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Rick Davies

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Rick Davies
Davies, 1979
Davies, 1979
Background information
Birth nameRichard Davies
Born (1944-07-22) 22 July 1944 (age 78)
Swindon, Wiltshire, England
GenresProgressive rock, pop rock, art rock
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)
Years active1956–present
LabelsA&M, Rick Davies Productions
Websitesupertramp.com

Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member,[2] and composed some of the band's best known songs, including "Rudy", "Bloody Well Right", "Crime of the Century" , "From Now On", "Ain't Nobody But Me", "Gone Hollywood", "Goodbye Stranger", "Just Another Nervous Wreck", "Cannonball", and "I'm Beggin' You".[3] He is generally noted for his rhythmic blues piano solos and jazz-tinged progressive rock compositions and cynical lyrics.

Starting with the self-titled Supertramp in 1970, Davies shared lead vocals with Supertramp songwriting partner Roger Hodgson until the latter's departure in 1983,[4] at which point he became the sole lead vocalist of the group. Davies's voice is deeper than Hodgson's, and he usually employs a raspy baritone which stands in stark contrast to his bandmate's tenor. However, he occasionally sings in a falsetto which superficially resembles Hodgson's vocals, such as on "Goodbye Stranger" and "My Kind of Lady".

Discover more about Rick Davies related topics

Supertramp

Supertramp

Supertramp were an English rock band that experienced massive global success in 1979 with their seventh album Breakfast in America. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, the group were distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles as well as for a sound that relied heavily on Wurlitzer electric piano. The group's lineup changed numerous times throughout their career, with Davies being the only constant member throughout its history. Other longtime members included bassist Dougie Thomson, drummer Bob Siebenberg and saxophonist John Helliwell.

Bloody Well Right

Bloody Well Right

"Bloody Well Right" is a song by English rock band Supertramp from their 1974 album Crime of the Century. It appeared as the B-side of the single "Dreamer" in 1974. Listeners in the United States preferred it to the A-side, and "Bloody Well Right" became their breakthrough hit in the country, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Supertramp (album)

Supertramp (album)

Supertramp is the debut album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in July 1970. The first UK press was released under the title "And I'm Not Like Other", but this title was printed on the labels only. In some countries it was released under the titles Surely (Singapore), and Now and Then (Spain).

Goodbye Stranger

Goodbye Stranger

"Goodbye Stranger" is a song by the English rock band Supertramp; it was written by Rick Davies. The song first appeared on their sixth studio album, Breakfast in America (1979). The lyrics present an "optimistic view from a drifter."

Cannonball (Supertramp song)

Cannonball (Supertramp song)

"Cannonball" is the opening track from Supertramp's 1985 album Brother Where You Bound.

I'm Beggin' You

I'm Beggin' You

"I'm Beggin' You" is a 1987 single by British progressive rock band Supertramp and one of two entries into the dance charts by Supertramp. "I'm Beggin' You" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play for one week, early in 1988. Unlike previous entries the single did not enter the Billboard Hot 100.

Blues

Blues

Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes, usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals.

Progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing.

Roger Hodgson

Roger Hodgson

Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of the progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’s hits, including "Dreamer", "Give a Little Bit", "Take the Long Way Home", "The Logical Song", "It's Raining Again", and "Breakfast in America."

Falsetto

Falsetto

Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.

Biography and career

Early life

Richard Davies was born in Swindon, Wiltshire in 1944 to Betty and Dick Davies. Betty was a hairdresser and ran a salon, and Dick was a merchant navy man, who died in 1973. Rick went to Sanford Street School and, according to mother Betty: "Music was the only thing he was any good at at school."[5]

His first musical stirrings were at the age of eight, when his parents gave him a secondhand radiogram which included a few records left by the previous owner. Among them were Drummin' Man by drumming legend Gene Krupa, and, in Davies's own words, "it hit like a thunderbolt". "I must have played it 2,000 times," he said. "That was it."[5] A friend of the family made Rick a makeshift drum kit out of a biscuit tin, and at the age of 12 he joined the British Railways Staff Association Brass and Silver Jubilee Band as a snare drummer.[6] In an interview in 2002 he said: "As a kid, I used to hear the drums marching along the street in England, in my home town, when there was some kind of parade, and it was the most fantastic sound to me. Then, eventually, I got some drums and I took lessons. I was serious about it... I figured if I could do that – I mean a real drummer, read music and play with big bands, rock bands, classical, Latin, and know what I was going to do – I would be in demand and my life was set... Eventually, I started fiddling with the keyboards, and that seemed to go over better than my drumming, for some reason. So you've gotta go with what people react to." He never had lessons for keyboards, but, according to Betty Davies, "taught himself most of what he knows about music".[5]

By 1959, his attention had been captured by rock 'n' roll, and he joined a band called Vince and the Vigilantes.[6] In 1962, while studying in the art department at Swindon College, he formed his own band, called Rick's Blues, and was now playing a Hohner electric piano instead of drums. The band included Gilbert O'Sullivan on drums for a time; he later was the best man at Davies's wedding. In a March 1972 interview, O'Sullivan said "Rick had originally taught me how to play the drums and piano – in fact, he taught me everything about music."[6] When his father became ill, Davies disbanded Rick's Blues, left college, and took a job as a welder at Square D,[6] a firm making industrial control products and systems, which had a factory on the Cheney Manor Trading Estate in Swindon. Any hopes of an artistic career were temporarily put on ice.

