Dick Halligan
{{Short description|American musician and composer (1943–2022)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Dick Halligan
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Richard Bernard Halligan
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1943|08|29}}
| birth_place = Troy, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|01|18|1943|08|29}}
| death_place = Rome, Italy
| instrument = Piano, organ, trombone, flute
| genre = Rock, pop, jazz, chamber music
| occupation = Musician, songwriter
| years_active = 1968– 20??
| associated_acts = Blood, Sweat & Tears
| website = [http://www.richardhalligan.com richardhalligan.com]
}}
Richard Bernard Halligan (August 29, 1943 – January 18, 2022) was an American musician and composer, best known as a founding member of the jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears.{{cite book|last1=Strong|first1=Martin Charles|last2=Peel|first2=John|title=The Great Rock Discography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WoRAPJQ58sC&pg=PA156|access-date=4 June 2012|date=2004-10-21|publisher=Canongate U.S.|isbn=9781841956152|pages=155–}}
Career
Halligan was born in Troy, New York. He was BS&T's trombonist on their first album, Child Is Father to the Man, but when Al Kooper left the band after that first album, Halligan switched to keyboards and began playing flute as well. He received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Performance for "Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" from the album Blood, Sweat & Tears. Halligan also arranged many of the band's charts during this time period, and he wrote several songs including "Redemption" and "Lisa Listen to Me." Halligan left BS&T in 1971 after recording their fourth album, when the band began to shift to more rock-oriented music.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Halligan composed and arranged music for a number of motion pictures, including Go Tell the Spartans (1978), Cheaper to Keep Her (1981), Fear City (1984), and the Chuck Norris films A Force of One (1979) and The Octagon (1980).[https://woodstockwhisperer.info/2016/08/29/richard-dick-bernard-halligan/ The Woodstock Whisperer]
In 2006, he was active as a composer and performer for various types of music, including jazz and chamber music. In 2011 and 2012 he developed and performed an autobiographical one-man show entitled "Musical Being".[https://www.timeout.com/newyork/music/dick-halligan TimeOut New York] An early title for it was "Man Overboard" and in 2013 called "Love, Sweat & Fears". Halligan earned a master's degree in music theory and composition from the Manhattan School of Music. He also conducted his original works in Carnegie Hall.[https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/10/dick_halligan_co-founder_of_bl.html Dick Halligan, co-founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears, to perform one-man show in Syracuse Friday - at syracuse.com]
Death
Halligan died from natural causes in Rome on January 18, 2022, at the age of 78.{{cite news |last1=Mims |first1=Taylor |title=Blood, Sweat & Tears Co-Founder Dick Halligan Dies at 78 |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/dick-halligan-blood-sweat-and-tears-dead-1235022332/ |access-date=25 January 2022 |publisher=Billboard |date=24 January 2022}} His daughter, Shana Halligan, was the vocalist of trip hop duo Bitter:Sweet.{{cite web |url=http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-bittersweet-the-mating-game/ |title=Music Review: Bitter:sweet – The Mating Game |publisher=Blogcritics |date=2014-07-28 |access-date=2014-08-01 |archive-date=2013-04-14 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414100741/http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-bittersweet-the-mating-game/ |url-status=dead }}
Discography
- Child Is Father to the Man (1968)
- Blood, Sweat & Tears (1968)
- Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970)
- B, S & T 4 (1971)
- Cat's Dream (2007)
- Slow Food Forum (2007)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0356599|name=Dick Halligan}}
- [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p83603|pure_url=yes}} Dick Halligan at AllMusicGuide.com]
- {{discogs artist|Dick Halligan}}
- {{YouTube|VbuJHwjGios|Man Overboard! (one-man show) excerpt}}
{{Blood, Sweat & Tears}}
{{Grammy Award for Album of the Year 1970s}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halligan, Dick}}
Category:Musicians from Troy, New York
Category:American jazz composers
Category:American male jazz composers
Category:American film score composers
Category:American male film score composers
Category:American television composers
Category:American jazz trombonists
Category:American male trombonists
Category:Manhattan School of Music alumni
Category:Blood, Sweat & Tears members
Category:Media containing Gymnopedies
Category:American rock keyboardists
Category:American jazz keyboardists
Category:American jazz pianists
Category:American male jazz pianists
Category:20th-century American pianists
Category:Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Category:21st-century American pianists
Category:21st-century American trombonists
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:21st-century American male musicians
{{US-jazz-trombonist-stub}}