Radim Hladík

Radim Hladík (13 December 1946 − 4 December 2016) was a Czech rock guitarist, composer and producer. When he was a child, he learned to play the piano. For two years he attended the Prague Conservatory, where he studied classical guitar. At 15 he began playing guitar in the rock group Komety. Since the second half of the 1960s, he has been considered one of the best Czech guitarists, and has won awards there as the best guitarist with a rock beat personality. He was member of The Matadors with his friend Vladimír Mišík, then in 1968 Hladík and Mišík established the group Blue Effect. After Mišík left the group, Hladik became the leader of the group. In 1979, with singer Lešek Semelka and drummer Vlado Čech, he recorded the winning song of the Bratislavská lyra - Šaty z šátků.

Among guitarist he is probably most known for his instrumental composition Tearoom (Czech: Čajovna), which was originally meant just as "padding" for the album Modrý efekt & Radim Hladík, but has been re-recorded in modified variants e.g. on the album Czech Masters Of Rock Guitar, or Na Kloboučku with Michal Pavlíček, Stanislav Jelínek, etc.