Biography

Rich Ryan ("Richie Rich") is a Chicago born blues singer born under the name Daniel Joseph O'Brien. He was adopted by a family and his name was changed to Rich Ryan.

Richie has been performing in the arts since he was a young boy with his first appearance being the role of Nick Burns in the screenplay "A Thousand Clowns" with the Slice of Life Players. Richie also began playing the piano, drums and saxophone at a young age and still plays piano to this day.

He is influenced by the sound of Muddy Waters,Pinetop Perkins, BB King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Johnnie Lee Hooker, Louis Armstrong and many others. As a teenager, he frequented many blues clubs including The
Checkerboard Lounge, Kingstone Mines and many other clubs using a fake ID to get in.

Richie formed the band "Richie Rich and The Funky White Boys" in the late 80's but changed the name in 2009 to the name "Richie Rich and The Chi-Town Blues Band", which more adequately reflects the roots of its members.

In 2009, Richie headed back into the studio to complete another CD entitled "From The Streets" set to be released in January of 2011.

Musicians playing behind Richie on "From The Streets", include Grammy Winner Billy Flynn on guitar, Grammy
Nominee Barrelhouse Chuck on piano, Grammy Nominee Kenny (“Beedy Eyes”) Smith on drums, Mark Devos on Bass and a local horn section. Other Musicians performing on "From The Streets" include Derek Carden, Janna Johnson and Yuki Tasaka.

The performance of "Frisky Whiskey" includes Richie Rich on lead vocals, the great Merle Perkins on drums, Mark Wydra on guitar, Peter Andrea on bass and John Chorney on piano.

"From The Streets" was recorded at Studio Chicago, edited at Image Pictures and all Mixing and Mastering was done at Chicago Recording Company in Chicago.The entire CD was produced by Richie Rich and Chris Steinmetz.