Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

Biography

Born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, both his father (Dick Sinclair) and grandfather (also named Dick Sinclair) were musical entertainers around Canterbury. Richard was introduced to the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

at age 3 and the guitar at 6, and was only 15 when he met Hugh and

Brian Hopper Brian Hopper (born 3 January 1943) is an English guitarist and saxophonist. Hopper was born in Whitstable, Kent, England, and is the older brother of the late bassist Hugh Hopper. With Hugh, he was a member in the early Canterbury scene T ...

when they came to see his dad's danceband. By the following year Sinclair was playing guitar (and occasionally singing) in the root Canterbury band

The Wilde Flowers The Wilde Flowers were an English psychedelic rock band from Canterbury, Kent. Formed in 1964, the group originally featured lead vocalist Kevin Ayers, lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist Brian Hopper, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Richard Sincl ...

. In 1968 he became a founding member of Caravan, switching to bass guitar and sharing lead vocals with Pye Hastings. His compositional output came to the fore on the band's third album, the classic ''In the Land of Grey and Pink'', on which he wrote and sang the title track, "Golf Girl" and the epic "Winter Wine". Sinclair left Caravan in 1972 to form

Hatfield and the North Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter. Career In mid 1972 the band grew out of a line-up of ex-members of blues/jazz/rock band Del ...

with ex- Delivery members

Phil Miller Philip Paul Miller (22 January 1949 – 18 October 2017) was an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist and a central part of the Canterbury scene. He was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. Self-taught on guitar, Miller formed his first band, De ...

and

Pip Pyle Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the progressive rock Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield a ...

, lending his distinctive,

quintessentially English The culture of England is defined by the cultural norms of England and the English people. Owing to England's influential position within the United Kingdom it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate English culture from the culture of the U ...

voice and increasingly impressive bass playing skills to their two albums, and writing some of their best-loved songs, "Share It", "Let's Eat (Real Soon)" (both with lyrics by Pip Pyle) and "Halfway Between Heaven And Earth". In 1974, he participated in '' Rock Bottom'', the second solo album by former Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt. The album was produced by Pink Floyd´s drummer Nick Mason. After Hatfield broke up in 1975, Sinclair moved back to Canterbury, starting a carpentry/kitchen-fitting business while maintaining low-key musical activities, often under the humorous moniker Sinclair & The South. He came out of this semi-retirement in 1977 when he was asked by Camel to replace their departed bass player. This stint lasted for two studio albums and half of the live set ''A Live Record''. In the 1980s, his activities were sporadic. He recorded a collaborative album with Phil Miller and Alan Gowen, ''Before a Word Is Said'', in 1981, reunited with Caravan for the 1982 reunion effort ''Back To Front'', sang on one track of

National Health National Health were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band featured members of keyboardist Dave Stewart (keyboardist), Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band ...

's swansong ''D.S. Al Coda'' (also 1982), and joined

's In Cahoots, for a residency at the London jazz club the Bull & Gate and, in 1984, a European tour. He left before the band undertook its first recordings. His voice or bass were barely heard until the end of the decade, save for a low-key Dutch tour in 1986 and a guest spot of

's album ''Split Seconds'' (1989). In 1990, there was a one-off reformation of

and a long-term one of the original Caravan line-up in 1990-91. At this point, Sinclair formed his own group Caravan Of Dreams, with ex-Camel drummer Andy Ward and former Hatfield roadie Rick Biddulph on bass (live gigs only), plus occasional participation from cousin

Dave Sinclair David Sinclair (born 24 November 1947) is a British keyboardist (organ, piano, harpsichord, electric piano, Mellotron, Davolisint, etc.) associated with the psychedelia/progressive rock Canterbury Scene since the late 1960s. He became famous ...

and sax/flautist

Jimmy Hastings James Brian Gordon Hastings (born 12 May 1938) is a British musician associated with the Canterbury scene who plays saxophones, flute and clarinet. Hastings was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has played with his brother Pye Hastings in Caravan, ...

