Richard Parfitt is a musician and academic from

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

in south

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, most publicly notable for his role as a founding member of 90's rock band The 60ft. Dolls. He had previously played in local mod band The Colours, who were renowned for busking on the streets of Newport. The Colours only released the one single, The Dance, on the Loco label before he left to join

The Truth The Truth may refer to: Film * ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy * ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot * ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial crim ...

in 1984, playing bass on their Five Live ep which was recorded at the 100 Club as well as their 1985 album Playground. After having several UK Top 40 hits during the 90's, 60 Ft. Dolls#Discography along with moderate success in the US, The 60 ft. Dolls split and Parfitt began working as a professional songwriter and session musician, going on to be credited by Welsh singer

Duffy Duffy may refer to: People *Duffy (surname), people with the surname Duffy or Duffey *Duffy (nickname) *Duffy (singer) (born 1984), Welsh singer, born Aimee Ann Duffy Places *Duffy, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Duffy, Ohio ...

of discovering her talents and 'changing her life'. Parfitt helped write several songs for the artist's debut studio album

Rockferry ''Rockferry'' is the debut studio album by Welsh singer Duffy, released on 3 March 2008 in the United Kingdom by A&M Records. It was released in the United States by Mercury Records. Taking four years to record the album, Duffy worked with se ...

- which had considerable commercial success around the world, reaching UK No. 1 and becoming one of the ten best-selling albums in the world in 2008 – including the title song from the film How To Lose Friends and Alienate People, 'Enough Love'. Parfitt also worked as a session guitarist on British artist

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

's second studio album,

Life For Rent ''Life for Rent'' is the second studio album by English singer Dido, released by Arista Records on 29 September 2003. The album was produced by her brother Rollo Armstrong and American songwriter Rick Nowels. Work on the album began in mid-2002 ...

. He has since written articles and papers in various musical contexts, taught as a lecturer, and directed the world's first songwriting degree programme, the MMus in Songwriting, at

Bath Spa University Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire. The instit ...

Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the ceremonial counties of England, county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 1 ...

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parfitt, Richard Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Newport, Wales Welsh scholars and academics Welsh rock musicians