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RICHIE KOTZEN "Change"European Import : Frontiers Records - FRCD160 STOCK STATUS: IN STOCK - ships in 1 day |
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| Born in Reading, Pennsylvania and now residing in Los Angeles, Richie Kotzen first began playing piano at the age of five. Later, at the age of seven and inspired by a Kiss poster, Richie took up playing guitar. Within the age of seventeen, he had already travelled back and forth across the United States playing in excess of five hundred gigs, opening for acts such as the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Greg Allman and the Smithereens. It was during that year that Richie released his first self-titled record on Shrapnel Records which graced the cover of several publications including Guitar World magazine. Richie's virtuoso playing caught the eye of Bret Michaels, lead singer of the multi-platinum act Poison. Richie was asked to join the band at the age of twenty. The album "Native Tongue" (1993) achieved platinum worldwide sales, and produced two top twenty singles which Richie wrote "Stand" and "Until You Suffer Some (Fire and Ice)". Following a controversial split with Poison, Richie continued his solo career releasing albums in various musical genres, ranging from Rock to Soul and ultimately Fusion. Richie's cult status was also beginning to grow, especially in Japan where Richie released classic albums such as "Wave Of Emotion" and "What is". 1999 proved to be a crucial year as he joined the fusion band Vertu with the legendary Stanley Clarke (bass), Lenny White, Rachel Z (Keyboards) and Karen Briggs (Violin). A massive tour of Europe commenced on the back the album, providing many of Richie's fans a chance to see him play live for the first time since his Poison years. Even with having to perform with Vertu, Richie found time to release two more solo albums in 1999, the first a true Blues album "Bi Polar Blues" and the second album "Break It All Down", a more up to date sounding collection with its feet still firmly seated in the Blues. 1999 also was the year that saw guitarist Paul Gilbert leave the band Mr. Big. With a massive following in Japan, Mr Big's remaining band members, Eric Martin, Billy Sheehan and Pat Torpey, were under great pressure to find a suitable replacement in time to start work on a new album. Having worked together on a previous album, Sheehan turned to Richie to fill the gap. The aptly titled "Get Over It" sold more than 175,000 copies in its first two weeks in Japan and was followed by a successful Asian wide tour. 2001 was the last year for MR.BIG as the band released their last studio album "Actual Size". Richie's contribution was very strong and he also penned the first single song off of the album called "Shine". During 2002 Richie released another solo album "Slow", released in Europe by Lion Music. With this album he explored different genres leaning towards pop, seventies music with some funky and blues influences overall. Once again 2003 sees a new solo album in the form of "Change": a definite return in great shape for Richie who is able to offer his fans a very interesting collection of songs ranging from classic and melodic hard rock to acoustic interludes (the album includes also an unplugged rework of the last Mr.Big hit "Shine") and instrumental extravaganza. Definitely his best solo album to date, "Change" will please both Mr. Big and his existing solo career fan base. | |
- N.E.H.
Records
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