Ricky Andrew Fanté (born November 4, 1969) is an American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed p ...

singer, sound engineer, and songwriter.

Music career

After serving in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

for a few years after high school, a demo of his two-man group, produced by his partner ex-rocker Scott Rickett called Soul Surfing, fell into the hands of A&R executive

Josh Deutsch Josh Deutsch is an American musician and composer. Primarily known as a trumpet player, he is a founding member of the Queens Jazz Overground, leads the band Pannonia and the Josh Deutsch Quintet, and performs regularly in a duo with guitarist N ...

, which led to a development deal in 2001. In 2002, Fanté met with

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the ...

's collaborator

Jesse Harris Jesse Harris (born October 24, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, Nikki Yanofsky, and Lizz Wright. Early life and education Harris and his twin s ...

, and began co-writing and recording his debut record. Fanté was then signed by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

and released '' Rewind'' in July 2004. Fanté gained critical acclaim for the song " It Ain’t Easy". He performed the single on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

’s long-running late night talk and variety show ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ' ...

''. Although the song was not considered a hit, the album garnered moderate success in the U.S. and abroad. The song reached No. #8 on Italian music chart. In 2005, Ricky Fanté recorded the title song "Shine" for the film ''

Robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

'', and the upbeat tune "That’s All I Need" for the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

film ''

Lackawanna Blues ''Lackawanna Blues'' is an American play written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson that premiered in 2001. It was later adapted as a television movie that aired in 2005. The play dramatizes the character of the author's primary caregiver when he was gr ...

''. In the same year, he performed a duet with the Italian singer

Giorgia Todrani Giorgia Todrani, best known as Giorgia (; born 26 April 1971) is an Italian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and radio host. Known for her soulful voice, aided by a wide vocal range, high belting register and great vocal abili ...

for her ''

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 ...

Unplugged.'' In 2009, he recorded the theme song for the hit

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television series ''

Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business Reality television#Investments, reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on American Broadcasting Company, ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 201'Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank' ...

'', which was written by

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

and Janie Bradford. Afterward, he took a break from singing to return to school. In 2015, he began work on a new album with Scott Rickett and Herman Matthews. In 2016, he released a collaborative album with Scott Rickett titled ''Good Fortune'' through their own independent label, Soul Surfer Records.

Acting

In 1998, Fanté portrayed legendary singer

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown (music style), Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player ...

in the television mini-series ''The Temptations''. In 2005, he appeared in '' Yours, Mine and Ours'', a movie starring

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...

and

Rene Russo Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model in the 1970s, appearing on magazine covers such as '' Vogue'' and '' Cosmopolitan''. She made her film debut in the 1989 comedy ' ...

, and sang Major Harris’s "

Love Won't Let Me Wait "Love Won't Let Me Wait" is a hit 1975 single by Major Harris, a former member of R&B/soul group The Delfonics. Written by Vinnie Barrett and Bobby Eli, the single is considered to be a staple of classic soul playlists, and was Harris' only e ...

" during a pivotal scene of the movie. That same year, he also appeared in the television series ''

American Dreams ''American Dreams'' is an American drama television series that ran on NBC for three seasons & 61 episodes, from September 29, 2002, to March 30, 2005. The show tells the story of the Pryor family of Philadelphia during the mid-1960s, with many ...

'' and the successful

made-for-television movie ''

Their Eyes Were Watching God ''Their Eyes Were Watching God'' is a 1937 novel by American writer Zora Neale Hurston. It is considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, and Hurston's best known work. The novel explores main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a v ...

''. In 2018 Ricky Fante portrayed Soul legend Ottis Redding in the musical ''Stax Soul Musical'' at the Baltimore Center Stage. He received great reviews for his performance.

Discography

Albums

*2002: '' Soul Surfing'' (with Scott Rickett) *2004: '' Rewind'' *2016: ''Good Fortune'' (with Scott Rickett)

EPs

*2003: '' Introducing... Ricky Fanté''

Other appearances

*2004: "I Let You Go ('' WFUV: City Folk Live VII'') *2005: "Shine" (''

'' Soundtrack) *2005: "That's All I Need" (''

'' Soundtrack) *2005: "Love Won't Let Me Wait" ('' Yours, Mine and Ours'' Soundtrack) *2009: "Shark Tank Theme" (''

'' Soundtrack)

References

External links

"THE BRICK CITY ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW"
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fante, Ricky American contemporary R&B singers 1978 births Living people Virgin Records artists 21st-century American singers