Blood, Sweat & Tears Co-Founder Dick Halligan Dies at 78

January 25, 2022 E Jazz Reporter

Blood, Sweat & Tears co-founder Dick Halligan, who won two Grammys with the classic jazz-rock band, died of natural causes on Jan. 18 in Rome, Italy. He was 78.

Halligan grew up in Michigan and moved to New York for school, and as the story goes he first turned down his friend and jazz saxophonist Fred Lipsius when he asked him to join Blood, Sweat & Tears. But, Halligan changed his tune and joined the band when Lipsius told him they would be touring in California — a place he always wanted to see.

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With Blood, Sweat & Tears, Halligan played the trombone, keyboard and flute. He also co-wrote several tracks, including “Redemption” and “Lisa Listen To Me.”

Halligan’s expertise in music stemmed from hours spent listening to the big band music of Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller as a boy growing up in Glens Fall, New York. He went on to receive a master of arts degree in music theory and composition from the Manhattan School of Music and continued his studies in voice and piano.

Blood, Sweat & Tears’ second studio album, Blood, Sweat & Tears, was released in 1968, spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 1969 and won a Grammy for album of the year in 1970. That same year, they also won a Grammy for best contemporary instrumental performance for the album’s opening track, “Variations On A Theme by Eric Satie.”

Halligan left the band in 1971 following the recording of the group’s fourth studio album, B, S & T 4. Of the four albums that Halligan created with the band, four were certified Gold by the RIAA and one was certified four-times Platinum.

Following his time with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Halligan went on to score over 20 film and TV projects, including The Owl and the Pussycat, the Chuck Norris movies A Force Of One and The Octagon, as well as ABC’s Holmes And Yoyo. He also composed for orchestras and, most recently, wrote, performed and toured with the one-man show Musical Being, which was based on his book of the same name detailing his unique musical journey.

Halligan is survived by his daughter and musician Shana, his son-in-law Eric Kaufman, his grandson Otis and his stepson Buddy.