Well-known guitarist Vic Flick has recently passed away on November 14, 2024, at the age of 87. Vic's family revealed the news through a statement shared by his son Kevin on the Facebook group, Vic Flick Appreciation Society a day ago. Kevin wrote:
"With great sadness my mother – Vic's wife Judith and his grandchild Tyler and I must announce that my father Vic Flick passed away peacefully last Thursday and so ending his battle with Alzheimers."
Vic gained recognition over the years for his work on the theme music of the James Bond films. He contributed his guitar skills to the singles released by other artists and his net worth stood at $500,000 at the time of death, as per CelebrityNetWorth.
Netizens posted tributes on different social media platforms, recalling his work with various bands and the compositions he worked on throughout his career.
While speaking to Guitar Player in 2021, Vic recalled his childhood days by saying that his father trained him in music and he began playing different musical instruments at one point. He said that he had once received an acoustic guitar as a gift from his neighbor and added:
"I developed listening to Tal Farlow, Les Paul, Freddie Green, and Charlie Christian. Being able to read music opened doors, but back then you couldn't hear the guitar, so I found a tank commander's throat mike and strapped it on the guitar's machine head. I played it through the big speaker of my father's radio."
He revealed that he had worked on six films in the James Bond franchise, adding that he had a chance to collaborate with different composers.
Vic Flick's successful career in music was his main source of income over the years
Also known as Victor Harold Flick, he started his journey in the musical world by joining his father's band and later began playing with Bob Cort's group. Furthermore, he had an opportunity to work with some popular faces from the industry such as Nancy Sinatra and Tom Jones.
During his conversation with Guitar Player, Vic Flick said he was added to Bob Cort's band after their guitarist left. As mentioned, he contributed as a guitarist to the James Bond theme and recalled when he became a part of the franchise.
"Peter Hunt, the Bond films' music editor, told the producers that Monty Norman's original theme didn't represent the film. Peter had seen a 1960 Adam Faith film, Beat Girl, whose music J.B. composed and performed, and which heavily featured my guitar. Based on that, Peter recommended J.B."
Notably, J.B. refers to late composer John Barry, and Vic said that the music they recorded at first featured bongos. He further stated that he and Barry made a few changes to it and the music eventually played an important role in the success of the franchise.
Vic became a part of James Bond from the first film Dr. No. He told Guitar Player that the producers, who were surprised with the positive response to the film, were initially not confident about its success and were worried about how they would pay those who contributed to the film's music.
Apart from this, Vic Flick had a chance to work on the soundtrack of a video game called From Russia With Love. He even became a composer for films such as Europeans and Heat and Dust.
He had various singles in his credits where he played for other artists, including Trains and Boats and Planes, No Milk Today, and Puppet On a String. He was additionally featured on a TV show titled Pawn Stars and his memoir, Vic Flick Guitarman: From James Bond to The Beatles and Beyond came out back in 2008.