old new jersey
tough guy."
at a particularly memorable 1972 hollywood palladium moi concert (of which zappa
held fond recollections of lancelotti singing "smog
sucker", the lion-maned vocalist favored the crowd with ferocious
scat-singing whenever fz was inspired to beckon him from the wings.
frank would open and close his hand in a gesture symbolizing a talking
mouth, and lancelotti would magically appear on stage and begin bellowing."
from:
charles ulrich (ulrich@sfu.ca)
he was also nigey's
"mr. dip".
from: jack
shumway (jshumway2@earthlink.net)
i knew ricky lancelotti back in 1978 (he was my room mate). a friend introduced
me to ricky that he met him from work. ricky was unemployed and needed a place
to stay so i let him stay at my apartment in canoga park, ca. for a few months
(i am a big fz fan so i let him sleep on a bed in my living room). i had to move
to santa barbara to start a new job in july of 1978 so that is when i last saw
him (when i moved). a few months later i heard that drove his car off a cliff
and died. i believe he was drunk (but not sure). while ricky was staying with us
he told me a lot of interesting stories of his life. ricky started his singing
career in greenwich village, new york where he studied music (singing). he had
the same singing instructor as bob zimmerman. when ricky would show up for his
singing lesson when dylan was just leaving. he used to hang out with lenny
bruce, visiting him back stage before lenny's performance. he told me that lenny
carried two briefcases with him, one loaded with smut magazines and the other
loaded with narcotics (prescribed by doctors). lenny would shoot methedrine in
one arm and morphine in the other before going on stage. lenny told ricky that
if he ever got busted (for drugs) that he would take the ama down with him.
ricky later moved to la and as a professional singer he would be a backup singer
for dean martin and sammy davis jr. in las vegas (he would fill in when they
were sick). he later became friends with frank zappa. ricky would hang out with
frank during his recording sessions. after the final mastering of the
"grand waz0o" (1972) frank played the recording to all the band
members and than asked each person what they thought of it. each musician he
asked thought the recording was excellent. when frank asked ricky for his
opinion he said "it had no back-beat" (frank was shocked). later ricky
sang for frank on "overnight sensation". ricky asked frank how he
wanted him to sing (50-50, zomby woof) and frank said, "just act
crazy". ricky's picture was not printed on the album cover along with the
other band members because ricky didn't want his picture on it. during this time
period ricky would drive frank around in his car (frank didn't like to drive).
band practice was mostly late at night or after midnight. one night ricky showed
up for practice drunk and frank told him to "go home and sleep it off"
(frank was paying rick $80 per hour to sing and didn't tolerate drugs or
drinking at work). later frank
asked ricky to go on tour but ricky refused to tour and dropped out of the band
(you had to tour with frank because that was his main source of income at the
time). ricky's friendship with frank ended badly because ricky accused frank of
using him so he could learn how to sing.
ricky was a bona fide member of "hip society" (something that doesn't
exist today). he helped write the song "don't bogart that joint" (pass
it over to me).
from:
donna barker (ohhdona@webtv.net)
my name is donna loguidice barker. ricky
is my first cousin. i was really
surprised to see the write up on him. my
dad's sister is ricky's mom. we all
were born in new jersey, but moved to california in the early sixties.
ricky did much more than just sing with frank zappa. back in the early
70's there was a show called the banana splits.
ricky had a contract with hanna barbara and did all the lead vocals for
the show. he also made many
appearances on tv. my aunt also
told me a story about when the rolling stones stayed at their guest
house in northridge. i also
need to clarify how ricky died. it
was complications due to a car accident. he
did however, have a very close call when his porsh went over a cliff in malibu
canyon. two different events. a
tree caught the car and he crawled up the side of the canyon.
i think you are right about ricky. he
was an incredible talents. and he
did one hell of a joe cocker imitation!!!
i have tons of info about him. i
am now living in idaho, but my parents are still in ca.
i go back to california several times a year.
i am going in april. i will
see if i can get some better pictures of him.
my mom has one of him with bob hope.
he looked better then the pictures you have on the website. no offence of
course, they do fit the times. i
also have pictures of him in my parents wedding.
he was pretty young then. he
idolized my dad. i was 24 when he died. i
am 45 now. when we first came
to california i was only 7. i
remember going to the peppermint twist. it
was a trendy 60's club in hollywood.