In 1966 he became the organist for The Lonely Ones (best known for being one of Noel Redding's first bands, though Redding had left by the time Davies joined), who later changed their name to The Joint and recorded the soundtracks for a number of German films.[6] He later confessed that he lied about his abilities to get into the group, admitting he couldn't actually play the organ at the time.[5] While the band was in Munich, Davies met Dutch millionaire Stanley August Miesegaes, who offered to fund him if he started a new group.[7]

Supertramp

Rick Davies in 2002.
Rick Davies in 2002.

Davies decided to form a new band, and returned home from Switzerland to place an ad in the music magazine Melody Maker in August 1969. Roger Hodgson was auditioned and, despite their contrasting backgrounds – Davies's working class upbringing and Hodgson's private school education – they struck up an instant rapport[8] and began writing virtually all of their songs together. The band was initially called Daddy, but renamed Supertramp in January 1970.[9]

Supertramp became one of the first acts to sign to the emerging UK branch of A&M Records and by the summer of 1970 they had recorded their first album, simply called Supertramp. Hodgson performed most of the lead vocals on this first effort but by the time of their second album Indelibly Stamped, Davies had stepped up as a singer with he and Hodgson sharing lead vocal duties equally.

After five years with Davies and Hodgson as the mainstays of a continuously changing group, Supertramp settled into a stable lineup and recorded Crime of the Century, which finally brought them critical and commercial success when it was released in 1974. It reached number four in the UK Albums Chart.[10] Though their singles were only moderately successful, their albums consistently scored high in the charts. Davies's relationship with Hodgson was changing and the two began writing most of their songs separately again, though they agreed to have them all credited to Davies/Hodgson by contract. Among the songs credited to both but actually written solely by Davies are the hits "Bloody Well Right" and "Goodbye Stranger".[11]

The group had relocated to the United States by 1977 and it was there that they recorded their best-selling album, Breakfast in America from April 1978 to February 1979. Davies and Hodgson were observed by engineer Peter Henderson to be getting along "fantastically well and everyone was really happy" throughout the long months of recording and mixing.[12] Davies is credited with writing the answering lyric in the second chorus of Hodgson's "The Logical Song".[12] With more hit singles than their first five albums combined, the album reached number three in the UK,[10] and top of the charts in America.

Hodgson quit Supertramp in 1983. Davies' relationship with him had deteriorated and the group's last hit before his departure, "My Kind of Lady", featured little involvement from Hodgson as either a writer or performer. The song was a showcase for Davies's vocal range, with him singing in everything from a booming bass to a piercing falsetto to his natural raspy baritone. With Davies firmly at the helm, Supertramp returned to a more non-commercial, progressive rock-oriented sound with the album Brother Where You Bound and had another hit with "Cannonball". The band continued to tour and record for another five years before disbanding, with a mutual agreement between the members that Supertramp had run its course.[13]

In 1997, during work on what would have been his first solo album, Davies decided to reform Supertramp. The band promptly returned to recording and touring, which yielded another two studio albums before they split again.[9] Supertramp reunited in 2010 for their 70–10 tour. A 2015 tour was announced but ultimately cancelled due to Davies' health issues, battling Multiple Myeloma.[2]

In late August 2018, Rick Davies gave a rare interview in which he expressed that, for the most part, he has overcome his health problems and enjoys playing music again, something he couldn't do around 2016, when he was under medical treatment. Indeed, Davies can be seen performing a few tracks as Ricky and the Rockets in a rehearsal/sound check at a bar, with Supertramp's current members at his side. However, he also stated that it was unlikely that they would ever perform again as Supertramp.[14] Ricky and the Rockets performed another show, this time on 10 June 2022 at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York.[15]

Discover more about Biography and career related topics

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa

Eugene Bertram Krupa, known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" elevated the role of the drummer from an accompanist to an important solo voice in the band.

Gilbert O'Sullivan

Gilbert O'Sullivan

Raymond Edward "Gilbert" O'Sullivan is an Irish singer-songwriter who achieved his most significant success during the early 1970s with hits including "Alone Again (Naturally)", "Clair", and "Get Down". O'Sullivan's songs are often marked by his distinctive, percussive piano playing style and observational lyrics using word play.

