Price was born in Beaudesert, a small county town near Brisbane, Queensland. He began playing music at the age of nine appearing with his family band Union Beau. Citing such artists as diverse as Stevie Wonder, James Taylor and Carole King as inspiration. At age 18, Price escaped to Sydney and continued working as a musician, playing bass with various inner-city outfits and landing the occasional studio and touring work. During the mid-80s Rick turned his focus more towards his singing. His distinctive vocals were soon in demand and in 1988 he was invited to sing "Celebration of a Nation", with Keren Minshull, the theme song for Australia's Bicentennial. This opportunity helped lay the foundations for his solo career.
Price began writing his own material in the late 80s and released his debut single "Not a Day Goes By" in February 1992. The song received saturation radio and video play, climbing to #5 on the national charts where it spent 20 weeks in the Australian Top 40. It was the beginning of a lifelong ambition for Price, and in the space of less than 12 months, he went from relative obscurity to become one of the biggest names in Australian music.
In March 1992, his second single "Heaven Knows" was released in Australia. It was another Top 10 hit that went gold. The song would go on to launch his international career. In May of that year, Price was asked to join the Wizard of Oz showcase in Los Angeles where he performed alongside Tina Arena amongst many other of the country's leading artists. In June, his debut album 'Heaven Knows' entered the charts at #3 and stayed in the ARIA Top 40 chart for most of the remainder of the year.
In August 1992, 'Heaven Knows' was released though out much of Europe in Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Greece and Portugal and in Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines, in most of these countries the album charted. In September he embarked on a successful tour of Australia. Following the tour was a month-long promotional trip to Europe and the UK which involved over 100 interviews and 20 TV appearances. In October he was invited back to Europe for further TV appearances and then a 3-week promotional trip to Southeast Asia.
In November 1992, Price returned to Australia where he won the prestigious Song of the Year Award for "Heaven Knows" at the APRA (Australian Performing Rights Association) Awards. This award recognised Rick's songwriting abilities. In December 1992, Price was invited to Germany to perform on their biggest variety show there. He then made a 36-hour stopover in Manila where he made six TV appearances, two radio interviews and a handful of press.
"Heaven Knows" held the top spot in Malaysia for four consecutive weeks while "Not A Day Goes By" sat just behind it in the Top 5. In the Philippines, "Heaven Knows" sat at #1 for all of November and December. During this time the album sold over 250,000 units alone in Southeast Asia. Price went on to say, "It was an exhausting experience, but it was stimulating at the same time. It was all new to me, going to places I'd never been and doing stuff I'd never done, so I certainly didn't get tired of it''.
In January and February 1993, Price once again toured Australia to sold-out venues. In April, he was nominated for three ARIA Awards and on the night performed a tribute to Peter Allen with "Tenterfield Saddler". Later in May, he was asked to perform the song on Good Morning America who were in Australia for two weeks. The performance was aired to 5 million people. Later that month 'Heaven Knows' was re-released and included the bonus CD 'Rarities'. Rick spent two weeks travelling the country and promoting the re-release performing in acoustic mode.
In July 1993, 'Heaven Knows' was released in America and Canada. Back home, Price continued his touring, this time in the Northern Territory and northern Queensland area which he had not previously performed in. The tour was extremely successful, with all shows being theatres and all sold out. During October 1993, Rick performed more concerts in Southeast Asia which incorporated seven shows in 9 days. They were all sell outs. The Sentosa Music Festival in Singapore saw Rick perform in front of 15,000 people. Before returning to Australia, Rick visited Korea for a short promotional and concert tour.
Price once again joined the Wizard of Oz show cases in Japan where the album was launched. Whilst in Japan Rick won Song of the Year for "Walk Away Renee" and Album of the Year for 'Heaven Knows' at the Australian Music Awards. On his return from Japan, Rick was awarded with the 1993 Australian Export Award for recognition of his international success. During the month a new single "Where Is the Love", a duet with New Zealander Margaret Urlich, was released.
In December 1993, Price was invited to the Singapore Music Awards as a special guest. He picked up Song of the Year for "Heaven Knows", then came back home to Australia for more touring before being invited to perform on the numerous Carols by Candlelight shows around the country. The year was topped off when Price was presented with an Advance Australia Foundation award (in recognition of making an outstanding contribution to the growth and enhancement of Australia and its people). During 1994, Price spent the majority of time writing material for his anticipated follow-up album. From September to December, Price recorded his second album in Melbourne with a host of Australia's leading musicians.
In April 1995, the long awaited single "River of Love" was released, the first from Price's album 'Tamborine Mountain', which was later released in July. "It was quite difficult", Price reveals, "because I knew it was going to be a different album to 'Heaven Knows'. I made that album as pop as I could make it, I wanted to be certain of airplay and all those kind of things. After the first album was released, I went out and played a lot of acoustic gigs. My audience tripled and people really liked it, which surprised me because I thought it would be a bit too internal, a bit too self conscious. But it worked, which gave me a lot of encouragement and the confidence to write more like that, just simple little stories. And that's the kind of music I've always been drawn to - people like James Taylor and Carole King, great songwriters who have the ability to say something really simple".
