Don Ricardo was born in London and raised in Jamaica after migrating there as a two year old with his mother. He spent his childhood in the lush, fertile parish of Westmoreland, hailing from its capital, Savanna la Mar. As early as kindergarten, Don demonstrated his extraordinary musical prowess. It was not however until fourth grade (age 14) that his talents really began to materialise. After strong encouragement from his peers, he started to perform renditions at school concerts and talent shows to great local acclaim. The word on the street was that this youth was destined for fame.
Don joined forces with another talented young hopeful - Dean Stevens (of Chalice fame). Together they toured neighbouring parishes as the Dynamic Duo and built a fair following in Negril, Montego Bay and surrounding areas. Still unsure of a career in music, Don came back to London to study computer programming. He excelled, and continued composing in his spare time.
In the autumn of 1989, Don paid a courtesy visit to the Progressive Sound Studio in London. This visit was most significant because it was the first time he had ever been inside a recording studio. Patrick Donegan (studio owner/producer) was so impressed with Don's voice that he insisted on recording him there and then. The result was that both Don Ricardo and the label, Progressive Sound, celebrated their debut release; an up tempo dancehall interpretation of the Stevie Wonder classic, Ribbon In The Sky.
Don soon became a regular caller to the studio, often leaving his 'nine to five' to go straight there. His craving for musical knowledge coupled with his overwhelming desire to create sound led him to quickly develop a keen interest in sound craft and engineering. He very rapidly progressed from assisting Patrick, to engineering whole sessions on his own. As the studio roster grew, so did Don's reputation as a studio engineer.
During this period his clientele list included Tenor Fly, Top Cat, Frankie Paul, Mafia & Fluxy, Leroy Smart, Sugar Minott, Nitty Gritty, Dawna Lee, Daddy Freddie, Lloyd Brown and Junior Reid, to name a few.
It was at this stage that he started to dabble with production and arrangement; before long he was also recognised as a fully-fledged producer and arranger. Don Ricardo excelled in all aspects of studio administration, from running his own label (Boombastik Muzik) to managing P.W.A. recording studio in Brixton. During this time, he was still recording as an artist for other producers and holding down his regular 'nine to five'.
Such was his versatility that he released lovers rock singles, Keep On Knocking and Honey, It's You, after his success with the huge garage hit, Best Friends. The next move was to join an outfit called the Urban Street Soul Orchestra (USSO), where he took on song writing, performing, and production duties. He also provided vocals for the jazz-fusion projects; How Times Fly, Love Will Take You There and Ladiez First with Bugz In The Attic.
In 1996, Don became a proud first time father and paid tribute to mother and child with the heart-rending classic, She's Having My Baby. The song topped the Reggae chart for seven weeks at the beginning of 1997; it also won Don Ricardo his first accolade - Best British Single - at the 1998 People's Annual Reggae Award.
After being introduced to the Ruff Cutt Band by the co-producer of She's Having My Baby, Curtis Lynch Jnr., they recorded the follow up, 1st To Know, an upbeat, jazz tinged, reggae dance number, complete with a five piece horn section. Just like its predecessor, it too romped straight home and became the Christmas and New Year number one of 1998/99. He scored again in May 1999 with another top five hit, How Can I. featuring premier saxophonist, Dean Fraser.
Don spent the beginning of the new Millennium in Jamaica; whilst he was there, he met up with Beres Hammond, who asked him to record a track at his newly built - state of the art - Silekshan Studio in Kingston. Bet You Don't Know, backed by the Roots Radics and produced by Beres Hammond was the result. Bet You Don't Know was released as a single on March 1st 2000 in Jamaica, on the Harmony House label, and was very well received on import in the UK. This was the start of a very meaningful relationship with Harmony House who still regard him as an integral part of the Harmony House 'family'.
Don Ricardo performed his own live showcase on the London leg of Beres Hammonds' "They Gonna Talk" 2000 UK tour and made a surprise guest appearance during Mr Hammonds' set singing Bet You Don't Know, backed by Beres' Gumption Band. Harmony House manager Mervis Walsh was so impressed with Don's performance that she invited him to perform with them on two more occasions, the most recent being to a 5,000 strong audience at the NIA Centre in Birmingham during the summer of 2003 (Don also appeared with Beres and the Gumption Band at the Birmingham Academy and the Brixton Academy on their UK tour, in September 2004). Beres himself requested a Harmony House follow up, to Bet You Don't Know and so Love Is The Staff Of Life, also produced by Beres Hammond was born in the spring of 2003. Both tracks appear on Don's album INTRODUCING with kind permission from Harmony House Productions.
After his second trip as a performer on the Roots Homecoming Festival in The Gambia, West Africa in June 2000, Don made his debut at the famed Essential Music Festival in Brighton during the following month, sharing the same stage as Morgan Heritage, Sugar Minott, Luciano and Freddie McGregor amongst others. On his return from Africa, Don was delighted to learn that the BBC licensed one of his previously unreleased tracks First 2 Know, featuring UK Hip Hop star Phoebe One, for use in their television dramatisation of the hugely popular Babyfather which premiered on UK terrestrial television in October 2001. Don Ricardo is still extremely active behind the scenes as a well sought after writer and producer, providing many hit songs and rhythms for others. One of his more recent successes is FYA's global top ten hit Must Be Love, which was written by himself & Richard Drury. In the autumn of 2003 Don Ricardo was signed to the Jetstar label, he said "I am happy to be at Jetstar, it's a pleasure to be working so closely with them I know this will be a fruitful partnership". Ruff Cutt founder Tony Phillips is the main production force behind INTRODUCING and has promised "a spiritually uplifting and well crafted album, befitting of a man of Don Ricardo's talent and experience". In fact, Don's experience stems from a diverse musical background, which includes hits in the lovers rock, garage, jazz-fusion, hip hop and soul arenas. INTRODUCING was released on Jetstar's Charm imprint in March 2004.
A few months later, Trinidad was introduced to Don Ricardo. East London's Mellowmix band had invited Don to the Trinidad leg of a Caribbean reggae festival; the line up included some of Couva's fine young talents, UK's very own SISTA band, Sylvia Tella, the Mighty Diamonds and Big Youth.
Shortly afterwards, Don was was invited to Malaga, Spain, backed by the Ruff Cutt Band, sharing the stage with Desmond Dekker, Michael Prophet and Dennis Al Capone, who invited Don to come back on stage and perform with him.
Since then, Don Ricardo has been songwriting and creating rhythm tracks for for other artists, production companies and independent labels. He's also recently visited 'old stomping grounds', namely Bugz In The Attic's BITA Suite for songwriting duties, and Beres Hammond's Harmony House complex for vocal production.
Don is currently working on his sophomore album, which, he says, "promises to spring a few surprises".
Don Ricardo is a producer of rare quality
Don Ricardo is a perceptive songwriter
Don Ricardo is a serious arranger
Don Ricardo is a singer of the highest order
No surprise, then.
