Rick Florian (born April 10, 1962) is a

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and producer, most known for being the

lead singer The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

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 ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

White Heart White Heart, also listed as Whiteheart, was an American contemporary Christian music and pop-rock band which formed in 1982. White Heart's discography includes thirteen albums, the most recent of which was released in 1997. Original members Bil ...

from 1986 through to their disbandment in 1998. He lives in

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

with his wife, Lisa, and two of their five children. Florian works as a

real estate agent Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

, though he has sung on several music projects over the years.

Early life

Florian was born in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

, in 1962. He graduated from

Taylor University Taylor University is a Private university, private, Interdenominationalism, interdenominational, evangelical Christian university in Upland, Indiana. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest evangelical Christian universities in the United Stat ...

in 1984.

Whiteheart

Florian was a lighting tech/roadie for the band back in the 80s. When Florian was caught off guard singing and dancing to White Heart's songs, he was asked to audition for the open position as the band's vocalist. He got the job and recorded eight studio albums with them. Throughout his tenure with the band, he was praised on several occasions for his clean

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

and excellent performing abilities. He could always find a clever spot to show off his back handspring in each concert. Despite not being a founding member, he became the core of White Heart along with Billy Smiley and Mark Gersmehl (who's also an

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

native, like Florian himself). Florian issued a statement several years ago that the band was only at "a dormant stage". When Florian released his first album with White Heart, a tradition of using unique spelling variations of his name for each album began. There is no precise account as to who started it, but it remained up until the last albums of the band. The various spellings used have been: Ric, Rikk, Riq, Ricke, Rhic, Rikcq, Ricque. Florian has also been known to go by the nickname, "Tubes".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Florian, Rick American male singers Living people 1962 births People from Franklin, Tennessee Musicians from South Bend, Indiana White Heart members Taylor University alumni