Noel Redding

Noel Redding

David Noel Redding was an English rock musician, best known as the bass player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and guitarist/singer for Fat Mattress.

Munich

Munich

Munich is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, and thus the largest which does not constitute its own state, as well as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, Munich is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany with 4,500 people per km2. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born composer, publisher Lawrence Wright; the first editor was Edgar Jackson. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.

A&M Records

A&M Records

A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distributing releases from Polydor Ltd. from the UK.

Indelibly Stamped

Indelibly Stamped

Indelibly Stamped is the second album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1971. It marked a dramatic change in direction to a more straightforward rock sound, and by admission of the band's own liner notes, "Travelled" is the only song with any resemblance to their debut album. Like their debut, this album was a commercial failure upon release, but in later decades it went gold in France and Canada. Original editions have a colour gate-fold cover and different text for the band name and album title. The cover photograph features the tattooed torso and arms of a topless woman. This is the first Supertramp album issued in the U.S.; the cover was in colour, but A&M pasted two gold stars over the nipples. The album was banned from a number of record stores in Australia, while others sold each copy inside a brown paper sleeve.

Crime of the Century (album)

Crime of the Century (album)

Crime of the Century is the third studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in September 1974 on A&M Records. Crime of the Century was Supertramp's commercial breakthrough in many countries, most notably in the UK, Canada and Germany where it peaked in the Top 5 while also making the Top 20 in Australia and France. It was an improvement over their previous sales in the US, but still only peaked at No. 38, with the US hit being "Bloody Well Right". "School" was another popular track, particularly at album rock-oriented radio stations. The album was eventually certified Gold in the US in 1977 after the release of Even in the Quietest Moments.... In Canada, it was eventually certified Diamond. The album was Supertramp's first to feature drummer Bob Siebenberg, saxophone and clarinet player and vocalist John Helliwell, bassist Dougie Thomson, and co-producer Ken Scott. The album has received critical acclaim, including its inclusion in Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time".

Bloody Well Right

Bloody Well Right

"Bloody Well Right" is a song by English rock band Supertramp from their 1974 album Crime of the Century. It appeared as the B-side of the single "Dreamer" in 1974. Listeners in the United States preferred it to the A-side, and "Bloody Well Right" became their breakthrough hit in the country, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Goodbye Stranger

Goodbye Stranger

"Goodbye Stranger" is a song by the English rock band Supertramp; it was written by Rick Davies. The song first appeared on their sixth studio album, Breakfast in America (1979). The lyrics present an "optimistic view from a drifter."

Breakfast in America

Breakfast in America

Breakfast in America is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four US Billboard hit singles: "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger", "Take the Long Way Home" and "Breakfast in America". In the UK, "The Logical Song" and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country.

My Kind of Lady

My Kind of Lady

"My Kind of Lady" was the second single from Supertramp's 1982 album …Famous Last Words…. The song is a '50's-style mid-tempo love ballad; it peaked at #16 for USA Billboard Adult Contemporary and #31 for USA Billboard pop singles. The lead and backing vocals were all sung by Davies, who harmonizes with himself by switching between his natural voice and a falsetto vocal. The echo-treated and natural sounding voice was sung in Davies' baritone. The falsetto passages were double tracked and mixed with a phaser. Despite being released as a single, the track was not performed live.

Personal life

Davies married Sue (who has been Supertramp's manager since 1984) in 1977.

Davies' mother died in late 2008 at a nursing home in Stratton St Margaret. He travelled from his Long Island, New York, home every Christmas to visit her. His last trip back was in January 2009 to organise a memorial service for his mother.

Davies currently owns Rick Davies Productions which is the copyright holder of Supertramp's recordings.

Davies was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and cancelled the band's 2015 tour.[2]

Discography

Supertramp

Collaboration

Discover more about Discography related topics

Indelibly Stamped

Indelibly Stamped

Indelibly Stamped is the second album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1971. It marked a dramatic change in direction to a more straightforward rock sound, and by admission of the band's own liner notes, "Travelled" is the only song with any resemblance to their debut album. Like their debut, this album was a commercial failure upon release, but in later decades it went gold in France and Canada. Original editions have a colour gate-fold cover and different text for the band name and album title. The cover photograph features the tattooed torso and arms of a topless woman. This is the first Supertramp album issued in the U.S.; the cover was in colour, but A&M pasted two gold stars over the nipples. The album was banned from a number of record stores in Australia, while others sold each copy inside a brown paper sleeve.

