Richard "Rik" Waller (born 1981) is an English

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

singer. After appearing as a contestant on the TV series ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'', he had two UK top 40 hits with cover versions of "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career ...

" and " (Something Inside) So Strong".

Career

''Pop Idol''

Waller was to be a finalist in the first series of the British ITV television series ''

'' having initially made it into the last ten of the show, but then pulled out due to severe

laryngitis Laryngitis is inflammation of the larynx (voice box). Symptoms often include a hoarse voice and may include fever, cough, pain in the front of the neck, and trouble swallowing. Typically, these last under 2 weeks. Causes Laryngitis is cat ...

, and his place was taken by

Darius Danesh Darius may refer to: Persian royalty ;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire * Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC) * Darius II (423 to 404 BC) * Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC) ;Crown princes * Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...

EMI

Following the show, Waller signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

in a deal worth approximately £400,000. His first single was a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

's song "

" which made No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. He followed this up with another top 40 hit, recorded originally by

Labi Siffre Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre ( , born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter and poet. Siffre released six albums from 1970 to 1975 and four from 1988 to 1998. His compositions include " It Must Be Love", which reached number 14 on the ...

, " (Something Inside) So Strong". Both of these songs appear on Waller's album '' From Now...''.

Red Admiral Records

When he was dropped by EMI, Waller formed his own band to take his music out on the road. He then signed an album deal with Red Admiral Records. Two months into Waller's Beyond Reality Tour 2004, three concerts were cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Among them was a show at the Princess Theatre in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, for which only two tickets were sold. His second album ''Innocence'' was released in September 2005. The band was subsequently renamed 'Rik Waller's Mighty Soul Band', and then renamed again to 'Rik Waller's Unfinished Business'.

TV appearances

Waller has appeared as himself on several TV shows. In 2002, he appeared on ''

Celebrity Fit Club ''Celebrity Fit Club'' is a reality television series that follows eight overweight celebrities as they try to lose weight for charity. Split into two competing teams of four, each week teams are given different physical challenges, and weighed ...

'', but he was kicked off the show when he was caught binge eating. On 28 February 2007, Waller appeared on ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...

'' in the Identity Parade Round and briefly replaced captain

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''Given name#Name at birth, né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is a retired English stand-up comedy, stand-up and Improv comedy teacher, improv comedian, actor, performance poetry, performance poet, cartoonist and podc ...

when it became clear who was the real Rik Waller. He has not appeared on TV since.

Personal life

He was educated at The Howard School, Rainham, Kent. Waller's singing career ended in 2007 after he had lost his singing voice due to problems with severe laryngitis. In 2013, Waller revealed in an interview with the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' that due to being jobless and penniless, he was receiving

unemployment benefits Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work d ...

. In 2014, he was working as an exam invigilator in

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

, Kent. Waller also said that, alongside his father, he once ran a mobile karaoke and disco business.

Discography

Albums * '' From Now...'' (July 2002) * ''Innocence'' (July 2005) Singles * "

" (March 2002) – UK No. 6 * " (Something Inside) So Strong" (June 2002) – UK No. 25

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waller, Rik English male singers People from Gillingham, Kent Pop Idol contestants 1981 births Living people People educated at The Howard School Musicians from Kent EMI Records artists 21st-century English singers 21st-century English male singers