Rick Jackson

Location: Rockingham, NC

Challenge: Stroke / Heart Bypass

Website: reverbnation.com/dannycowanband

Being a native of the sandhills, Rick Jackson grew up in Hamlet, North Carolina. Rick explains, "I fell in love with the drums at about the age of 9. I dreamed of having my own drum set someday. I would see people like Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson on the Johnny Carson show and I thought they were just the coolest people there were. I wanted to be a drummer like them."

When Rick saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show that was it, he knew then that he wanted to play music.

He got his first drum set for Christmas when he was 11 years old. "I started jamming around and listening to all of the British Invasion bands of the time like the Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Rolling Stones." Rick says, "Then later, some of the bands that really influenced me were Santana, Chicago, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Led Zeppelin."

By the age of 15 Rick was playing in local bands and throughout his teens he played in many local top 40 bands and some bands that played all original music. "My senior year high school rock band played all original music" Rick says.

After high school Rick attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

These days Rick is the drummer for the Danny Cowan Band, a great blues/rock trio.

Rick has recently had to take a short break because of a stroke he had in August 2014 and is now facing having open-heart surgery in the very near future. Rick is confident that he'll get through this and be able to come back and start playing gigs again with the band in 2015. Rick says, "Through all the challenges, I think we will prevail!"

Danny Cowan Band - "In Line For Your Love"