Rich Dodson (born 1947) is a Canadian musician and songwriter who is the guitarist, vocalist and a founding member of the rock trio

The Stampeders The Stampeders (sometimes shortened to Stampeders) are a Canadian rock trio consisting of lead guitarist and vocalist Rich Dodson, bassist Ronnie King and drummer Kim Berly. History Formed in Calgary, Alberta, in 1964 as the Rebounds. they ...

. He is best known for penning the group's biggest hit, "

Sweet City Woman "Sweet City Woman" is a 1971 song by Canadian rock band The Stampeders, appearing on their debut album ''Against the Grain'' (retitled ''Sweet City Woman'' in the US). It features a banjo as a primary instrument, which is also mentioned in the lyr ...

", which hit number 1 in Canada and number 8 on the US '' Billboard'' in 1971. He also wrote other notable hits for the band such as "Wild Eyes" (1972), "Devil You" (1971), "Johnny Lightning" (1974) and "Carry Me" (1971). Dodson has stated that his influences come from instrumental bands of the 1960s such as

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

and

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

, as well as

Lovin' Spoonful Loving may refer to: * Love, a range of human emotions * Loving (surname) * '' Loving v. Virginia'', a 1967 landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case Film and television * ''Loving'' (1970 film), an American film * ''Loving'' ( ...

and

The Zombies The Zombies are an English rock band formed in the early 1960s in St Albans and led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group had a British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two fu ...

. On stage, he is known for playing his self-designed Fender

double neck guitar A multi-neck guitar is a guitar that has multiple fingerboard necks. They exist in both electric and acoustic versions. Although multi-neck guitars are quite common today, they are not a modern invention. Examples of multi-neck guitars and lutes ...

. Dodson left the Stampeders in 1978 to pursue his interests in music production and built his own 24-track recording studio called Marigold Studios. There he produced his own solo material as well as producing and engineering "Fate Stay with Me" (1987) for Alanis Morissette. In that same year, he began his nationally distributed independent record label called Marigold Productions. Dodson went on to have a successful solo career with three top-ten hits in Canada including "Lookin' Back" (1981), "She's Comin' Back/Your Own Kind of Music" (1985), and "Cruel Emotion" (1986). In 1994, Dodson released his solo songs on an album called ''Secret Hits'' on Aquarius Records. In 1992, Dodson re-united with his Stampeders bandmates. The band continue to tour Canada doing fairs, festivals, casinos and theatres. In 1994, Dodson was inducted into the

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

Hall of Fame for composing "Sweet City Woman" and "Carry Me". In February 2006, Dodson was inducted into the

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (''Panthéon des Auteurs et Compositeurs canadiens'') is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their ''Hall of Fame'' within three different categori ...

with "Sweet City Woman". His daughter, Holly Dodson, is a singer-songwriter, vocalist, and key member in Canadian synth-pop trio Parallels.

Discography

Singles

Stampeders songs written by Dodson

*"Morning Magic" (1967) *"Be a Woman" (1968) *"Crosswalk" (1969) *"Carry Me" (1971) *"

" (1971) *"Devil You" (1971) *"Monday Morning Choo Choo" (1972) *"Wild Eyes" (1972) *"Johnny Lightning" (1973) *"Running Wild" (1974) *"Ramona" (1974) *"San Diego" (1976) *"Baby with You" (1984) *"Oh Belinda" (1996) *"Hometown Boy" (1997)

References

External links

The Stampeders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodson, Rich 1947 births Living people Canadian male singers Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian songwriters Musicians from Calgary Musicians from Greater Sudbury Writers from Calgary Writers from Greater Sudbury Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year winners