Al Hickey

Hickey in 1971, photographed by Kris Köhler

**Allen Mackenzie Hickey** (born 1 April 1944) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer and bassist of rock band Flyford Favell. His most well-known composition is "Setting Sun", which he co-wrote with Sara during their tenure in Flyford Favell.

## Early life

Al Hickey was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1944, to Linda Hickey, a public servant. Hickey moved to Montreal when he was 14 when his mother married James Richards. Richards was a session musician, and taught Hickey to play guitar. While living in Montreal, Hickey met Sockeye drummer, Danny Martin.

Hickey performed poorly at school and was eventually expelled, which he claims was "for being an asshole". He worked as a cashier until he was 21, when he relocated to New York City.

## Career

### Early career

Hickey travelled to New York in June 1965 via bus. It passed through Boston, where Lawrence Flynn boarded, fresh off the boat from England. The pair struck up a friendship, although did not play together until October. They played at open mics together for several months, singing joint lead vocals and playing acoustic guitar. After failing to attract Cleo Wallis to join and Flynn's transition to electric guitar, Hickey resolved to learn bass. "I was a better singer and he was a better guitarist, simple as," Hickey stated in 1975.

### Flyford Favell

*Main article: Flyford Favell*

Flyford Favell signed with SK Records in 1968, the final lineup being Hickey, Flynn, Wallis and Charlie Sara. He played bass and sang lead vocals. He also contributed to songwriting, experiencing moderate success with "Maggie" on *Flyford Favell*, although his best known song remains "Setting Sun" from *The Black Bull of Norroway*, a co-composition with keyboardist Sara. They wrote the song on a vacation to Mexico that Sara, Sara's wife Martha Reed and Hickey took together in early 1970.

Hickey was involved in Flyford Favell's notorious tumultuous interpersonal relationships, clashing extensively with Wallis over music and later, Flynn's addiction, and with Sara over various personal factors. The latter feud continued over the next five decades. Hickey and Flynn had no such conflict, and Hickey has often stated that he really enjoyed singing Flynn's work. He still sings a number of Flyford Favell songs penned by Flynn during his solo performances. Hickey has also admitted that he remains troubled over his role in introducing Flynn to Jared McKernan, and that Wallis is "probably right" in her resentment over it.

### Solo work

While he started as a folk musician, Hickey's early solo work touched more on hard rock. Critics noted the apparent lasting influence of Wallis and Sara on Hickey's work. He played significantly softer music following his trip to rehab in 1978. Music journalist Bob Tull noted that after he got sober, Hickey's known stage persona - as a rowdy and manic frontman - disappeared almost entirely after this point, and subsequently it made sense that his music began to suit him too.

Since the breakup of Flyford Favell, Hickey has released a number of albums to varied success. He writes significantly more than he did with Flyford. Although much of his work fell short critically and commercially, Hickey had a number one hit with "Wingwalker" in 1980. Commenting on the song, Sara said:

> "Al writes a lot. If you throw a thousand darts at the board, one's gonna hit."
>
>

Hickey has worked with various artists during his solo career, and stills tours regularly. His last tour was in fall 2019.

## Personal life

Hickey lives in Los Angeles. He has lived near Sara's home since 2012. His exact place of residence is unknown.

He endorsed Gary Johnson for the 2016 United States presidential election, which he later denied.

### Relationships

Hickey was married to his first wife, Margaret Sanders, from 1974 to 1976. He met her in 1965 and the pair had a brief entanglement, during which Hickey wrote "Maggie", which appeared on *Flyford Favell*. They separated but met again in 1973. He was married to his second wife, artist Jennifer West, from 1980 to 1990. She was the subject of "Wingwalker". They had one daughter, Mia Sanders. Hickey was married for a third and final time between 1995 and 2010 to car salesman Jane Cohen until her death.

Throughout his career, Hickey became renowned for his tumultuous relationships with his colleagues and bandmates. He notoriously had feuds with two fellow Flyford Favell members, Sara and Wallis. Wallis would publicly state that they had "buried the hatchet" in 2003, but Sara insisted their difficulties were still ongoing in 2019. He has also had a number of public fights - verbal and physical - with various SK Records employees, contemporaries, journalists, executives, TV presenters and disk jockeys. On Hickey's personal qualities, Flynn stated the following in a 1992 interview:

> "Al's always been like marmite. You know, you either love him or you hate him. Not really love, more...measured neutrality. You either tolerate him or you hate him (laughs). Sorry, Al. I like you."
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### Destructive behaviour

During his time with Flyford Favell and until his stint in rehab in 1978, Hickey was what Wallis would later describe as a "live-wire", particularly on stage. In some cases - such as their 1970/1971 UK/US tour, his behaviour benefitted the group, garnering them a great deal of attention and a legacy as a powerful live act. Sara would call Hickey's showmanship his "only real contribution" to Flyford, suggesting that Hickey's songs and bass playing were never especially strong .

> "Any of us could have outplayed him on bass. And all of his *did* out-write him on the songs. The only thing we couldn't out-do was the fact he's fucking nuts."
>
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On-stage incidents from during his tenure in Flyford Favell and his early solo career included nudity, amateur pyrotechnics, destruction of instruments (both his own and other band members), physically fighting his backup band as well as crowd members, extended political speeches, insulting the audience, propositioning the audience and on 17 April 1971, passing out on stage. The band continued playing without him, Flynn taking over lead vocals, and brought on roadie Jim "Wet" Poole to play bass. Off-stage, there were a number of arrests over the years, although SK Records managed to keep the exact details under wraps. Hickey is banned from twelve hotels across the US, and three in Canada.

Hickey generally calmed down after his stay in rehabilitation following an overdose in summer 1978.

## Discography

* *Wind and Water* (1973)
* *The Coal Miner* (1977)
* *Concorde* (1980)
* *Mountain Rat* (1985)
* *Sorrow Lives* (1988)
* *Six* (1994)
* *Origami* (2000)
* *Backscatter* (2010)
* *Dustisms* (2016)