By Bianca Sierra

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Richard Davies (22 July 1944 – 6 September 2025) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band’s best-known songs, including “Rudy”, “Bloody Well Right“, “Crime of the Century”, “Ain’t Nobody But Me”, “From Now On”, “Gone Hollywood”, “Goodbye Stranger“, “Just Another Nervous Wreck”, “My Kind of Lady“, “Cannonball” and “I’m Beggin’ You“. He is generally noted for his rhythmic blues piano solos and jazz-tinged progressive rock compositions and cynical lyrics.

Starting with the self-titled debut album Supertramp in 1970, Davies shared lead vocals with Supertramp songwriting partner Roger Hodgson until the latter’s departure in 1983, at which point he became the sole lead vocalist of the group. Davies’s voice was deeper than Hodgson’s, and he usually employed a raspy baritone which stood in stark contrast to his bandmate’s tenor, but he occasionally sang in a falsetto which superficially resembled Hodgson’s vocals, such as on “Goodbye Stranger” and “My Kind of Lady”.

Davies decided to form a new band, and returned home from Switzerland to place an ad in the music magazine Melody Maker in August 1969. Roger Hodgson was auditioned and, despite their contrasting backgrounds – Davies’s working class upbringing and Hodgson’s private school education – they struck up an instant rapport and began writing virtually all of their songs together. The band was initially called Daddy, but renamed Supertramp in January 1970.

Supertramp became one of the first acts to sign to the emerging UK branch of A&M Records and by the summer of 1970 they had recorded their first album, simply called Supertramp. Hodgson performed most of the lead vocals on this first effort but by the time of their second album Indelibly Stamped, Davies had stepped up as a singer with Hodgson and him sharing lead vocal duties equally.