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	BIOGRAHPY

Richard was born on 28th August 1987 and was raised in what was not really a musical family. His first experience of music was probably when he was bought his first keyboard at the age of 4 or 5 and was shown some notes by his mother. He soon began playing simple tunes and when he was 6 he was invited to take his keyboard into his Primary school and play Christmas Carols. Also at primary school, Richard learnt to play the descant recorder.

At the age of 7, Richard started violin and guitar lessons. With half an hour tuition each week on each of these instruments, his love of music grew and spurred him on to begin singing, which he started to do around the age of 8 and was soon having singing lessons when he reached 10.

Also at the age of 10, Richard joined some local acting groups, such as Scunthorpe Youth Theatre, Group 62 Amateur Dramatic Society and Backstreet Youth Theatre, in which he took part in productions at many local venues, such as "The Screen Theatre" and "The Plowright Theatre" taking roles such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and Leroy in the musical Bugsy Malone.

It was around this time, 1998, that Richard was lent some cassettes of country music by his grandfather. Up until this time, Richard had not really experienced country music and had mainly listened to 60's and 70's ballads. However, hearing country music for the first time he instantly took a liking to it and it was not long before he went to see his first country music show, at a local club in Scunthorpe.

After he had been to this show, he decided to try and sing some of the songs he had heard the night before and, accompanying himself on guitar, had soon learnt his first country song - Will The Circle Be Unbroken.

Learning that first country song set the ball rolling and from then on, Richard was a big fan of country music, buying cassettes and CD's of artists such as Merle Haggard, Garth Brooks, Chris LeDoux and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He had soon learnt quite a selection of songs and, at the age of 13, decided to learn a new instrument - the Harmonica.

In the summer of 2001, Richard wrote his first country song, Whole Life In A Shoebox, about a tramp who carries all his photos and memories in an old shoebox and tells his story to passers by as he makes his way down the never-ending dusty roads. Eventually meeting with a woman, he discovers she is leading much the same life as himself and they set off together and spend many years walking down the 'dusty roads' together, carrying their shoeboxes and telling their tales to people that they meet. This song is the title track of his first CD, available here.

In July 2002, Richard took his first booking as a country music artist, at 'The Covered Wagon CMC' at North Scarle. Since then, he has performed at many other pubs, clubs, festivals and holiday camps, such as Walesby Festival 2002/3/4, Strumpshaw Festival 2003, Sapcote Festival 2003/4, Welbeck Festival 2003, Bridlington 2004, Pontins Pakefield and many others.

In 2004, Richard left college to pursue a full time career in the country music business. To date, he has three CD's available (click here) and in January 2005 he made his debut in the Hotdisc Independent British Top 10 charts at number 4, along with number 30 in the international hotdisc charts. Two months later, he reached number 1 in the British Top 10 Charts, and 15 in the International charts. He continues to accept bookings nationally as a professional Country Music and Linedance Entertainer.