Turley Richards (born Richard Curtis Turley; June 12, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Richards was born in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in West Virginia, most populous city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Kanawha County, West Virginia, Kanawha County and ...

. He was blinded in the left eye at the age of four in an

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

accident and lost sight in the right eye as well at the age of twenty-nine. He began playing in a group called The Five Pearls while still a teen in the 1950s. His first appearance on record was in 1959, a single titled "All About Ann", released on label

Fraternity Records Fraternity Records is a small record label based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was started by Harry Carlson and silent partner Dr. Ashton Welsh in 1954. The first recording to be released on Fraternity was Jerri Winters' "Winter's Here". The first hit ...

. "Makin' Love With My Baby", also released by Fraternity Records, followed later that year. Richards was named a Rockabilly Legend in the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The original Rockabilly Hall of Fame was an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville ...

for this song. He moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with an ensemble in the early 1960s, but his band failed and he returned to West Virginia. Later in the 1960s he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, playing upper East Side bars and eventually finding success. He toured with

The Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s American rock band from Portland, Oregon. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the ''Billboard'' charts for six weeks and has bec ...

in 1967 and appeared on The Johnny Carson Show in 1969 performing " Summertime". Known as the "West Virginia Superstar", his debut album was released on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

in 1970, and he scored two minor hit singles in the early 1970s. Further releases followed later in the decade, as did a third hit in 1980. Richards made the first recording of

Tom Snow Thomas Righter Snow (born 1947 in Princeton, New Jersey) is an American songwriter. Biography Snow has written songs for Gayle McCormick "( Even a Fool Would Let Go" with Kerry Chater – a song covered by a number of artists including Kenn ...

and Nan O'Byrne's "

You Might Need Somebody "You Might Need Somebody" is a song written by Tom Snow and Nan O'Byrne, first recorded in 1979 by American singer and guitarist Turley Richards. In 1981, American jazz and R&B singer and songwriter Randy Crawford released her version which reac ...

", which was subsequently a UK hit twice, reaching No. 11 for

Randy Crawford Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American retired jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, sh ...

in 1981 and No. 4 for

Shola Ama Shola Ama (born 8 March 1979) is a British singer from London, who scored her biggest hits with " You Might Need Somebody" (1997), a cover of Randy Crawford's 1981 hit, " You're the One I Love" and "Still Believe" (1999) which was one of the ...

in 1997. His autobiography, ''Blindsighted'', was published in 2014. Richards resides in the

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

area where he still performs. He also acts a vocal coach with some of his students making it to the finals of '' The Voice'' and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

''.

Discography

Albums

*1965: ''The Many Souls of Turley Richards'' (

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

) *1970: ''Turley Richards'' (

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

) *1971: ''Expressions'' (Warner Bros.) *1972: ''From Darkness to Light'' (Silba) *1976: ''West Virginia Superstar'' (

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

) *1979: ''Therfu'' (

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

) *2007: ''A Matter of Faith'' (Kiongazi) *2007: ''Back to My Roots'' (Kiongazi) *2008: ''BlindSighted'' (Kiongazi)

Singles

As Richard Turley *1959: "All About Ann" / "Makin' Love with My Baby" (

Fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

) *1959: "Since I Met You" / "I Wanna Dance" (Fraternity) *1961: "I Wanna Dance" / "Since I Met You" (

Dot A dot is usually a small, round spot. Dot, DoT or DOT may also refer to: Orthography * Full stop or "period", a sentence terminator * Dot (diacritic), a mark above or below a character (e.g. ȧ, ạ, İ, Ċ, ċ, etc.), usually to indicate sou ...

) As Turley Richards *1964: "Since You've Been Gone" / "What's Your Name" (

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

) *1965: "I Need to Fall in Love" / " Shout" (20th Century Fox) *1966: "

Crazy Arms "Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's ...

" / "I Just Can't Take It Any Longer" ( Columbia) *1966: "I Feel Alright" / "I Can't Get Back Home to My Baby" (Columbia) *1967: "I'm a Lonely Man" / "I Can't Get Back Home to My Baby" (Columbia) *1968: "This is My Woman" / "Everything's Goin' For Me" ( Kapp) *1968: "Such a Wonderful Feeling" / "Don't Tell Me It's Raining" (Kapp) *1969: "Freedom Mountain" / "Tomorrow Will Never Come" (Warner Bros.) *1970: " Love Minus Zero-No Limit" / "Gone from Yesterday" (Warner Bros.) - US #84, CAN #70, AUS #96 *1970: "I Heard the Voice of Jesus" / "Then I'll Go Away" (Warner Bros.) - US #99 *1970: "Child of Mine" / "Maybe I Can Change My Mind" (Warner Bros.) - AUS #83 *1971: "The Last Day" / "Train Back to Mama (Broken Dreams)" (Warner Bros.) *1971: "

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his '' Bringing It All Back Home'' album, released on March 22, 1965, by Columbia Records. The song was recorded on January 15, 1965, with Dylan's acous ...

