Rick Davies
Encyclopedia
Rick Davies is an English
musician
, best known as the founder and keyboardist
of progressive rock band Supertramp
. Starting with Indelibly Stamped in 1971, Davies shared lead vocals with Supertramp songwriting partner, Roger Hodgson
until the latter's departure in 1983, at which point he became the sole lead vocalist of the group. Davies's voice is more distinctly masculine than Hodgson's, and he employs a raspy baritone which stands in stark contrast to Hodgson's uniquely child-like tenor. He also played harmonica on occasion. Davies is the only member of Supertramp to have been with the group for their entire history, and has composed many of their most well-known songs, including "Goodbye Stranger
", "Bloody Well Right
", "My Kind of Lady
", and "Cannonball
".
, 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."
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." 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’s Brass and Silver Jubilee Band as a drummer. 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... But, of course, it didn’t work out that way. 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”.
By 1959, his attention had been captured by rock ‘n’ roll, and he joined a band called Vince and the Vigilantes. In 1962, while studying in the art department at Swindon College, he formed his own band, called Rick’s Blues. Rick’s Blues was disbanded and any hopes of an artistic career were put on ice while Rick took a job as a welder at Square D, a firm making industrial control products and systems, which had a factory on the Cheney Manor Trading Estate in Swindon. 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.
In 1966 he became a member of The Lonely Ones, who later changed their name to The Joint and recorded the soundtracks for a number of German films. While the band was in Munich, Davies met Dutch millionaire Stanley August Miesegaes, who offered to fund him if he started a new group.
in August 1969, offering a ‘genuine opportunity’. Roger Hodgson
was auditioned and, despite their contrasting backgrounds – Davies’s working class upbringing and Hodgson’s public school education – they struck up an instant rapport and formed a band called Daddy, which was renamed Supertramp in January 1970. Supertramp became one of the first acts to sign to the emerging A&M Records
, and by the summer of 1970 they had recorded their first album, simply called Supertramp
, released on July 14. Just 13 days later, they played at the Isle of Wight Festival
. The album flopped. Feeling that the musical direction that the band was going in didn't suit him, guitarist Richard Palmer-James
quit, and drummer Robert Millar suffered a nervous breakdown following a disastrous tour of Norway and also left the band.
Replacements for Palmer-James and Millar were made, then Supertramp's second album was released. Titled Indelibly Stamped, it earned the band a cult following but sold even less than their first effort, and Supertramp continued to struggle, with each member other than Davies and Hodgson subsequently quitting.
With another new lineup behind Davies and Hodgson, Crime of the Century, their third album, finally brought them critical and commercial success when it was released in 1974. It reached number four in the UK Albums Chart
and produced their first top 20 single, "Dreamer
", which made number 13 in the UK. Even more importantly, Supertramp began to make it big in America, and now had a stable lineup in place that wouldn't again change until 1983. By 1977 they had relocated to the States, and it was there that they recorded their best-selling album, Breakfast in America
. It reached number three in the UK, and top of the charts in America. Davies hadn’t forgotten his Swindon roots, and when it was suggested that the band all be pictured reading newspapers while eating American-style breakfast for the back of the album sleeve, Davies was duly seen with a copy of the Swindon Evening Advertiser while spilling a container of sugar. The album is reckoned to have sold over 20 million copies since its release on 29 March 1979.
Though more success followed, by 1983 Roger Hodgson was ready to move on. One of the conditions of Supertramp continuing without Hodgson was that none of his songs would be performed.
Supertramp reunited in 2010 for their 70-10 tour.
Rick Davies currently owns a company, called Rick Davies Productions, which is the copyright holder of Supertramp's recordings.
He married his wife Sue (who has been Supertramp's manager since 1984) in 1977. They both live in Long Island, New York.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, best known as the founder and keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
of progressive rock band Supertramp
Supertramp
Supertramp are a British rock band formed in 1969 under the name Daddy before renaming to Supertramp in early 1970. Though their music was initially categorised as progressive rock, they have since incorporated a combination of traditional rock and art rock into their music...
. Starting with Indelibly Stamped in 1971, Davies shared lead vocals with Supertramp songwriting partner, Roger Hodgson
Roger Hodgson
Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson is a British musician and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman, and founding member, of progressive rock band Supertramp....
until the latter's departure in 1983, at which point he became the sole lead vocalist of the group. Davies's voice is more distinctly masculine than Hodgson's, and he employs a raspy baritone which stands in stark contrast to Hodgson's uniquely child-like tenor. He also played harmonica on occasion. Davies is the only member of Supertramp to have been with the group for their entire history, and has composed many of their most well-known songs, including "Goodbye Stranger
Goodbye Stranger
"Goodbye Stranger" is a song by Supertramp, which first appeared on their 1979 album Breakfast in America.The main "body" of the song is backed by a simple Wurlitzer electric piano melody; the arrangement intensifies as the song progresses. This is eventually joined by intermittent electric guitar...
