Richard Gordon Price (10 June 1944 – 17 May 2022) was an English bassist and singer who played with various

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

-based rock bands, most notably Sight and Sound,

the Move The Move were a British Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine Top 40, top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of ...

(1969–1971), and

Wizzard Wizzard were an English rock band formed by Roy Wood, former member of the Move and co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. ''The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits'' states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings was Paul McCar ...

(1972–1975).

Career

He first picked up the guitar in 1957 for a school play at Colmers Farm Secondary School. He soon stopped playing the instrument, but saw interest in music again by 1960 when he realised that "girls liked boys in groups". His first band were the Cimarrons, who were inspired by

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...

. He then moved on to the Sombreros, who later changed their name to Sight & Sound and moved in a more psychedelic direction. He began collaborating with Mike Sheridan (under his real name Michael Tyler) as a songwriting partnership. His influences in his earlier career in the 1950s included rock and roll artists such as

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

and

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought ...

. Price joined

The Move The Move were a British Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine Top 40, top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of ...

in 1969, replacing

Trevor Burton Trevor Burton (born Trevor Ireson; 9 March 1949 in Aston, Birmingham) is an English guitarist and is a founding member of the Move. Career Burton started playing guitar at a young age and was leading his own group called the Everglades by 196 ...

, staying with the group for two years, including an unsuccessful tour of the United States. When the Move ended, they re-emerged as

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

(ELO), and Price contributed bass tracks to the early sessions for the debut album of ELO, but for reasons that are unclear, none of his bass parts ended up in the final mix of the album when it was released in 1971. He left in 1971, being replaced by

Richard Tandy Richard Tandy (26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024) was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an important ...

. While still in the Move he signed a contract with Gemini Records; he then recorded (with Sheridan) the album ''This Is To Certify That'', released in 1970, and a solo album, ''Talking To The Flowers'', in 1971. He then joined former Move colleague Carl Wayne in Light Fantastic, before forming Mongrel with future

drummers Charlie Grima and Keith Smart.Auslander, Philip (2006) ''Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music'',

University of Michigan Press The University of Michigan Press is a university press that is a part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earn ...

, , p. 177 He joined up again with

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. Wood formed the Move in 1965, and ...

in the latter's new band, Wizzard, with whom he had two British number one hit singles, " See My Baby Jive" and " Angel Fingers", as well as the No. 4

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

classic "

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", sometimes written as "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day", is a Christmas song recorded by English glam rock band Wizzard. It was first released in December 1973 and, as with most Wizzard songs, was ...

" (all 1973). After Wizzard split up, he joined the

Wizzo Band Wizzo Band were an English jazz rock band formed by Roy Wood after Wizzard split in 1975, fulfilling his ambitions to create an ensemble that was more jazz-orientated than rock or pop. The line-up included former Wizzard and Move member Rick Pr ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

in 1975, but they broke up in 1978. Price was also a member of The Rockin' Berries from 1990 until his death.

Personal life and death

Richard Gordon Price was born in

Rednal Rednal is a residential suburb on the south western edge of metropolitan Birmingham, West Midlands, England, southwest of Birmingham city centre and forming part of Longbridge parish and electoral ward. Historically it was part of Worcestershir ...

, on 10 June 1944 to Catherine and Frank Price. He had three brothers and a sister, and the family moved to the border of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and Warwickshire when Price was a child. Price worked with the 1970s duo

Peters and Lee Peters and Lee were a successful British folk and pop duo of the 1970s and 1980s, comprising Lennie Peters (born Leonard George Sargent, 22 November 1931 – 10 October 1992, Enfield, Middlesex) and Dianne Lee (born Dianne Littlehales, Febru ...

beginning in 1976, eventually marrying Dianne Lee and working with her as a songwriting and performing duo. Price died of natural causes in Bristol on 17 May 2022, at the age of 77.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Rick 1944 births 2022 deaths English rock bass guitarists English male bass guitarists The Move members Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands Electric Light Orchestra members Pedal steel guitarists English male singers English male songwriters Wizzard members