Hayward, Richie

Hayward, Richie

Drummer Richie Hayward was born in Iowa on 6 February 1946. He got his first drum set around age 10 and played his first gig at 13 at a local hall.

Moving to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, he met musician Lowell George and joins his band, Factory, in September 1966. The band broke up and everyone moved on to other projects. In 1969, Lowell approached Richie about forming a new band called Little Feat along with Bill Payne and Roy Estrada. They disbanded in 1979 following the death of Lowell. Richie and the other surviving former members reformed Little Feat in 1987. From 1993 to 2009, Shaun Murphy, who was Eric Clapton’s backup vocalist in 1985, was Little Feat’s lead singer.

Throughout his long career, Richie was also a prolific session musician. He recorded and toured with Joan Armatrading, Linda Ronstadt, Ry Cooder, Robert Palmer, Jonny Lang, Arlo Guthrie, Peter Frampton, Delaney Bramlett, Nils Lofgren, Taj Mahal, The Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills, Bob Seger, Van Dyke Parks, Ry Cooder, Kim Carnes, Arlo Guthrie, Carly Simon, Robert Plant, Warren Zevon, and Buddy Guy to name a few.

Eric Clapton had jammed with Little Feat and invited Richie to play his 1993 Royal Albert Hall dates. Richie can be heard on Eric’s CD From The Cradle on “How Long Blues”. He also played on the early blues tour dates in 1994.

In August 2009, Richie announced he had been diagnosed with liver cancer. He passed away from pneumonia while still battling liver cancer on 12 August 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. He was 64.