Rick Stevens

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Rick Stevens (born February 23, 1940 in Port Arthur , Texas , † September 5, 2017 in Antioch , California , actually: Donald Charles Stevenson ) was an American singer and convicted murderer. He was best known as the singer of Tower of Power .

Life

Rick Stevens was born in Texas, but spent most of his childhood in Reno , Nevada . As a child he performed as a singer, for example in church. His uncle Ivory Joe Hunter was his greatest influence in the beginning. He introduced him to Elvis Presley , among others .

Rick Stevens moved to Oakland as a teenager and was a member of the doo-wop group Magnificent Marcels. He later sang in nightclubs where he made a name for himself as "Mr. Twister ”made. In the mid-1960s he moved to San Francisco , where he was the bandleader of several groups such as Rick and the Ravens and The Rick Stevens Four. In 1966 he joined Four of a Kind and a little later Stuff. In the latter band he met Willie James. Both left Stuff at the same time to start at Tower of Power. Rick Stevens appeared on the debut album East Bay Grease as the lead singer of Sparkling in the Sand . In Bump City (1972) he became the lead singer and sang the hit You're Still a Young Man , which reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 . During the preparations for the third album Tower of Power , he left the group in an argument. Eventually all of his vocal contributions were deleted and re-sung by Lenny Williams . In fact, 1,000 copies accidentally got into circulation that Stevens had on the album cover. The album was then retouched.

After the end of the collaboration with Tower of Power, he joined the band Brass Horizon . In 1976 he was arrested. Stevens shot three people in a failed drug deal in Los Gatos , Santa Clara County and was sentenced to death. However, after California declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1977, he was sentenced to life imprisonment instead. He went through cold withdrawal in prison and became a "born again Christian ." He spent the next 36 years in San Quentin , Mule Creek State Prison, and California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. There he made music with other prisoners and took part in various music programs. In 2012 he was pardoned by Governor Jerry Brown .

With his son he founded the band Rick Stevens & Love Power, which played mostly in Northern California. He also released the solo EP Back on the Streets Again Vol.1 . In 2013 he also performed in Oakland with Tower of Power and was allowed to sing You're Still a Young Man.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. He died on September 5, 2017 at the age of 77.

Discography

With Tower of Power
  • 1970: East Bay Grease
  • 1972: Bump City
solo
  • 2014: Back on the Streets Again Vol.1 (EP)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rick Stevens Official Website Biography. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Neil Genzlinger: Rick Stevens, Funk-Soul Singer Convicted of Murder, Dies at 77 . In: The New York Times . September 8, 2017, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 4, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Ex-Tower of Power Singer: Prison Helped Me Grow Up . In: NBC Bay Area . ( nbcbayarea.com [accessed April 4, 2018]).
  4. ↑ a b Rick Stevens, Tower of Power lead singer in band's early years, dies at 77 . In: SFGate . ( sfgate.com [accessed April 4, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Ex-Tower of Power Singer: Prison Helped Me Grow Up . In: NBC Bay Area . ( nbcbayarea.com [accessed April 4, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Stevens, Rick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stevenson, Donald Charles (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer and convicted murderer
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Port Arthur (Texas)
DATE OF DEATH 5th September 2017
Place of death Antioch (California)