Ricky Fataar
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Ricky Fataar (born 5 September 1952 in Durban, South Africa) is a South African musician who is primarily a drummer.
He was originally part of The Flames, a band from his birthplace of Durban, South Africa that began in 1963. He joined the band at the age of nine years old. The band made several recordings as well as touring all over Southern Africa and before long they became quite popular in South Africa. By the time he was twelve years old he had already won the honour of being voted as the "Best Rock Drummer in South Africa."
In 1968 the band moved to London and began touring England. On one of their tours, they were spotted by a member of The Beach Boys, Carl Wilson. He was impressed by their talent and offered to sign them to the Beach Boys new record label Brother Records. The band moved to Los Angeles and they recorded and released their 1970 album The Flame with Carl Wilson producing the album.
The Flames then dissolved in late 1970 and Fataar and his fellow former The Flames bandmate Blondie Chaplin were then recruited by the Beach Boys. They recorded two albums with the Beach Boys. The 1972 Beach Boys album Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" featured musical and vocal contributions from Chaplin and Fataar. It also included two songs written by the two. "Here She Comes" and "Hold On Dear Brother" were both written by the duo. The Beach Boys next album release a year later, Holland also featured vocal and musical contributions from Chaplin and Fataar, including the well known hit single "Sail On, Sailor" in which Blondie Chaplin provided the lead vocal. On the Holland album, the pair also collaborated with Carl Wilson and Mike Love on the song "Leaving This Town". The two also became part of the band's tours in the early 1970's and also feature on the band's 1973 live album The Beach Boys In Concert which features a live version of the previously unreleased Chaplin/Fataar/Love collaboration "We Got Love" which was originally intended to be released on the Holland album but was considered too weak of a song to be included on the album.
In 1978, Fataar starred in All You Need Is Cash, a mockumentary film about The Rutles, a spoof of The Beatles. His character was Stig O'Hara, the band's guitarist (analogous to George Harrison).
In recent years Fataar has been a member of Bonnie Raitt's backup band. Fataar has also been a session musician for many artists, usually as a drummer.
He was married to the fashion model Penelope Tree with whom he had one child, Paloma Fataar. In later years, and still to date, Ricky dated former dancer and ex wife of Robin Williams, Valerie Velardi. She gave birth to his daughter, Francesca Fataar, in 1992.
Fataar has also been involved in film and television scoring. Fataar emigrated to Australia where he played on and co-produced albums for Tim Finn, Crowded House, Jenny Morris, Wendy Matthews as well as various other artists. He also produced the music for various films including The Coca-Cola Kid, High Tide and Les Patterson Saves the World. He also composed the score for an Australian film Spotswood.