. The project's eponymous album came out in 1992. Sinclair's next effort, ''R.S.V.P.'' (1994), was recorded with a fluctuating line-up including

Tony Coe Anthony George Coe (born 29 November 1934) is an English jazz musician who plays clarinet, bass clarinet, flute as well as soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones. Career Born in Canterbury, Kent, England, Coe started out on clarinet and was self- ...

and former Happy the Man keyboardist Kit Watkins. Regular touring stopped in 1996 as Sinclair moved to the Netherlands for a few years. He reappeared in 2002 with occasional concerts and archival live releases, but the most exposure came with the reunion of

in 2005-06, which came to an abrupt end when

died in August 2006. Shortly after that, he left his longtime Canterbury home to move permanently to Italy, living in a

trullo A trullo (plural, trulli) is a traditional Apulian dry stone hut with a conical roof. Their style of construction is specific to the Itria Valley, in the Murge area of the Italian region of Apulia. Trulli were generally constructed as tempora ...

Martina Franca Martina Franca, or just Martina ( Martinese: ), is a town and ''municipality'' in the province of Taranto, Apulia, Italy. It is the second most populated town of the province after Taranto, and has a population (2016) of 49,086. Since 1975, th ...

. In 2010, he joined the trio douBt (Alex Maguire,

Michel Delville Michel Delville (born 1969) is a Belgian musician, writer and critic. Delville teaches literature at the University of Liège. He is the author of books about comparative poetics and interdisciplinary studies. He was awarded the 1998 SAMLA Book ...

and Tony Bianco) on the album ''Never Pet a Burning Dog'' (

Moonjune Records MoonJune Records is a record label specializing in progressive rock, jazz rock, and avant-garde music. It was founded by record producer Leonardo Pavkovic in 2001. History Pavkovic was born in Yugoslavia and grew up in southern Italy. In his yo ...

) and toured Japan and Europe with the band. In 2013-2014 he toured Italy with the Italian band PropheXy, recording two live bonus tracks (''Disassociation, Golf Girl'') for their album ''Improvviso''. In 2023 Richard listed his entire catalog on

BandCamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Discography

Bandology

* 1964–1965

(with

Kevin Ayers Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely assoc ...

, Robert Wyatt,

Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting in ...

''et al.'') * 1968–1972, 1982 Caravan * 1972–1975

* 1976 Sinclair and the South * 1977–1979 Camel * 1982–1984

In Cahoots In Cahoots was a Canterbury scene band led by guitarist Phil Miller, their main composer. History The band was formed in November 1982 by Miller with Pip Pyle (drums), Richard Sinclair (bass) and Elton Dean (saxophone), as the Phil Miller Qua ...

* 1988 Skaboosh * 1991–93 Caravan of Dreams * 1994–1996 R.S.V.P. (with

Didier Malherbe Didier Malherbe (born January 22, 1943 in Paris), is a French jazz, rock and world music musician, known as a member of the bands Gong and Hadouk, as well as a poet. His first instrument was a saxophone, but he also plays flutes, alto clarin ...

and

Patrice Meyer ''Patrice Meyer'' (b. 18 December 1957) is a French electric guitarist active in Jazz, Jazz rock, Progressive rock and Canterbury scene bands. History ''Patrice Meyer'' was born in Strasbourg in the Alsace region of France. He began teaching hi ...

) * 1995– ? Richard Sinclair Band with

and David Rees Williams * 2005–2006 Hatfield and the North reformed

Filmography

* 2015: '' Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales'' (DVD)

References

External links

Richard Sinclair on BandCamp
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Richard Canterbury scene English rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists English rock guitarists English male guitarists 1948 births Living people People from Canterbury Caravan (band) members Camel (band) members Musicians from Kent Hatfield and the North members Gilgamesh (band) members Mirage (British band) members In Cahoots members The Wilde Flowers members Progressive rock bass guitarists