English studio musician Vic Flick, best known for his guitar riff from the theme song to the 007 James Bond films, has died at the age of 87. TASR informs about it according to Wednesday’s BBC News report.
Vic Flick – real name Victor Harold Flick – who was the lead guitarist of this famous song, he was reportedly paid six pounds to rearrange and record composer Monty Norman’s theme tune for the first Bond film Dr. Well (1962) starring Sean Connery.
Flick was born in 1937 in Surrey. During his career, he collaborated with groups such as The Beatles and Bee Gees or performers such as Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Cliff Richard.
Flick played the incriminating riff on a 1939 English Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe guitar plugged into a Fender Vibrolux amp. This musical instrument was later displayed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the USA.
Composer Monty Norman died in 2022 at the age of 94. In his own words, he only knew the theme tune captured the essence of Agent 007 when he changed the main riff from sitar to electric guitar. “His sexiness, mystery, ruthlessness – it’s all in several tones,” said Norman. In 2013, Flick received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Guitar Museum (NGM), which called him “one of the world’s greatest guitarists.”