The album was produced by Price and American Ben Wisch, who Price was drawn to as a result of his production of Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis". Special guests on the album included Tommy Emmanuel on guitar and Tina Arena on backing vocals and the duet "Trust Me This Is Love". After the success of the first single "River of Love", a second single "Bridge Building Man" was released. The song is a standout track for Price, written for his father and grandfather. The album title itself is a reference to a small town near Beaudesert where Price grew up.
In November and December 1995, following the release of the album, Price then toured with Australia's legendary guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. The tour, Rick Price & Tommy Emmanuel - Together & Alone, was a sell-out. It received rave reviews from critics and the public alike. In conjunction with the tour, a third single "To Be with You" was released in Australia. Price performed at several Carols by Candlelight shows around the country and continued to tour during early 1996. "You're Never Alone", a song Price wrote for his son, was released in Australia while he travelled the country on further promotional tours throughout the remainder of the year.
In January and February 1997, Price played several shows alongside another accomplished Australian singer/songwriter, Jack Jones. The shows were a huge success with the pair performing their best hits together and alone, proving yet again their abilities as live performers. For the majority of the year, Price spent his time in Los Angeles and Nashville writing material for his next album.
Some of the collaborators Price has worked with included Steve Werfel and Pam Reswick on "Not a Day Goes By" (who has written songs such as "Chains" by Tina Arena), Jon Lind (who has written songs such as "A Simple Life" by John Farnham, and "Crazy for You" by Madonna), and Randy Goodrum, a well-respected writer from Nashville. He has also written with Australia's Heather Field who co-wrote "Heaven Knows" and "River of Love", and once again has worked with Phil Buckle who co-wrote "What's Wrong With That Girl" from Rick's 'Heaven Knows' album.
In November and December 1997, Price played a couple of showcases to the public with some of the new material he had been working on. During the later months of 1997 and early 1998, Price recorded his new album in Los Angeles. The album 'Another Place' was released in Australia in 1999, spanning singles including "Where in the World" and "Good As Gone". In 2003, parting with Sony, Price released another solo album, 'A Million Miles', on his own label Clarice. Described as a garage album and going back to his musical roots, he plays every instrument heard on the album.
Price has spent much of his time writing with and recording and producing for other artists such as Melinda Schneider, Tamara Stewart, Lisa Chappell and David Franj. In 2004, a "best of" CD and DVD called 'The Essential Collection' was released, containing all of Price's bigger hits, re-recorded in an acoustic style setting, the album also features notable live performances such as "Tenterfield Saddler" live at the ARIAs. Price later wrote and recorded with Mitch Grainger, who performed the opening song for the 2007 film December Boys, "Nobody Knows My Name", which Price wrote and released on a recording called '2UP', featuring acoustic style covers of such artists as Chris Isaac. 'Revisited', an album of his greatest hits recorded in an "intimate acoustic style", was released in July 2008.
Price, having relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 2009 toured the US with guitarist Tommy Emmanuel An album titled 'The Water's Edge' was released in 2011, featuring the single "Shape of My Heart". and "I'm Coming Home" as the second single release in 2012. It also includes a cover of the Joni Mitchell hit "River". In April 2015, the album 'Tennessee Sky' was released exclusively though the Pledge Music campaign, where fans could have an input into the production of the album, it was preceded by the first single "Work That Fire". The album has been described as an earthy gospel album. 'Tennessee Sky' features an acoustic reworking of the Leonard Cohen hit Hallelujah. The album peaked at #97 in Australia and #19 on the Australian indie chart. Price toured the album throughout Victoria Australia in July 2015. The accompanying tour "Can I Get A Witness", was launched on the back of the 'Tennessee Sky' album release with dates throughout May and June 2016.
In September 2017, Price released 'California Dreaming', a collaboration with Australian singer-songwriter Jack Jones. The album became Price's second top ten album. Price produced Dami Im's 2018 album 'I Hear a Song'. In May 2018, it was announced Price will tour his legendary album 'Heaven Knows' in October and November from cover to cover. In October 2019, Price released a re-recorded version of "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" from 'Tambourine Mountain' with Regine Velasquez-Alcasid.
At the global APRA Awards in March 2020, Price was awarded the Overseas Recognition Award. In June 2021, Price announced the release of his forthcoming album and tour, 'Soulville', featuring songs form the 1960s. The one original track "Farewell But Not Goodbye", a tribute to Aretha Franklin was released on 18 June 2021 as the album's lead single, and is the only original track on the album. Price announced the forthcoming release of 'Wayfaring Stranger', described as a gospel album of cover songs, with hymns that span centuries and more recent tunes from the early 20th century. The album release will coincide with a tour.
SINGLES
Not a Day Goes By | 8 MAR '92 | #5 |
Heaven Knows | 28 JUN '92 | #6 |
What's Wrong With That Girl | 27 SEP '92 | #45 |
A House Divided
| 28 FEB '93 | #74 |
Walk Away Renee
| 23 MAY '93 | #21 |
Where is the Love
|
Rick Price & Margaret Urlich
| 12 DEC '93 | #31 |
River of Love
| 14 MAY '95 | #18 |
Bridge Building Man
| 10 SEP '95 | #72 |
To Be With You
| 12 NOV '95 | #68 |
You're Never Alone
| 16 JUN '96 | #64 |
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Price
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Price
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
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