", "Bloody Well Right
Bloody Well Right
"Bloody Well Right" is a song by the progressive rock band Supertramp from their 1974 album Crime of the Century. Released in April 1975, it failed to chart in the United Kingdom but became their breakthrough hit in the United States, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100...
", "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 was written by Rick Davies and was a mid-tempo love ballad. The song peaked at #31 on the U.S. charts. The song was sung by Davies, with backing vocals done by the rest of the band. The echo-treated...
", and "Cannonball
Cannonball (Supertramp song)
"Cannonball" is the opening track from Supertramp's 1985 album Brother Where You Bound. It was written and sung by keyboardist Rick Davies entirely in the chord of G...
".
Early days
Richard Davies was born in SwindonSwindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
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."
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
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
, and, in Davies’s own words, “it hit like a thunderbolt”. ”I must have played it 2,000 times,” he said. “That was it." 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’s Brass and Silver Jubilee Band as a drummer. 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... But, of course, it didn’t work out that way. 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”.
By 1959, his attention had been captured by rock ‘n’ roll, and he joined a band called Vince and the Vigilantes. In 1962, while studying in the art department at Swindon College, he formed his own band, called Rick’s Blues. Rick’s Blues was disbanded and any hopes of an artistic career were put on ice while Rick took a job as a welder at Square D, a firm making industrial control products and systems, which had a factory on the Cheney Manor Trading Estate in Swindon. 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.
In 1966 he became a member of The Lonely Ones, who later changed their name to The Joint and recorded the soundtracks for a number of German films. While the band was in Munich, Davies met Dutch millionaire Stanley August Miesegaes, who offered to fund him if he started a new group.
Supertramp
Davies decided to form a new band and returned home from Switzerland to place an ad in the music magazine Melody MakerMelody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
in August 1969, offering a ‘genuine opportunity’. Roger Hodgson
Roger Hodgson
Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson is a British musician and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman, and founding member, of progressive rock band Supertramp....
was auditioned and, despite their contrasting backgrounds – Davies’s working class upbringing and Hodgson’s public school education – they struck up an instant rapport and formed a band called Daddy, which was renamed Supertramp in January 1970. Supertramp became one of the first acts to sign to the emerging A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, and by the summer of 1970 they had recorded their first album, simply called Supertramp
Supertramp (album)
Supertramp is the self-titled debut album by progressive rock band Supertramp, released in July 1970 . It has sometimes been published under the title Now and Then...
, released on July 14. Just 13 days later, they played at the Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
. The album flopped. Feeling that the musical direction that the band was going in didn't suit him, guitarist Richard Palmer-James
Richard Palmer-James
Richard Jeffrey Charles Palmer-James was lyricist for the progressive rock group King Crimson in the early 1970s....
quit, and drummer Robert Millar suffered a nervous breakdown following a disastrous tour of Norway and also left the band.
Replacements for Palmer-James and Millar were made, then Supertramp's second album was released. Titled Indelibly Stamped, it earned the band a cult following but sold even less than their first effort, and Supertramp continued to struggle, with each member other than Davies and Hodgson subsequently quitting.
With another new lineup behind Davies and Hodgson, Crime of the Century, their third album, finally brought them critical and commercial success when it was released in 1974. It reached number four in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and produced their first top 20 single, "Dreamer
Dreamer (Supertramp song)
"Dreamer" is a hit single from Supertramp's 1974 album Crime of the Century. It peaked at Number 13 on the UK singles chart in February 1975. In 1980, it appeared on their live album Paris...
", which made number 13 in the UK. Even more importantly, Supertramp began to make it big in America, and now had a stable lineup in place that wouldn't again change until 1983. By 1977 they had relocated to the States, and it was there that they recorded their best-selling album, Breakfast in America
Breakfast in America
Breakfast in America was seen as a departure for the band, with its pop sound deviating from the progressive rock stylings that defined their earlier work...
. It reached number three in the UK, and top of the charts in America. Davies hadn’t forgotten his Swindon roots, and when it was suggested that the band all be pictured reading newspapers while eating American-style breakfast for the back of the album sleeve, Davies was duly seen with a copy of the Swindon Evening Advertiser while spilling a container of sugar. The album is reckoned to have sold over 20 million copies since its release on 29 March 1979.
Though more success followed, by 1983 Roger Hodgson was ready to move on. One of the conditions of Supertramp continuing without Hodgson was that none of his songs would be performed.
Supertramp reunited in 2010 for their 70-10 tour.
Personal life
Rick’s mother died in late 2008 at a nursing home in Stratton St. Margaret. Rick having travelled every Christmas from his home in the USA to visit her. His last trip back to Swindon being in January ‘09 was to organise a party in her honour for friends and family.Rick Davies currently owns a company, called Rick Davies Productions, which is the copyright holder of Supertramp's recordings.
He married his wife Sue (who has been Supertramp's manager since 1984) in 1977. They both live in Long Island, New York.