" / "Virginia Woman" (Warner Bros.) *1971: "

One Too Many Mornings "One Too Many Mornings" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his third studio album '' The Times They Are a-Changin in 1964. The chords and vocal melody are in some places very similar to the song " The Times They Are A-Changin'". "One Too Many ...

" / "Beautiful Country" (Warner Bros.) *1976: "West Virginia Superstar" / "Happy" (

) *1978: "

Under the Boardwalk "Under the Boardwalk" is a pop song written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and recorded by The Drifters in 1964. It charted at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on August 22, 1964. The song has since been covered by many othe ...

" / "Holy Holy" (Epic) *1979: "

" / "It's All Up to You" (Atlantic) - US #54 *1980: " Stand by Me" / "All Over The World" (Atlantic)

EPs

*1984: ''Skin Fever'' (Vitag)

Appearances

U.S. releases only. *1970: ''Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies'': "I Heard the Voice of Jesus" (Warner Bros.) *1973: ''Because I Am'': "Because I Am" (Clearlight) *1976: ''It's A Knockout Round 2'': "West Virginia Superstar" (Epic) *2000: ''The Gospel According to Austin, Tx'': "I Heard the Voice of Jesus" (Kickbutt Gospel)

Producer

Albums *1972: Turley Richards - From Darkness to Light (Silba) *1975: Country Folk – ''Down To Earth'' (Mugtime) *1981: Ed Raetzloff – ''Drivin' Wheels'' ( NewPax) *1982: James Ward – ''Faith Takes a Vision'' ( Lamb & Lion) *1983:

Carman In Celtic mythology, Carman (Carmán) or Carmun was a warrior and sorceress from Athens who tried to invade Ireland in the days of the Tuatha Dé Danann, along with her three sons, Dub ("darkness"), Dother ("evil") and Dian ("violence"). She use ...

– ''Sunday's on the Way'' (Priority) *1985: Stark Raven – ''One Hundred Million Reasons'' (Vitag) *1981:

Brown Bannister Elliott Brown Bannister III (born August 15, 1951) is a contemporary Christian music (CCM) producer and songwriter. Biography Bannister released one album of his own, ''Talk to One Another'', in 1981 on NewPax Records. It was reissued on the Reuni ...

– ''Talk to One Another'' (NewPax) *19??: Len Loyd, Jr. – ''Lenny'' (none) Singles *1972: Denny Lile – "Hear the Bang" / "If You Stay on Solid Ground" (Bridges) *1979: Mary Welch – "

I Could Have Danced All Night "I Could Have Danced All Night" is a song from the musical ''My Fair Lady'', with music written by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,

" / "When It Was Good" (20th Century Fox) *1981: James Ward – "Child of Bethlehem" / "Child of Bethlehem" (Lamb & Lion) *1982: James Ward – "Faith Takes a Vision" / "Vessel" (Lamb & Lion) *1982: Mickey Clark – "Sweet Evangeline" / "You Take the Leavin' Out of Me" (Snake River) *1983: Mickey Clark – "The Cardinal Cannonball" / "The Battle of New Orleans, 1982" (Snake River) *1983: Mickey Clark – "The Battle of New Orleans, 1982" / "Shanty Boat Bill" (Snake River) *1983: Mickey Clark – "She's Gone to L.A. Again" / "The Tequila Express" (

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

) *1986: The Score – "Go Go Boy" / "Oh My My" (Sleeping Giant) *1987: Mickey Clark – When I'm Over You" / "Sweet Evangeline" (Evergreen) *198?: Tom Dooley and the Cosmic Cowboys – " Paradise (Muhlenberg County)" / "Figure It Out" (Kentucky) ;Discography notes

References

External links

Official websiteTurley Richards singles discography at 45cat.comTurley Richards discography at Discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Turley Singers from West Virginia American male singers Musicians from Charleston, West Virginia Living people Blind rock musicians Blind pop musicians Blind folk musicians American blind singers American blind guitarists 1941 births The Kingsmen members