Richard Raymond Finch (born January 23, 1954) is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. He is best known as the co-founder, producer and former

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

player of

KC and the Sunshine Band KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "K ...

. Along with

Harry Wayne Casey Harry Wayne Casey (born January 31, 1951), better known by his stage name KC, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his band, KC and the Sunshine Band, as a producer of several hits for other art ...

, he co-wrote six No. 1 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hits.

Biography

Born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, Finch's family moved to

Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area ...

, when he was an infant. At five years old and the second youngest of five children, Finch's father died unexpectedly leaving his mother to raise Finch and his four siblings alone. His favorite group growing up was

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

. His musical tastes grew to include

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

music. In his early teens, Finch got his first electric

and began to learn country music bass lines. He joined several country bands before joining the band Ball & Chain. Finch became interested in audio recording techniques while working at an Opa Locka, FL electronics and record store. A schoolmate introduced him to the singer-songwriter Clarence Reid from

TK Records TK Records was an American independent record label founded by record distributor Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo in 1972. and based in Hialeah, Florida. The record label went bankrupt in 1981. "TK" was inspired by the initials of sound engineer ...

. His high school attendance suffered as he spent every free moment at TK Records and unbeknownst to his mother, he dropped out of high school his Sophomore year and shortly thereafter was hired as a part-time

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

for the label. Henry Stone and Clarence Reid introduced Finch to

, three years his senior, who was hired to work in the shipping department and act as TK's occasional receptionist. Prior to his introduction to Casey, Finch had already established himself at TK as a skilled engineer, with numerous singles recorded before the age of 17
including_various_tracks_for_the_Allman_Brothers
_and_Mother's_Finest.html" ;"title="Allman Brothers">including various tracks for the Allman Brothers
and Mother's Finest">Allman Brothers">including various tracks for the Allman Brothers
and Mother's Finest). Within weeks of meeting, the Finch/Casey songwriting collaboration began, with their first hit songs recorded by Betty Wright and George McCrae ("Where Is the Love (Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song), Where Is the Love" and "Rock Your Baby"). Finch then assembled the future Sunshine Band members, utilizing his already-established friendships with TK session musicians, guitarist Jerome Smith and drummer Robert Johnson. The Finch–Casey collaboration produced numerous hits, including "

(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" is a song recorded and released in 1976 by KC and the Sunshine Band for the album '' Part 3''. The song became their third number-one hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as well as their third number-one on ...

", "

Get Down Tonight "Get Down Tonight" is a song released in 1975 on the self-titled album by the disco group KC and the Sunshine Band. The song became widely successful, becoming the first of their five No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also reached the ...

", " Please Don't Go", "

Boogie Shoes "Boogie Shoes" is a funk/disco song by KC and the Sunshine Band, which first appeared on their 1975 self-titled album. The song became a hit after it appeared on the ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack in 1977. It was subsequently released as ...

Criminal convictions

On March 23, 2010, Finch was arrested in

Newark, Ohio Newark ( ) is a city serving as the county seat of Licking County, Ohio, United States, east of Columbus, at the junction of the forks of the Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 census, which makes it the 15th largest city in ...

, accused of havin
inappropriate contact with a 17-year-old male
Police stated that during an interview, he admitted to having inappropriate contact with that teen, and other teens aged 13 to 17. At his bond hearing on April 6, 2010, Finch entered a plea of not guilty to all charges. In December 2010, Finch pleaded "no contest" and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He served his sentence in

Chillicothe Correctional Institution Chillicothe Correction Institution, or CCI, is a state-run medium security prison on the west bank of the Scioto River just outside Chillicothe, Ohio. It is located adjacent to Ross Correctional Institution and Hopewell Culture National Hist ...

, a medium-security state prison in Ohio, and was released on March 13, 2017. In April 2019, Finch received a parole infraction notice which modified his post-incarceration sentence and added an additional seven months to his parole, which was set to end in October 2022.

Intellectual Property Lawsuit

In October 2021, exercising his righ
under Federal Law to terminate a prior assignment
of his co-created musical compositions, Finch sued

Sony Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

t
reclaim his fifty percent ownership rights and royalties
to the songs he co-wrote with Harry Wayne Casey. On January 11, 2022, the lawsuit was moved to th
US District Court for the Southern District of Florida
On February 23, 2022, EMI Consortium Songs, Inc. was removed from the complaint, with Harry Wayne Casey (Finch's co-writer) remaining as the sole defendant.

Legacy

Finch is a multi-

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

winner wit
three wins and nine nominations
and was nominated in the 2010 first round Grammy ballot as producer. He is the recipient of an

American Music Award The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

and a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

having been a part of the KC and the Sunshine Band legacy. In October 2010, Finch became a nominee to the

Songwriters Hall of Fame The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work, represent, and maintain, the her ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, Richard 1954 births American people convicted of child sexual abuse Grammy Award winners KC and the Sunshine Band members Living people People from Hialeah, Florida Musicians from Indianapolis Guitarists from Indiana 20th-century American bass guitarists People from Heath, Ohio Guitarists from Ohio