Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is 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" , "From Now On", "Ain't Nobody But Me", "Gone Hollywood", "Goodbye Stranger", "Just Another Nervous Wreck", "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 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 is deeper than Hodgson's, and he usually employs a raspy baritone which stands in stark contrast to his bandmate's tenor. However, he occasionally sings in a falsetto which superficially resembles Hodgson's vocals, such as on "Goodbye Stranger" and "My Kind of Lady". Biography and career Early life Richard Davies was born in Swindon, Wiltshire in 1944 to Betty and Dick Davies. Betty was a hairdresser and ran a salon, and Dick was a merchant navy man, who died in 1973. Rick went to Sanford Street School and, according to mother Betty: "Music was the only thing he was any good at at school." His first musical stirrings were at the age of eight, when his parents gave him a secondhand radiogram which included a few records left by the previous owner. Among them were Drummin' Man by drumming legend Gene Krupa, and, in Davies's own words, "it hit like a thunderbolt". "I must have played it 2,000 times," he said. "That was it." A friend of the family made Rick a makeshift drum kit out of a biscuit tin, and at the age of 12 he joined the British Railways Staff Association Brass and Silver Jubilee Band as a snare drummer. In an interview in 2002 he said: "As a kid, I used to hear the drums marching along the street in England, in my home town, when there was some kind of parade, and it was the most fantastic sound to me. Then, eventually, I got some drums and I took lessons. I was serious about it... I figured if I could do that – I mean a real drummer, read music and play