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Rick Davies was born Richard Davies, in Swindon, UK, on 22nd July 1944, and grew up in the town, attending Sanford Street School. His father Dick was away at sea for much of his childhood, and it was his mother Betty, a hairdresser, who introduced him to music, gifting him with his first record player when he was just eight years of age.
Rick started on drums after becoming obsessed with Gene Krupa, and shifted to keyboards as a teenager. He played in several local groups, eventually forming Rick’s Blues (which featured future pop singer Gilbert O'Sullivan as its drummer). He would later join The Lonely Ones which became The Joint and also worked on a number of European film soundtracks.
A Dutch patron, Stanley August Miesegaes (“Sam”), funded his next step - investing more than £60,000 to finance two albums by The Joint, and in 1969 Davies placed a Melody Maker ad that brought Roger Hodgson into the fold. They called the new band Daddy, renamed it Supertramp in early 1970, and Rick emerged as the only constant member across every lineup.
Through the 1970s he shared lead vocals and writing with Hodgson, but he crafted a distinct corner of Supertramp’s catalogue: tough, blues-leaning songs with sardonic bite and sly swing. He wrote and sang “Bloody Well Right,” whose B-side origins didn’t stop it from becoming the band’s first U.S. hit, and he penned “Goodbye Stranger,” a staple of classic-rock radio that showcased his rasp and falsetto feints. On albums such as Crime of the Century, Crisis? What Crisis? and Even In The Quietest Moments, he carried the darker, jazz-tinged narratives in pieces like “Rudy,” “Asylum,” “Ain’t Nobody But Me,” and “From Now On,” while the band’s 1979 blockbuster Breakfast in America cemented his role as co-architect of their sound.
After Hodgson’s 1983 departure, Rick steered Supertramp decisively, writing and singing the sleek, doo-wop-tinged “My Kind of Lady,” the pulsing, odd-meter single “Cannonball,” and later the club-topping “I’m Beggin’ You.” He kept the band active on record and stage with Brother Where You Bound (1985), Free as a Bird (1987), Some Things Never Change (1997) and Slow Motion (2002), adding latter-day highlights such as “Better Days,” “You Win, I Lose,” and the expansive title tracks that leaned into his love of groove, harmony, and ensemble interplay.
He has also married Sue (who managed Supertramp from 1984 following Dave Margereson's retirement from this position) and settled on Long Island, New York, where he continued to make music informally with friends as Ricky and the Rockets. A planned 2015 Supertramp tour was cancelled after he received a myeloma diagnosis, but he played occasional low-key sets when treatment allowed, remaining close to the musicians who helped him refine Supertramp’s signature mix of bite and buoyancy.
As a writer and performer, Rick Davies brought economy and character to pop-rock craft. His songs often hinged on tightly wound riffs, conversational piano figures, and lyrics that cut through sentiment with wry realism; the choruses landed not because they shouted, but because they locked into a rhythmic pocket and refused to budge. His baritone balanced Hodgson’s tenor in one of rock’s great two-voice partnerships, and once he took the helm alone he proved equally adept at sculpting elegant arrangements, letting horns, reeds, and keyboards dance around a beat rather than smother it.
His legacy in popular music lay in how he fused blues grit, jazz harmony, and pop concision into songs that still feel alive on radio and stage; in Supertramp’s history he stood as the stabilizing heart, the pianist who could make a Wurlitzer sound like a rhythm section unto itself, and the songwriter whose winking, worldly voice kept sophisticated rock songs both human and durable.
Rick+ died at the age of 81, on the 6th September 2025, in East Hampton, Long Island, New York, USA, of cancer.
The above is just one of the many profiles of leading songwriters, singers, musicians and music industry personnel, published by the International Songwriters Association and "Songwriter Magazine". Please click HERE for more.
© Jim Liddane
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