Richard Page

Richard Page, born in Keokuk, Iowa on May 16th of 1953 began vocal training and playing piano at the age of six. Around that age his family moved to Montgomery, Alabama. Together with his sister and three brothers he formed the alto, tenor and bass section of his father's church choir. His father is a retired voice teacher and choir director. His late mother was the associate director of a Phoenix' renowned boys choir.

As a kid Richard used to listen to Cream, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. He began writing songs with his cousin John Lang, which they played on the piano in his father's church.

Later on the family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona where Richard met Steve George. Richard was soon busy mastering the guitar as well as the keyboards. Around the age of 20 he joined Steve George's band "Andy Hardy" for a while. Later he formed a band called "Joyce", first playing drums, later doing the lead guitar. Due to lack of success Richard decided to go back to L.A in 1975, where he rejoined Steve George. They performed in L.A. clubs and even moved to Las Vegas. When that became too exhaustive Richard decided to study again. He took composition and theater in a school for performing arts in San Diego, where he wrote and scored a three-act ballet. That only lasted about a year.

By the age of 23 he rented a tiny appartment in Studio City, and played in some bands, even a country and western band! Richard called up Steve George again and together they recorded a demo of original music. They sent the tape to various record companies, but none was interested. Until the day they received a phone call from A & R-man Bobby Colomby who offered them to sign a deal with Epic Records. So in 1977 they formed Pages. They released three albums before they disbanded in 1981. Their music was too sophisticated in a time that only disco and heavy rock were popular. Richard and Steve George began songwriting and doing backing vocals for a wide range of artists such as Molly Hatchet, Donna Summer, Quincy Jones, Amy Grant, Mötley Crüe, Barry Manilow, Twisted Sister, Kenny Loggins, REO Speedwagon, Chicago, Sheena Easton, James Ingram, Al Jarreau, Rick Springfield, Carole Bayer Sager, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Jeffrey Osborne and even sung Village People's tunes together with Tom Kelly and Chicago's Bill Champlin. Richard also did a Budweiser commercial.

In the beginning of 1982 Richard and Steve George agreed to go on tour with Andy Gibb as backing vocalists and keyboard players. There the idea rose to create a new band with a new sound. In between Richard had to deal with a cocaine addiction, but managed to kick drugs soon. After the Andy Gibb tourr, they started auditions and finally formed Mr. Mister with ex-Eddie Money guitarist Steve Farris and ex-Shandi drummer Pat Mastelotto. They released albums in 1984, 1985 and 1987. Their second album "Welcome to the real world" was a mega-seller throughout the whole world and delivered two #1-hits. After the disappointing commercial and tour success of the follow-up "Go on..." Steve Farris left the band. A fourth album was finished by the end of 1989 but was never released due to problems with the record company BMG Music. Mr. Mister disbanded Richard took some time off to enjoy his family, do some surfing and mountain biking.

In 1992 he accepted the offer to make an album with renowned producer Patrick Leonard under the name 3rd Matinee. Despites the artistic quality the album didn't sell well. Richard and Pat Leonard ended their collaboration.

By the end of 1995 Richard received a phone call from Amos Newman, asking to write some songs for the new George Benson album. The Blue Thumb Records representative however liked Richard's songs so much he offered a deal for a solo album, which led to the release of "Shelter me" by the end of 1996.

Up till now there are no plans for a second solo album, and Richard is enjoying his life in Malibu, California. His latest projects were contributions to Disney albums "Music from the Park" and "Winnie the Pooh: The Grand Adventure" with Kathy Lee Gifford.

In the beginning of 1999 Richard once more did backing vocals on a Toto album. He sings on four tracks of 'Mindfields'.

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December of 2008 marks the comeback of Rciahrd Page as a singer. Together with Grammy Award-winning writer/producer Walter Afanasieff (Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis and many others) he wrote the Christmas song "I always cry at Christmas". They both felt it was very special and decided to produce and release it themselves.

Richard also finally found his way to the internet and launched his own site on http://richardpagemusic.com. He also created his own YouTube weblog on http://www.youtube.com/user/richardpagemusic and his MySpace-page on http://www.myspace.com/richardpagemusic.

Personal Discography