Music | RICKERWIN.com

1964–EARLY 1970s

IT STARTED WITH A HORN

Trumpet came first, followed by other brass instruments. When my first band, The Shayds, needed a bass player, I became one. When the music changed, so did the band—and eventually so did I.

The Shayds, 1967 — **THE SHAYDS — 1967**My first band. Long before the cruise ships, sequencers and one-man-band years.

The Transplant My Babe record — **THE TRANSPLANT — 1969**“MY BABE” backed with “FUNKY BLAHS.”

Soul Transplant band, 1969 — **SOUL TRANSPLANT — 1969**Soul, horns, dance music and a name inspired by the era of the first heart transplants.

KIRBY'S LESSON

YOU'LL NEVER KNOW ALL THE SONGS.

Our manager Kirby taught me the Nashville Number System. I asked why I needed it. His answer stayed with me for the rest of my career: you will never know every song. Learn how to follow.

MEMPHIS

THE NIGHT WE CAME IN SECOND—AND WON

At the 1969 Memphis Battle of the Bands, 108 bands competed. Soul Transplant finished second, our frontman won Most Talented Singer, and years later I saw footage from the event turn up in a Pepsi commercial.

1970s–EARLY 1980s

THE WORKING MUSICIAN

Pop, country, soul, disco, oldies—whatever the room needed. I learned that being a working musician wasn't about knowing one style. It was about listening, following and covering whatever was missing.

Mixed Emotions, 1974 — **MIXED EMOTIONS — 1974**By now my keyboard rig was growing along with the number of parts I was expected to cover.

Backdoor Band, 1975 — **BACKDOOR BAND — 1975**We had a job. We had a name. We had about fifteen songs.

Ben Wages Show — **THE BEN WAGES SHOW**Ben was a front man, bass player, singer, former radio DJ and one of the recurring characters in my musical life.

HERNANDO'S HIDEAWAY

BEFORE & AFTER

Kirby first took us into Hernando's Hideaway while we were underage teenagers. Eleven years later I returned as a professional musician for seven-hour house gigs.

A WORKING MUSICIAN'S RULE

CAN THEY FOLLOW?

In the Memphis lounge circuit, good players could often sit in with one another. The question wasn't only “Can these guys play?” It was “Can they follow?” Kirby's lesson kept paying off.

1980s–1990s

GIG FIRST. BAND SECOND.

Sometimes the band existed before the job. Sometimes it didn't. Musicians changed, names changed, styles changed—and occasionally we discovered after arriving that the audience wanted something entirely different.

Rick at keyboards with Memphis Uptown sign — **MEMPHIS UPTOWN BAND**A last-minute call for a job with The Platters. The only problem: the band didn't exist yet.

Performance with The Platters, Kansas City 1983 — **THE PLATTERS — 1983**After the first engagements, Memphis Uptown Band continued backing The Platters whenever they were working in the eastern United States.

Double or Nothing duo — **DOUBLE OR NOTHING**My “accused twin” Tommy Howe and me. We swapped instruments and used a drum machine. It wasn't necessarily right—but it was the same every time.

Motion band, 1989 — **MOTION — 1989**Mike Strickland and I would swap bass guitar and keyboards every day during our afternoon gig. One day, Mike showed up with the frets removed from his bass. That was where I fell in love with the sound and feel of a fretless bass—and before long, I bought one of my own.

**DOUBLE EDGE BAND — 1980**Ben Wages and the Double Edge Band.

Cruisin Country — **CRUISIN COUNTRY**The band behind what became THE ROAD TRIP FROM HELL. By the end, there was no conversation on the ride home—and no band.

Memphis Trixx band — **MEMPHIS' TRIXX — c. 1993**Created to run off the “water-drinking line dancers.” Almost no country. Mission accomplished.

FULL STORY

THE BAND THAT DIDN'T EXIST

A musician called with a two-week job backing The Platters in Kansas City. I said yes—and then had one day to assemble Memphis Uptown Band.

FULL STORY

THE ROAD TRIP FROM HELL

Flat tires. A dead trailer. A failed transmission. U-Hauls. A birthday I didn't know about. A club that wanted country. Then the transmission failed again on the way home.

1997–2010

LOVE... EXCITING AND NEW

A Las Vegas musician named JoJo Clark once watched me cover the horn parts on keyboards and said, “You'd do good in Vegas or on a cruise ship.” In 1997, the pager finally went off at the right time.

JoJo Clark Trio, 1997 — **JOJO CLARK TRIO — 1997**The first cruise contract. Three men in tuxedos looking considerably more prepared than we actually were.

Rick aboard Pacific Princess in Venice, Italy, 1997 — **VENICE, ITALY — 1997**Aboard the Pacific Princess during my first six-month cruise contract.

Treasured Memories cassette insert — **TREASURED MEMORIES**The cassette insert I made aboard ship for our live Jo Jo Clark Trio recording.

THE LOVE BOAT

I WANT TO GO!

Years earlier JoJo showed me a photograph of himself and two musicians playing on the top deck of the Love Boat. I told him, “I WANT TO GO!” In April 1997 he called. Two days later I was in Las Vegas—and then discovered the tickets said Los Angeles, London and Lisbon, Portugal.

TEA TIME

DON'T RAISE YOUR HAND

“How many piano players do we have?” I proudly raised my hand. That was how a keyboard player who didn't sight-read music became a tuxedo-clad solo pianist for afternoon Tea Time. At my last one, a music teacher of fifty years told me she could never improvise without her music. That made my cruise.

ALASKA — 1998

THE RUDDER HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN.

On the Sky Princess, I knew something was wrong when I could see trees out the rear of the ship. The British captain soon announced that the rudder “has a mind of its own.” Three days in Skagway followed.

Cruise Control, 2002 — **CRUISE CONTROL — 2002**By the end of 2002, Carnival had become the next chapter.

Foolish Pleasure on Carnival Legend — **FOOLISH PLEASURE — 2003**Tommy Howe, a drummer friend from Mississippi and me aboard the Carnival Legend out of New York.

2005–2010

THE ONE-MAN BAND

After a 2005 Foolish Pleasure contract aboard Carnival Pride with JoJo Clark, Tommy Howe and Doug Robinson, I began working solo for Carnival. All the earlier years—bass, keyboards, horns, sequencers, MIDI, arranging and learning to fill the missing parts—had been preparing me for it without my knowing.

2005

LIFE IN GENERAL

After years of playing other people's music, I had also accumulated songs of my own. In 2005 I put together a studio demo of original material under a title that, looking back, fits the rest of this website pretty well.

ORIGINAL SONGS

THREE MINUTES AT A TIME

The CD included original songs such as “Change Everything,” “Island of Love,” “Lookin' Back,” “Sometimes When You Speak,” “Chasin' Rainbows,” “Ladies & Tables,” “I Won't Close My Eyes,” “Foolish Pleasure,” “Lady of My Life,” “Rock 'n Roll Automobile” and “Vegas Is Good for Me.” Songwriting taught me that a complete story can be told in three minutes. Some stories need a little more room.