Member Since: 2/21/2007
Band Members: Rick Hutton: Voce/
Gianmarco Volpe: Chitarre/
Massimo Ariano: Sax Tenore & Soprano/
Alfredo Matera: Piano e Keyboards/
Gino Ariano: Basso/
Ruggiero Botta: Batteria
Influences: Rick was born in Liverpool in 1953 and grew up in the “swinging London†of the sixties.He was raised on a diet of the Beatles ,the Stones, the Who ,Cream ,Traffic and Them etc. At sixteen he’d already formed a garage blues band “Laurel Canyon†playing in youth clubs and illegally in local pubs(being under age). The suburbs of south east London around Beckenham (home toDavid Bowie) , Bromley and Sidcup, were the birthplace of many historic brit rock bands ( Jagger and Richards met for the first time at Sidcup railway station in1962) and soon became Rick’s stomping ground. After “dropping out†for a year bumming around Greece with the last of the hippies, Rick then went to Kent university ,Canterbury from where he miraculously graduated in sociology and economics in1976 despite a healthy consumption of every drug possible. He returned to live in Fulham, London for two years during the punk explosion driving a mini cab amongst other stimulating professions (grave –digger etc).. His passion for blues, R.& B and soul got him involved in various London pub bands, but the mixture of Thatcher’s Britain(gloom and depression) and the Pistols rock-bottom basic “anarchy in the U.K†made Rick decide to leave for Australia together with his buddy Clive. Due to getting everything getting ripped off from their rusted mini –cooper in Milano the plans for down under were put on hold, and the two ended up teaching english in Tuscany for a year in the town of Lucca. Here Rick started up his own local band “The Groove†together with the tuscan guitarist “Gorby†Marraccini.
At the beginning of the Eighties Rick and Clive get into performing English language comedy sketches on an Italian private TV network where they are spotted and engaged to start up the first Italian and European 24hour music-video TV station, Videomusic(1984)and Superchannel(1986). The TV channel was an immediate success and Rick and Clive rapidly became Italy’s popular mad alternative music presenters travelling all over the planet meeting and interviewing the Rock and Roll heroes of past and present. In 1989 Rick recorded his first album RICK HUTTON(polygram/kindergarten records) in Florence and released his first single Peace of Mind with a cover of the Stones’ Ruby Tuesday. In the same year he also started to present both the annual international Italian blues festival “Pistoia Blues†and the international Soul and R&B festival “Sweet soul Music Porrettaâ€. He continues to present and sometimes perform in both festivals today.
At the start of the Nineties Rick formed his Rock /blues band the TRACKS and released his second CD on the Ricordi international label “WHATS THE SILENCE ABOUTâ€in 1994.The single MIXED UP started to climb the charts in Italy and caused positive interest in Germany when, unfortunately for the band, at the same time Ricordi was taken over by BMG and promotion of the band subsequently abandoned! Rick and Tracks started a non- stop touring schedule deciding to give up on the music business and concentrate on a great live show.
In 1998 Videomusic was taken over by MTV Europe and Rick went on to produce and present his own TV series on Stream satellite TV ,MUSIC TRAVEL, a globe –trotting music programme, up until 2003.
Definite high points in Rick’s career so far have been four hilarious days spent with the Stones at Ronnie Wood’s house in Wimbledon, London in1987 doing interviews for Rai Tv, having Billy Preston as special guest and key-board player with the band on an Adriatic coast tour in 1994 and playing piano and singing a few blues duets with Joe Cocker in a club in Rome during his world tour in 1995/6.Finally getting on stage to sing My Girl with the Temptations in Orlando Florida in 1997, and sing the Blues is alright with Wilson Picket and Rufus Thomas at the soul festival in Poretta!
Since 2005 the RICK HUTTON BAND(the band are mostly from Naples and Salerno) has been playing clubs and festivals all over Italy, France, and Switzerland performing R&B and soul classics, plus a series of acoustic concerts dedicated to the 60’s and 70’s. In 2007 Rick has finally decided to record a collection of new songs and brave the internet in preference to the declining and somewhat appalling Italian “case dicsograficheâ€!
Rick currently lives between Rome/ Tuscany and the U.K. and presents his own radio show “RICK AND ROLL†in Rome every lunchtime(12.45 -14.00) on RCF network. www.radiocittafutura.it.
Sounds Like:
Record Label: Drugandrop
Type of Label: Indie