Remembering Dal Richards, a fixture of NYE in Vancouver
Richards played 79 consecutive New year's Eve events in Vancouver from 1936-2014
For 79 years, it just wasn't New Year's Eve in Vancouver without Dal Richards.
The bandleader was a fixture at New Year's events from 1936 to 2014, playing big band and swing tunes as revellers ushered in the coming year.
"Well, if you find something you like doing in life, pursue it with your heart," he said of all the celebrations where he was a central figure.
"That is what I've done with music. I found that it was my love, so it enveloped my life totally."
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Richards died last year — on New Year's Eve 2015 — at age 97, leaving behind a singular musical legacy in the city.
'Accidental' success
It all started with a slingshot accident.
He was hit in the eye as a boy and doctors recommended he take up an instrument to battle depression. That's how he first learned the clarinet; he would later master the saxophone.
He played in the band at Kerrisdale's Magee Secondary School, and played his first New year's eve gig in 1936. In 1940, he began a 25-year run at the Hotel Vancouver's Panorama Roof.
He also was featured in CBC broadcasts and was involved with music at B.C. Lions half time shows and the PNE.
'He didn't want to not put on the best show'
Eventually Richards' big band sound declined in popularity, and he worked in hotel management to make ends meet starting in the 1960s.
But in recent decades, his contributions to local music became better known. He won the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C., the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and was an inductee of the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame.
His wife Muriel says it took a late change of heart for him to back out of playing an 80th New year's Eve gig in 2015.
"At that point in time, he decided ... 'I don't think I better do it.' He didn't want to not put on the best show," she said.
And on Dec. 31, 2016, Vancouver will have only its second New Year's Eve without Dal Richards since the 1930s.
