Richard John Parfitt is a Welsh writer and musician from Newport, Wales. Born in

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

, Parfitt spent two years as a teenager living in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

before returning home in 1980. Most publicly notable for his role as a founding member of 1990s rock band The 60ft. Dolls. He had previously played in local mod band The Colours, who were renowned for busking on the streets of Newport. The Colours only released the one single, "The Dance", on the Loco label before he left to join

The Truth The Truth may refer to: Film * ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy * ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot * ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial cri ...

in 1984, playing bass on their ''Five Live'' EP which was recorded at the

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

, as well as their 1985 album, ''Playground''. After having several UK Top 40 hits during the 1990s, along with moderate success in the US, the 60 ft. Dolls split and Parfitt began working as a professional songwriter and session musician, going on to be credited by Welsh singer Duffy of discovering her talents and 'changing her life'. Parfitt helped write several songs for the artist's deluxe edition of the album ''

Rockferry ''Rockferry'' is the debut studio album by the Welsh singer Duffy, released on 3 March 2008 in the United Kingdom by A&M Records. It was released in the United States by Mercury Records. Taking four years to record the album, Duffy worked wit ...

'' - which had considerable commercial success around the world, reaching UK No. 1 and becoming one of the ten best-selling albums in the world in 2008 – including the song from the film '' How To Lose Friends and Alienate People'', "Enough Love". Parfitt also worked as a session guitarist on British artist

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (located ...

's second studio album, ''

Life for Rent ''Life for Rent'' is the second studio album by English singer Dido, released by Arista Records on 29 September 2003. The album was produced by her brother Rollo Armstrong and American songwriter Rick Nowels. Work on the album began in mid-20 ...

''. In 2019, Parfitt was shortlisted for the

New Welsh Review ''New Welsh Review'' is a literary magazine published in Wales. Its primary language is English, with brief excerpts of texts indicated in the original Welsh. History Founded in 1988 as successor to ''The Welsh Review'' (1939–1948), ''Dock Leav ...

Rheidol Prize in Writing for his long form essay, 'Tales From the Riverbank'. He published his first novel ''Stray Dogs'' with Third Man Books, the publishing arm of

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell, and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Detroit, and Soho in London—with multiple entitie ...

in 2023. He has since written articles and papers in various musical contexts, and worked mainly in higher education, as well as directing the world's first songwriting degree programme, the MMus in Songwriting, at

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, Somerset, Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshi ...

Bath, England Bath ( RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, west of London and southeast of Bristol. The city becam ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parfitt, Richard Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Newport, Wales Welsh scholars and academics Welsh rock musicians