Ric Parnell, the drummer of the titular fictional band in Rob Reiner‘s classic metal mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, has died at age 70. Actor Harry Shearer, who co-starred with Parnell as bassist Derek Smalls, confirmed the musician’s death on Twitter in a brief tribute. There is no known cause of death at this time.
Parnell had the unenvious role of being the drummer for Spinal Tap, a position with an incredibly high turnover due to all the bizarre deaths. Shrimpton was no different, though he did survive long enough to spontaneously combust on stage during the band’s Japanese tour when they’d finally found some level of success again. This is Spinal Tap became such a success that, despite Shrimpton’s death, Parnell would go on to perform with his co-stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Shearer outside of the film as the drummer’s twin brother Ric. Those outside performances included playing on SNL, a reunion tour, and a reunion album.
While known best as Shrimpton, Parnell was exposed to music at an early age as the son of jazz drummer/bandleader Jack Parnell and grandson of Russ Carr, a music hall artist. He’d jump through a few London-based bands throughout his career, releasing one album with Horse before boarding the prog-rock group Atomic Rooster for a couple of records. The latter garnered a couple of hits throughout their run in the U.K, but Parnell would eventually leave and bounce around a few more groups. Even before This is Spinal Tap exposed him to the public, he got some high profile gigs, including playing drums on the massive Toni Basil hit “Mickey,”
At two points, Parnell’s career nearly turned out very different. Reportedly, he received an invitation from Journey frontman Steve Perry to join the band but declined for some unknown reason. Although there’s no verification for it, he also said he was invited to join hair metal giant Whitesnake. Neither of those came to be, but he still got to work alongside plenty of notable figures in the music industry including Yes‘s Jon Anderson and Denik Tek of Radio Birdman. Tek penned an extensive tribute to Parnell on Facebook reminiscing on the memories they shared recording together.
More recently, Parnell co-hosted a radio show appropriately titled “Spontaneous Combustion” and he got to revisit his roots thanks to Nuclear Bird, a project tributing the work of Atomic Rooster. A GoFundMe was set up to help cover funeral expenses for Parnell. He was more than just a cursed comedic drummer with aviators. He was a rock legend with connections throughout the industry and one iconic film to his name.
Our thoughts go out to his loved ones.
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