Ricky Gardiner was a guitarist and composer from Scotland.

In 1962, Gardiner joined his first band, the Vostoks, while still in high school. After that, he established Beggars Opera with the Kingbees and the System in 1969.

He performed with his own band, Beggars Opera, as well as friends David Bowie and Iggy Pop. On Bowie’s 1977 album Low, he performed lead guitar.

In the same year, he worked on Pop’s album Lust for Life, which includes “The Passenger,” widely recognized as one of Pop’s best songs, and for which Gardiner composed the music.

David Buckley, a Bowie biographer, hailed it as “possessed with one of the finest riffs of all time.”

Tony Visconti chose Gardiner to play guitar for the pre-recorded backing of David Bowie’s performance on BBC’s Top of the Pops on October 19, 1977.

Bowie, Visconti, and pianist Sean Mayes recorded the album at Good Earth Studios in Soho, London.

Gardiner utilized feedback to imitate Robert Fripp’s guitar sound since he didn’t realize an EBow had been used:

“I was requested to recreate Robert Fripp’s line,” he told Stephen Dalton in 2001, “and I had no idea that he [Fripp] had used an EBow at the time.”

I did my best using only feedback. My amplifier began to fail as we progressed through the song. The amp turned off as the song ended “.

Ricky Gardiner’s Net Worth

Ricky Gardiner net worth was estimated to be around $1 million.

Ricky Gardiner Parents

There is no information about Ricky Gardiner’s parents

Ricky Gardiner Wife

There is no information about Ricky Gardiner wife or his past relationships

Ricky Gardiner Children

There is no information about Ricky Gardiner Children

Ricky Gardiner Cause of Death

Gardiner passed away on May 13, 2022, at the age of 73, following a long fight with Parkinson’s disease.