B i o g r a p h y

"Slick, soulful, confident, composed and visionary. These are just some of the words that don't go far enough to describe 

the passion and emotion in every Rich Somers's performance, live or studio. Rich Somers and his new album, Back on Bourbon Street.....music to feed the soul"

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Born in Brighton, Rich Somers received his first guitar at 11 years of age and started trying to emulate some of his favourite musicians. It was the likes of Wilson Pickett, , Marvin Gaye, The Eagles and many others who all later became an inspiration to Rich's individual songwriting talent.
Rich left school and trained as an antique restorer and worked his way to running his own business in the Brighton area but there was still a burning ambition inside to express himself through music and this wasn't possible through the restoration business so Rich Somers started spreading his wings. It was these early travels to Bermuda, Mexico, Australia, Barbados, and India which prompted Rich's song writing career and without realising it, "Terracotta Skies" was now in the making.
As the portfolio of songs grew, the passion for playing live increased and intensified, as Rich played set after set around the resort bars of Mexico. "Terracotta Skies" was dreamt up while enjoying a Mexican sunset late on one balmy summers evening. "Better Way of Life" was inspired by that same Mexican scene that Rich viewed and the song paints a thousand pictures.
A poignant moment came in Kerala, India when while traveling in the area, the horrific tsunami of December 2004 hit the region wiping out much of the coastline of Sri Lanka and India's south west corner. This gave Rich a whole new perspective on life and was a serious reality check. This can be heard in two songs, "The Words" and "Stuck on the Ceiling" which were both written in the aftermath of that incredible natural disaster.
In the summer of 2006, Rich got to work with producer Phil Taylor and musicians Pete Riley, Phil Williams and Richard Barrett, all who empathised with his style of songwriting, and after nearly two years of very hard work, "Terracotta Skies" by Rich Somers was finally born.
Festival dates and gigs with a full band followed and whilst on the road, Rich found the time to penn new songs.
" Back on Bourbon Street" has taken a long time to come about, but once recording started, developed very quickly. Using the same team as his last album , Rich explains " the hardest part of the new album was finding the right title".

The songs developed really quickly, Rich travelled to France and India specifically to write songs for the new album,  they were  recorded  in Hertfordshire and vocals were recorded seperately at Rich's home studio in Brighton.

The new album has many inspirations including, Ray Charles , Amy Winehouse , Eric Bibb and the band " Little Feat".