Ron Richards (born Ronald Richard Pratley; 22 January 1929 – 30 April 2009) was a British record producer, manager and promoter, best known for discovering

the Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

.Lastingtribute.co.uk

Early life

Richards was born in London to Mary Lipscombe and an unknown Irish jockey, and was adopted at an early age. He became a proficient pianist as a child and, after being

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, played the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

for the

Central Band of the Royal Air Force The Central Band of the Royal Air Force is an RAF regular band and is part of Royal Air Force Music Services. The motto of the band is ''Aere Invicti'' (Latin for "Invincible with the Brass"). History The Central Band of the RAF was formed in ...

Career

Richards started working as a

song plugger 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 repetition ...

in London's Tin Pan Alley in 1952, and discovered songwriter

Jerry Lordan Jerry Lordan (born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan, 30 April 1934 – 24 July 1995) was an English songwriter, composer and singer. He achieved 3 hit singles on the UK Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting. Amongst his songwriting c ...

. He later worked at

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

imprint as an assistant to producer

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

, who recognised his potential as a producer. Richards discovered

, and signed them to a recording contract with Parlophone in 1963. He produced most of the Hollies' music between 1963 and 1979, during which time they had seventeen Top 10 hit singles in the UK, as well as worldwide success. At first, Martin was not greatly involved with Parlophone's new signing,

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 ...

, and Richards was assigned to produce their first session in June 1962, which included drummer

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 ...

. It was Richards who originally considered that Best was unsuitable for recording work, although he was not very impressed by Best's replacement,

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

. Richards hired session drummer Andy White, and Richards and Martin produced the Beatles' first single "

Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the official debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by " P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United ...

". Richards had suggested the Beatles' first record should be "

How Do You Do It? "How Do You Do It?" is the debut single by Liverpudlian band Gerry and the Pacemakers. It was written by Mitch Murray. The song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 11 April 1963, where it stayed for three weeks. History The song was wr ...

" penned by

Mitch Murray Mitch Murray (born Lionel Michael Stitcher; 30 January 1940) is an English songwriter, record producer and author. He has won two Ivor Novello Awards, including the Jimmy Kennedy Award. Murray has written, or co-written, songs that have produ ...

and, after Martin took control of the Beatles' sessions, Richards worked with

Gerry and the Pacemakers Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...

, who were the first act to go to No. 1 with each of their first three singles, "How Do You Do It?", " I Like It" and, using Martin's string arrangement, "

You'll Never Walk Alone "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...

". In August 1965, Richards joined Martin in leaving EMI to start

AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

. Working for

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

, Richards was also the musical director for

P.J. Proby * Pajamas, or PJs Arts and entertainment * ''P.J.'' (film), a 1968 film starring George Peppard * P.J. (Disney), Pete Junior, a Disney cartoon character * P.J. (comics), a character in ''The Family Circus'' comic strip * PJ (singer), Paris Ale ...

, and together they worked on the ''Proby'' albums. Richards is mentioned in the Beatles'

bootleg recordings A bootleg recording is an sound recording, audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be ...

during the session for "

Think For Yourself "Think for Yourself" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album ''Rubber Soul''. It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist, and, together with "If I Needed Someone", marked the start of his emergenc ...

". After George Martin makes a few mistakes,

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

joked about getting Richards to produce ''

Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work ...

'' instead. The exact words were, "I wonder if Ron Richards is free tomorrow?" followed by laughs. One of the songs on ''Rubber Soul'' is George Harrison's "

If I Needed Someone "If I Needed Someone" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist. It was released in December 1965 on their album '' Rubber Soul'', except in North America, where it appeared on the J ...

". On the same day that the ''Rubber Soul'' LP came out in Britain (3 December 1965), a cover of that song was released by the Hollies - produced by Ron Richards.

Personal life

Ron Richards who was married in 1954 to Ellen Fraser, had two sons and a daughter. He died in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, on 30 April 2009, and his funeral was held on 15 May in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

References

External links

Obituary
in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Ron 1929 births 2009 deaths English record producers Musicians from London The Hollies EMI The Beatles English people of Irish descent English adoptees