Crime of the Century (album)

Crime of the Century (album)

Crime of the Century is the third studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in September 1974 on A&M Records. Crime of the Century was Supertramp's commercial breakthrough in many countries, most notably in the UK, Canada and Germany where it peaked in the Top 5 while also making the Top 20 in Australia and France. It was an improvement over their previous sales in the US, but still only peaked at No. 38, with the US hit being "Bloody Well Right". "School" was another popular track, particularly at album rock-oriented radio stations. The album was eventually certified Gold in the US in 1977 after the release of Even in the Quietest Moments.... In Canada, it was eventually certified Diamond. The album was Supertramp's first to feature drummer Bob Siebenberg, saxophone and clarinet player and vocalist John Helliwell, bassist Dougie Thomson, and co-producer Ken Scott. The album has received critical acclaim, including its inclusion in Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time".

Crisis? What Crisis?

Crisis? What Crisis?

Crisis? What Crisis? is the fourth album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1975. It was recorded in Los Angeles and London – Supertramp's first album to have recording done in the US.

Even in the Quietest Moments...

Even in the Quietest Moments...

Even in the Quietest Moments... is the fifth album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in April 1977. It was recorded mainly at Caribou Ranch Studios in Colorado with overdubs, vocals, and mixing completed at The Record Plant in Los Angeles. This was Supertramp's first album to use engineer Peter Henderson, who would work with the band for their next three albums as well.

Breakfast in America

Breakfast in America

Breakfast in America is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four US Billboard hit singles: "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger", "Take the Long Way Home" and "Breakfast in America". In the UK, "The Logical Song" and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country.

...Famous Last Words...

...Famous Last Words...

...Famous Last Words... is the seventh studio album by English rock band Supertramp and was released in October 1982. It was the studio follow-up to 1979's Breakfast in America and the last album with vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Roger Hodgson, who left the group to pursue a solo career. Thus, it was the final album to be released by the classic lineup of the band.

Brother Where You Bound

Brother Where You Bound

Brother Where You Bound is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1985. It was their first album after original member Roger Hodgson left the band, leaving Rick Davies to handle the songwriting and singing on his own. The album features the group's Top 30 hit "Cannonball".

Free as a Bird (album)

Free as a Bird (album)

Free as a Bird is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in October 1987, and their last album of new music for A&M Records.

Chick Churchill

Chick Churchill

Michael George "Chick" Churchill is an English keyboard player of the late 1960s to 1970s blues rock band Ten Years After.

Cozy Powell

Cozy Powell

Cozy Powell was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, Brian May, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell, and Black Sabbath.

Gary Pickford-Hopkins

Gary Pickford-Hopkins

Gary Pickford-Hopkins was a Welsh singer, composer and guitarist whose career began in the early 1960s. He is best known as co-lead vocalist with Ashley Holt on two of Rick Wakeman's most successful solo albums Journey to the Centre of the Earth and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Martin Barre

Martin Barre

Martin Lancelot Barre is an English guitarist best known for his longtime role as lead guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from 1968 until the band's initial dissolution in 2011. Barre played on all of Jethro Tull's studio albums from their 1969 album Stand Up to their 2003 album The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. In the early 1990s he began a solo career, and has recorded several albums as well as touring with his own live band.

Source: "Rick Davies", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 19th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Davies.

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Notes
References
  1. ^ Fuentes, Abel (January 2011). Interview with Richard Palmer [1], Supertramp Soap Box Asylum. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "Supertramp cancels European tour because of singer's cancer". Yahoo!. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Supertramp" Archived 10 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine, 107.1 Nash Icon, ©2019 Triton Digital. All Rights Reserved. 4.19.2-009
  4. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Leahey, Andrew. "Biography: Supertramp". AMG. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d (8 March 2009). "30 Years on From Breakfast in America", Swindonweb.
  6. ^ a b c d e Melhuish, Martin (1986). The Supertramp Book. Toronto, Canada: Omnibus Press. pp. 17–22. ISBN 0-9691272-2-7.
  7. ^ Joynson, Vernon (1995). The Tapestry of Delights Archived 25 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine. London: Borderline Books.
  8. ^ Melhuish, Martin (1986). The Supertramp Book. Toronto, Canada: Omnibus Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-9691272-2-7.
  9. ^ a b "Supertramp", www.classicbands.com. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  10. ^ a b Supertramp in the UK Charts Archived 17 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Charts. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  11. ^ Quill, Greg (30 May 2011). "Roger Hodgson to Supertramp: Stop Playing My Songs". Toronto Star. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  12. ^ a b Buskin, Richard (July 2005). Classic Tracks: Supertramp's 'Logical Song', Sound on Sound.
  13. ^ Stevenson, Jane (25 July 1997). Supertramp Reunion Was Logical Thing to Do Archived 10 July 2012 at archive.today, Jam! Music.
  14. ^ Exclusive: RARE Interview to Rick Davies (Supertramp) - 28/8/2018 (Alma RadioTv) YouTube
  15. ^ Walsh, Christopher (9 June 2022). "Ricky and the Rockets Return to Amagansett". www.easthamptonstar.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.

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