Ricky Montgomery (born April 3, 1993) is an American singer, musician and songwriter. In 2020, his songs went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

, leading to being signed with

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

later that year.

Early life

Ricky Montgomery was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. His mother was a teacher, and his father was a gaffer. When Montgomery was young, his parents got a divorce, and, in 2005, he and his mother moved to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri. At the age of 14, he began to play in various bands. In 2014, he gained a following on

Vine A vine ( Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners thems ...

, a short-form video service, posting comical original songs. He found the site the day after the app had launched from a CNN news article. He saw the site as a potential "springboard for a possible music career." After finding success with Vine, Montgomery released his first EP, ''Caught On The Moon''. Soon after, he dropped out of college and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. He has a sister. His pronouns are he/they.

Career

In LA, he released his first studio album ''Montgomery Ricky'' on April 1, 2016. Montgomery founded indie band The Honeysticks with a childhood friend of his to experiment musically. The band name was derived from a snack Montgomery ate every Saturday morning when he was a kid, made of sticks of

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. In 2018, he took the year off from making music and started

social media marketing Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for ...

companies to earn more money. By 2020, he considered quitting making music entirely. However, in mid-2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, his two singles—"Mr Loverman" and "Line Without A Hook"—went viral on

. With his explosion in popularity, he was contacted by "virtually every single major label A&R in a matter of months." In December 2020, after a large bidding war, Montgomery signed with Warner Records. Since then, he has remixed two songs in 2021 from his debut album with fellow artists

Chloe Moriondo Chloe Moriondo (stylized in all lowercase as chloe moriondo) (born September 29, 2002) is an American singer-songwriter and YouTuber. Her style blends elements of indie pop and bedroom pop, with the occasional hyperpop. Her YouTube channel, whic ...

and

mxmtoon Maia (born July 9, 2000), known professionally as mxmtoon, is an American singer-songwriter and YouTuber. Her music is characterized by emotionally transparent, confessional lyrics, and often employs the ukulele. She released her first EP, ' ...

respectively. Montgomery came in contact with mxmtoon after finding her perform one of his songs on the streaming platform

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

, learning that she had been a fan of his Vine content before it shut down. He found Moriondo from a song

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of cop ...

of "Out Like A Light". Montgomery released his second solo EP, ''It’s 2016 Somewhere'', on April 15, 2022. Upon announcement of the EP’s title, Montgomery hinted at more content being released in the near future.

Discography

EPs

* ''Caught On The Moon'' (2014) * ''It's 2016 Somewhere'' (2022)

Singles

* "Out Like A Light" (2017) * "Line Without A Hook" (2021),

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

: Platinum, MC: Platinum * "Mr Loverman" (2021), BPI: Silver, RIAA: Platinum, MC: Platinum * "Talk To You" (2021) * "Sorry for Me" (2021)

''Montgomery Ricky'' (2016)

''It's 2016 Somewhere'' (2022)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Ricky Musicians from Los Angeles 1993 births American TikTokers Warner Records artists Bedroom pop musicians American indie pop musicians Vine (service) celebrities Living people American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California