Born in Reading Pennsylvania and now residing in Los Angeles, Richie first began
playing piano at the age of five. Later, at the age of seven inspired by a Kiss poster, Richie picked up the electric guitar. Amazingly by the time Richie reached the [+]Born in Reading Pennsylvania and now residing in Los Angeles, Richie first began
playing piano at the age of five. Later, at the age of seven inspired by a Kiss poster, Richie picked up the electric guitar. Amazingly by the time Richie reached the age of seventeen, he had traveled back and forth across the United States playing in excess of 500 shows. It was during that year that Richie released his first self titled record on Shrapnel Records and graced the cover of several publications including Guitar World Magazine.
Richie's success and virtuoso playing caught the ear of Bret Michaels, lead singer of the multi-platinum act Poison. Richie was asked to join the band at the age of twenty. The album Native Tongue was released in 1993 and achieved platinum worldwide sales, and produced two top twenty singles which Richie wrote, "Stand" and "Until You Suffer Some". Appearances on numerous national TV shows such as Jay Leno and the Arsenio Hall show followed on the heals of intense MTV coverage. The video for "Stand" which included backing vocals by the entire AME Church Choir, was a top 10 video on MTV's Most Wanted. Once again Richie graced the covers of numerous magazines. A world tour followed with sold out dates from London to Los Angeles.
Following a controversial split with Poison, Richie continued his solo career releasing albums in various musical genres ranging from Rock to Soul and ultimately Fusion. Richie's cult status was also beginning to grow, especially in Japan where Fender guitars approached Richie to design his own signature model telecaster which is now being sold throughout Japan, Southeast Asia, and most recently the UK.
1999 proved to be a crucial year. Legendary fusion bassist stanley Clarke had been approached by Sony Music to put together a new band that could bring Fusion into the Millennium. Stanley called on the talents of his old cohort Lenny White and set about finding other virtuoso musicians. After exhaustive auditions the band "Vertu"(pronounced Virtue) was ready. Stanley and Lenny were joined by Rachel Z (keyboards), Karen Briggs (Violin) and of course, Richie on guitar. A massive tour of Europe commenced on the back of the album, providing many of Richie's fans a chance to see him play in the flesh f
|
 |
Genre/Tags: 
Ringtones
Full Tracks
