Spinal Tap Drummer Ric Parnell, a.k.a. ‘Mick Shrimpton,’ Dies at 70
variety.comJem Aswad Senior Music EditorRic Parnell, who played the fictional band Spinal Tap’s drummer Mick Shrimpton in the classic 1984 heavy metal “mockumentary” “This Is Spinal Tap,” has died at the age of 70, according to a post from the group’s Harry Shearer and Yahoo News.
No cause of death was initially reported.Ric Parnell, our drummer in This is Spinal Tap, passed away today. No one ever rocked harder.— Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) May 2, 2022The group — fronted by actor-musicians Michael McKean (as David St.
Hubbins), Christopher Guest (as Nigel Tufnel) and Shearer (as Derek Smalls) — crossed the line between fiction and reality from their inception: the band literally road-tested tested their concept shortly after making the film, opening shows for psychedelic sludge-rockers Iron Butterfly, and no one in the audience was for the wiser.Spinal Tap’s drummers are a running punchline in the film — all of the group’s previous drummers had died, one from spontaneous combustion — and although Parnell appears throughout the film, he too spontaneously combusts at the end.
He performed on the soundtrack album that accompanied the film as well as a follow-up album. The group remained an ongoing proposition over the years, performing on “Saturday Night Live” in 1984, reuniting for an album, “Break Like the Wind,” and tour in the early 1990s, and another tour in 2001.
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