i could not go at night but i got to go during the day and watch him
rehearse. i loved him very much.
he loved me to. at that time
i thought that was the coolest thing. i
will look into date of birth. i
know he was a leo.
he has a grown son who is ricky all over again. i don't remember the exact date
of his death. it was right before
easter sunday in 1980. i am pretty
sure he was 32. until now i had not realized how long he has been gone.
my youngest was just 10 months old. i remember
bringing him to ricky's funeral and holding him he could barley walk.
ricky is buried in san fernando california.
at the time it was just him buried there, now my grandparents are with
him.
our family is full italian. yes
ricky is a deago. not like his last name didn't give it away.
i know zappa was too. boy
did ricky love to eat. we used to
talk about how we hated the battle of the bulge.
he would say. the italian
family always tells you "manga
gresh" which means eat and grow in italian.
he said the problem was, they never tell you which way you grow!
i guess you have figured out by now he had a good sense of humor.
i spoke to him about a week before he died.
i had to have a very simple in-patient procedure and called him to
apologize about not visiting him while he was in the hospital.
it was one of those things you always regret not doing.
he did not show up for dinner on easter sunday at my grandparents house.
my grandpa went over to see why he had not shown up, he had passed away.
just a clarification. the family
had not been at my grandparents that easter.
it would have been just a small dinner. my
grandparents and ricky. he had been
in a car accident a week or so earlier and had come home from the hospital, i
believe against the doctors wishes. there
were complications. he himself told
me about the mailbu canyon incident. i
remember my mouth was hanging open. he
described how the car was falling over the cliff and he was having a
conversation with god. what
the hell else can you do at a time like that?
then all of a sudden the car just stopped.
i guess the conversation paid off. a
tree caught it.
he really enjoyed telling stories. we
were all raised catholic. and one
thing i just remembered, ricky always wore a st. jude medallion. look into what
st jude stands for. he believed in
him so much. and as far as the
cartoon voices, he went to the mel blanc school of voice.
it was unreal and funnier than shit to hear him do all those voices. i
was in high school at the time and a friend of mine was at the house ricky was
preforming (which he loved to do) doing all those voices.
we were just rolling. oh
well i won't keep going on. i will
get you some dates for you.
just curious, who are you and why the interest.
does this surround zappa. oh
yea, ricky had a wolf. his name was
little wolf. it was just like a
dog. in the 60's he was on hula ba
lou it was one of those 60's dance shows. and
i also think the lloyd thaxton show. he was on a late night show also.
i think it was jack parr before johnny carson.
he would also have little wolf with him on these tv appearances. i was
really little but i remember watching him.
my aunt annie, ricky's mom is still alive.
i will call her and get more specifics.
its just kind of fun remembering this stuff. it is not difficult or painful for
me to talk about ricky. it was very
sad when he died as is any death of a family member.
it was a great loss i remember so much of the sad stuff.
ricky was born in new jersey. we
grew up in a place call watchung. its
close to plainfield. i should not
say we grew up. better put, spent
younger years there. ricky was
around 15ish when my aunt and uncle moved to ca. jumping ahead in years
ricky also had two alaskan malamutes. maugwa and weetumka.
weetumka was named after weetumka falls in watchung. this was the same
time he had little wolf. they all
used to share a dog run. weetumka
used to chase my sister denise around my aunts pool.
he was super sweet and playful.
ricky always talked about back home and even
wrote a song about watchung. i am
hoping that my dad has that tape. it
was petty cool. not done in the same voice as zombi wolf.
a different side of ricky.
if i recall correctly, it was about his childhood there. rowing the row boat on
watchung lake. it was right across
from our house we all lived close by each other.
you never get your true home out of you system.
i don't think any of us did for that matter.
he liked to hunt and fish. not a ted
nuggent type. he just liked it.
he once caught a 7' shark deep sea fishing.
had it mounted. it was a
real trip. he had it in the guest
house in northridge i told you about. he
also liked the desert. he liked to
go there and shoot guns. kinda of
ties in to what zappa said about the 45. i
think he liked guns.
i got one more bit of info on ricky. this
may sound crazy but we know his birthday is in august, but can't remember the
date. my mom did have a prayer card
from rickys funeral with the date he died.
it was april 7th, 1980.
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