Friendly Rich, born Richard Marsella, is a Canadian music composer and musician from

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

. He has independently released a number of albums of satirical and melodramatic songs. His music has been featured on CBC and ''

The Tom Green Show ''The Tom Green Show'' is a television show, created by and starring Canadian comedian Tom Green, that first aired in September 1994. The series aired on Rogers Television 22, a community channel in Ottawa, Ontario until 1996, when a single pilo ...

''.

Early life and education

Marsella earned a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in music at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

under the supervision of Lee Bartel and composer

R. Murray Schafer Raymond Murray Schafer (18 July 1933 – 14 August 2021) was a Canadian composer, writer, music educator, and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book ''The Tuning of th ...

, studying mainly musical instrument construction and parade pedagogy. In 2021, Marsella earned a PhD in music education at the

, with his dissertatio
The Musical Playground as a Vehicle for Community Building

Career

Rich composed background music for three seasons of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''The Tom Green Show''. Since 1994, he has recorded exclusively for his own eclectic record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. Friendly Rich has produced and composed nine full-length CDs, which have been featured on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...

(five documentaries for ''Outfront''),

CBC Radio 2 CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

(continuous airplay on

Brave New Waves ''Brave New Waves'' was a Canadian radio program which aired on CBC Stereo, later known as CBC Radio 2, from 1984 to 2007. Airing overnight five nights a week, the show profiled alternative and indie music and culture, including film, comics, ...

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is owned by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by the ...

(VOLT) and

Muchmusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

(Muchnews, BradTV). In 2000, Friendly Rich founded the Brampton Indie Arts Festival, an annual event which promotes underground artists, held in February at the Rose Theatre in downtown Brampton. This event, under Rich's direction, has featured

Nash the Slash James Jeffrey "Jeff" Plewman (March 26, 1948 – May 10, 2014), better known by his stage name Nash the Slash, was a Canadian musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he was known primarily for playing the electric violin and mandolin, as well as the h ...

, The Nihilist Spasm Band,

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...

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Bob Wiseman Robert Neil "Bob" Wiseman (born 1962) is a film composer, songwriter, author and music teacher. Wiseman discovered or produced many artists including Ron Sexsmith, The Lowest of the Low, Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall, Anhai, and former ...

, John Oswald,

Moneen Moneen (sometimes stylised as .moneen.) is a Canadians, Canadian indie rock band from Brampton, Ontario. History Moneen formed in 1999 after the dissolution of another band, called Perfectly Normal. The founding members were singer/guitarist Ke ...

, Scott Thompson, and

Hayden Hayden may refer to: Places Inhabited places in the United States *Hayden, Alabama *Hayden, Arizona *Hayden's Ferry, former name of Tempe, Arizona *Hayden, California, former name of Hayden Hill, California *Hayden, Colorado *Hayden, Idaho *Hayden ...

. Friendly Rich and his live ensemble The Lollipop People signed a deal with Hazelwood Records (Germany) to release two albums in Europe. They have since toured Europe three times; the first album to be released there was ''We Need a New F-Word''. Rich's 2007 album ''The Friendly Rich Show'', with the feel of a Vaudeville act, exemplified his satirical song-writing style, combining beat poetry and political commentary. ''Dinosaur Power'', also released in Europe, appeared on the !earshot National Top 50 Chart in 2008. The third to have a European release, 2010's ''The Sacred Prune of Remembrance'', noisily combined music from several genres. In 2014, Rich released a solo album, ''Bountiful'', and performed in support of it with the Lollipop People at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. In 2018, Friendly Rich arranged and performed, with the Lollipop People, Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's piano solo ''Pictures at an Exhibition''."Friendly Rich reinterprets Mussorgsky, loosely"
''The Globe and Mail'', November 2, 2009. Robert Everett-Green In 2023, Friendly Rich released his
Man Out of Time
' recording on vinyl through th
We Are Busy Bodies
record label.

Film and television credits

* 1994 to 1996 - Composer for children's TV series "The King Stanlislav Show" (Russia) * 1998 to 2001- Background music for MTV's "The Tom Green Show" * 2005 - 3 pieces used in

Thom Fitzgerald Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald (born July 8, 1968) is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer. Life Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years ol ...

3 Needles ''3 Needles'' is a 2005 Canadian drama film directed by Thom Fitzgerald. The title refers to the three main characters who make a deal with the Devil in order to survive a global epidemic. The plot deals with interwoven stories of persons around ...

(director's cut) starring

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has star ...

. * 2006 - Old Trout Puppet Workshop short film (featuring The Lollipop People). * 2022 - Score for Gabrielle Favaretto's short animated film ''Tadpole''.

References

External links

The Pumpkin Pie Corporation
Friendly Rich's company.
Friendly Rich's Myspace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Friendly Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Brampton