Born in Bonne Terre Missouri, Rich has been influenced by music and musicians from his earliest days. Music such as Country & Western and Gospel were household staples, as well as 50’s and early 60’s Pop and Rock n’ Roll introduced by a brother seven years his senior. His uncle Tommy Thomas was an active fiddler and guitarist, who performed with the Plummer Family till they relocated to Branson, Missouri. Tommy stayed home in Knob Lick, Missouri to manage the family farm and perform in the Madison County area. Rich’s family moved to Saint Louis where at age nine he received about one year of piano lessons from a neighborhood instructor. Grade school brought solo and choral vocal training by Missouri Lutheran Synod, Organ and Choirmaster, Herbert Toensing and snare drum instruction by Mound City 6 jazz musician, Sammy Gardner. Then, The Beatles and Paul McCartney changed everything and he knew bass guitar and vocals were his musical calling. Cutting his musical teeth with Pagedale neighborhood bands and as a member of the ‘Up With People’ chapter at Normandy High School.
From his early 20’s up till today, Rich has consistently performed in Saint Louis area bars and taverns. A co-founder of The Fluid Drive Band and founder of The Pop Weazls, Rich has also played with various bands such as Hudson and the Hoo Doo Cats, Pavlov’s Dog 2000 and guitarist Jimmy Lee Kennett. Rich says “I am proud and delighted to share the stage with musicians of the caliber that are found in Steve Davis’s ‘Memories of Elvis’ show.