Vic Flick was born in Worcester Park, Surrey in 1937. His interest in
music started in his early teens, when he joined a band led by his
piano-playing father; a band that also included his brother on
saxophone and a neighbour on violin. Although he could already read
music and play the piano, he felt the band was missing one vital
ingredient, a guitar, and so he decided to take up the instrument. At
that time - the mid-fifties - the guitar was not the universal
instrument it has since become; in fact it was really only used as a
rhythm instrument in big bands. Flick only took four lessons, but with
the added benefit of many hours of listening to records and practising,
he soon became good enough to take his place alongside his father and
brother in their band. His first attempt at a professional career saw
him with Les Clarke and his Musical Maniacs at a Butlin's Holiday Camp
in Skegness. After a winter's worth of unemployment - interrupted only
by a sporadic gig or two - he decided to link up again with his brother
Alan. They agreed to form the Vic Alan Quintet, and successfully
auditioned for a summer season at another Butlin's, this time in
Clacton. The resident bandleader was a big name indeed, Eric Winstone,
and at the auditions he quickly realised that Flick was a rare bird
indeed, a young musician who could actually read music.
Before long, Flick found himself working, not only with his own
Quintet, but also with Winstone's band throughout the entire engagement
at Butlin's. So impressed was Winstone with Flick, he offered him more
work afterwards for gigs and broadcasts for BBC radio. Flick's name
soon became synonymous with a certain slick professionalism, technical
expertise and an easy-going nature, and it must have come as no
surprise in the business when he was asked to join the Bob Cort Skiffle
group, as a replacement for Ken Sykora on guitar. When the Cort group
got a good break as support act to a JB7 backed Paul Anka on his
nationwide UK tour during the winter of 1957, the meeting of two
musical minds was inevitable. Eight months down the line, Barry's phone
call invitation for him to join the John Barry Seven changed his life
forever. It was the classic offer he couldn't refuse, and almost before
he had put pen to paper, he was deep in rehearsals for a 20-minute spot
at the Metropolitan. Five days after what was a successful debut, Flick
made his first appearance on On Boy! as a fully fledged member of the
band. It was the first of many TV appearances.
The guitar became a feature of the band's act and also their recordings
for EMI's Columbia label at Abbey Road Studios. Studio 2 was a regular
location, and at times Flick felt he was almost living there, such was
the workload. He has special memories of recording 'Hit And Miss',
forever embedded in the minds of all who recall those times as the
signature tune to an early Saturday night pop icon, the BBC's Juke Box
Jury. He also remembers the recording of 'Walk Don't Run', for which
Barry was keen to produce a guitar sound completely different to the
one produced on the American original by the Ventures. To achieve it,
Flick used a Bigsby tremolo arm attachment to sustain a distinctive
vibrato effect. As he didn't possess one, he had to borrow from the
other guitarist on the session, Eric Ford. To this day, Flick still
believes that the take that was eventually chosen - the one that found
itself in the Top Ten some weeks later - was the one on which he had
over-done the tremolo!
The recording of the John Barry album, Stringbeat, was another turning
point in his career. Guitar featured prominently throughout the
fifteen-track album and his ability was noted by several of the
violinists on the session, who doubled as "fixers" (orchestra
contractors). Soon he found himself heavily in demand to play on
sessions for other artists, work which became so time-consuming he was
forced to leave the JB7 in 1963, having led the band on stage for a
couple of years.
He also developed his writing skills and when session work began to dry
up in the late seventies, he began arranging and writing for TV and
film. He worked with composer Richard Robbins on some of his
assignments for James Ivory & Ismail Merchant, and solo projects
included the score for Autobiography of a Princess and Sir Ivor. His
biography, Vic Flick, Guitarman, was published in August 2008.
Vic Flick married Judy in 1960 and they had two children. The couple
live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
