Rick Guard of Chorley

Chorley

Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 is a contemporary jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 singer and songwriter. He performs as a solo vocalist or with other live musicians from two piece up to an 18-piece bigband. Guard made his debut with Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

, progressing to Roots Music Group and is one half of a successful songwriting partnership with Phil Rice. The pair are signed to Roots/Universal Publishing.

Career

Guard's first single gained top twenty positions in eleven countries (in most of which he toured) and was in the top ten downloaded ringtones of that year. Amongst Guard and Rice's writing credits are hits for opera star Russell Watson

Russell Watson

Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...

, Canadian star Ashley Macissac, and opera sensation, Jon Christos

Jon Christos

Jon Christos is an English singer and local radio presenter.A classically trained tenor, he is best known for an album of operatically-styled crossover music.-Early years and education :...

. Guard and Rice (Guard sang) wrote the title soundtrack to the movie 'The Truth About Love' starring Dougray Scott

Dougray Scott

-Early life:The son of Elma, a nurse, and Alan Scott, an actor and salesperson, Stephen Dougray Scott was born in Glenrothes, Fife and attended Auchmuty High School...

, Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, television director and former singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated...

 and Jimi Mistry

Jimi Mistry

-Early life:Mistry, was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England to an Indian Hindu father and an Irish Roman Catholic mother. He was brought up a Roman Catholic and attended St. James' Catholic High in Cheadle Hulme before his family moved to Cardiff where he attended Radyr Comprehensive School...

. The pair have also written popular theme music for English, Australian and Polish TV shows. They also have a song included on a best-selling Sony PlayStation

PlayStation

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...

 game.
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Appearances

Guard's gigging career so far includes performances in England for Elizabeth II, The Princess Royal

Anne, Princess Royal

Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

, OK Magazine, Manchester United FC, Manchester City FC, the V2 summer festival, Children In Need with the BBC Orchestra, The Royal Festival Hall, Sky One TV, Granada TV, The Box video channel, MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, Radio 2, Cardiff Red Dragon festival, Feel the Noise Festival Liverpool and other live public, corporate and private events and Manchester 235. Guard has received radio play on the majority of the independent, BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and national radio stations, and particularly extensive airplay in Europe. Guard received the prestigious Belgian Zommerhit award. At the end of 2003, Guard's first single 'Stop it I Like It" was in the top 75 of highest radio played records in the world chart. Guard has also gigged live events and TV in South Africa, France, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Egypt, Spain, Holland and Ireland working with artists such as Ronan Keating

Ronan Keating

Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...

, Russell Watson

Russell Watson

Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...

, and Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie

Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...

. He has played to TV audiences of 4 million and stadiums of up to 65,000 people.

Writing credits

• Northern Light - Jon Christos
  Jon Christos
  Jon Christos is an English singer and local radio presenter.A classically trained tenor, he is best known for an album of operatically-styled crossover music.-Early years and education :...
  
    - released October 3, 2005
• The Number One Classical Album 2006 - released November 14, 2005
• A Classic Christmas - released December 4, 2006

.
Anyone but me (album) released September 2009/

Ashley MacIssac I don't need this right now/

Ashley MacIsaac lay me Down/

Russell Watson All or nothing/

The truth about love (movie)/

Cosi (movie)/

Influences

Guard's influences include Harry Connick, Jr.

Harry Connick, Jr.

Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, and George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

.