ENUFF Z'NUFF Drummer Dies After Long Battle With Cancer

ENUFF Z'NUFF drummer Ricky Parent passed away yesterday (Saturday, October 27) after a long battle with cancer.

According to antiMUSIC, Ricky Parent was born in Passaic, New Jersey. His spent his childhood in New Jersey and New York before he headed to Los Angeles to follow his rock n' roll dream. Ricky was just five years old when realized his love for the drums. One day he was in the yard playing football when he heard a marching band playing down the street. Mesmerized by the sound he found himself following it to discover what was creating that beat. Once he found out, he was hooked and like many young aspiring drummers he first turned to the ready made drum set in any household; pots and pans. Seeing the young drummer in the making he was giving his first drum set, a Mickey Mouse toy set which fueled his dream for a short while before he destroyed it. He then graduated to a Del Ray set that was covered in black contact paper but had cymbals and a snare. From there he pursued his passion with a vengeance, learning his craft from a combination of lessons, drum clinics, but primarily learning from records and songs on the radio.

"My main influence is probably John Bonham," Ricky wrote on his Myspace page. "But I’ve gone through a bunch of phases from jazz Buddy Rich, Tony Williams, etc. progressive rock Terry Bozzio, Simon Phillips to Ringo to Ansley Dunbar, etc pretty much listened with an open mind soaking up what I admired and working it into my own."

Like many of his generation when the time came to follow his muse in rock n' roll he headed to Los Angeles. He was quickly established as world-class drummer and got his first high profile gig with WAR & PEACE, a band fronted by Jeff Pilson after he left DOKKEN that also featured Tommy Henricksen (P.O.L.) and Russ Parrish (HALFORD, FIGHT). The band was short-lived and disbanded after grunge revolution made it hard for them to get noticed. When Vince Neil left MÖTLEY CRÜE, Ricky was called on to lay down some drum tracks for Vince's solo project. Ironically, Neil would soon hire away ENUFF Z'NUFF drummer Vikki Foxx.

At the time Ricky was playing in a jam band with Paul Gilbert and when word went out that ENUFF Z'NUFF were looking for a new drummer, Gilbert and Mike Varney the head of WAR & PEACE's label Shrapnel Records, recommended Ricky to the band. He soon after relocated to the band's home base of Chicago becoming an official member in 1992 where he was a mainstay of the group on stage and in the studio until 2004 when he took a leave of absence after being diagnosed with cancer.

Over the years Ricky was involved in other bands and projects including a brief stint with Alice Cooper as well as playing with Sass Jordan and Tod Howarth (FREHLEY'S COMET).