Rick Cua (born December 3, 1948) is an American

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. This music is typically performed by Christians, Christian individuals. The extent to whi ...

singer, songwriter, bassist, author and ordained minister. He is a former member of the

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...

band,

Outlaws An outlaw is a person living outside the law. Outlaws or The Outlaws may also refer to: Film and television Film * ''The Outlaws'' (1950 film), an Italian crime film * ''Outlaws'' (1985 film), a French film * ''The Outlaws'' (2017 film), a Sou ...

, whom he joined in 1980, but left in 1983 to pursue a full-time career in

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

, the year after, wherein he gained popularity throughout most of the 1980s as a leather-jacket-wearing rocker with an

arena rock Arena rock (also known as stadium rock, pomp rock or corporate rock) is a style of rock music that became mainstream in the 1970s. It typically involves radio-friendly rock music that was designed to be played for large audiences. As hard rock ...

sound featuring big, shout-along choruses.Alfonso, Barry. ''The Billboard Guide to Contemporary Christian Music''. New York: Billboard, 2002. p. 148-49.

Background

After recording with Reunion and Sparrow records, he signed to Reunion in 1988, where his works began to take on a softer, more radio-friendly tone that included "sentimental ballads and pop-rock anthems in the style of

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

." Cua left Reunion in 1992 after just over a decade of radio airplay including six No. 1 Christian radio songs, creating his own label, UCA Records, on which he recorded three studio albums in the 1990s but received little radio play. He was nominated for a

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards ceremonies presented annually and have been held in Nashville, Tennessee exce ...

and has received various other awards and recognition. Cua took a hiatus from recording in 1998 and went to work as vice president of the creative department at EMI Christian Music Publishing, where he stayed until 2003.RickCua.com: Rick Cua Bio
Retrieved November 2, 2007. He focused on managing his own two companies: Rick Cua Entertainment, which manages artists and works in music publishing, film and TV licensing;Bialczak, Mark. "A Family Affair: Buz, Nick and Rick Cua Headed to Sammy's Hall of Fame." ''

The Post-Standard ''The Post-Standard'' is a newspaper serving the greater Syracuse, New York, metro area. Published by Advance Publications, it and sister website Syracuse.com are among the consumer brands of Advance Media New York, alongside NYUp.com and ''Th ...

''. May 31, 2006: p.E5. ''

Infotrac InfoTrac is a family of full-text databases of content from academic journals and general magazines, of which the majority are targeted to the English-speaking North American market. As is typical of online proprietary databases, various forms ...

Custom Newspapers''.

Thomson Gale Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research a ...

. Peter Armacost Library at

Eckerd College Eckerd College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront (area), waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega ...

. November 4, 2007. and All for the King Music, offering coaching and inspiration to

lay Lay or LAY may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada * Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France * Lay, Iran, a village * Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community * Lay Dam, Alaba ...

musicians through workshops and free electronic delivery of original

worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a distinct genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has evolved over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are of ...

. Celebrating his 25th year in ministry, Cua released his twelfth album, ''Won't Fade Away'', in 2007. It was his first album in ten years. Cua's father, his veteran guitar teacher, Basilio "Buz" Cua, died on May 19, 2009, at the age of 90 in his home town of Syracuse, New York. Cua was unable to go to his father's funeral, due to successful prostate cancer surgery.

Discography

References

External links

*
CrossRhythms Interview: The Singing, Bass Playing Veteran Who 'Won't Fade Away'
* Allmusic.com: Rick Cua {{DEFAULTSORT:Cua, Rick 1948 births Musicians from Syracuse, New York Performers of Christian rock music Christian music songwriters American performers of Christian music Living people Outlaws (band) members