Local StoriesMarch 21, 2024

Meet Rebecca Richards

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Richards. Rebecca was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Rachel Sellick.

Hi Rebecca, we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.

Thanks so much for asking me! I’m from the valleys in South Wales in the UK where I’ve lived my whole life and if you’d asked me at 18, I would have said music WAS my life. I’d been so involved in everything and anything I could get myself into from being classically trained from age 7 in piano & flute, singing in choirs, performing in shows, playing in orchestras, performing in several rock bands, playing piano in my church, singing with my family in chapels across South Wales, I even conducted the church choir! Looking back now I still can’t quite believe I gave it all up. But I did.

At 21 I got into a serious relationship with the wrong person and realising it was wrong pretty much ran away from everything and everyone, including music. Some people said it was brave to move away from everything Id known, but Im not sure it was bravery, I just needed to escape.

Life carried on as it does, I built a successful professional career, remarried and had a daughter. Before I knew it, over 25 years had passed and that thought of “I’ll get back to it someday” was long overdue in execution.

A chance meeting with a now dear friend at an ice skating club found a mutual love of country music followed by an impulse decision to go to a country music festival with people I hardly knew literally changed everything. I started to play again, bought myself a piano and rediscovered my passion which was just lying dormant beneath the surface waiting to be stirred. I started singing country covers with my ice skating friend and shed tears at the joy of rediscovering how I was able to express myself in a way which is uniquely me. I found my voice, both orally and lyrically and began to express everything I’d been feeling through my music and it’s been so liberating. I’ve made so many new musical friends, it’s like I’ve found the lost tribe I’ve been searching for, I feel so at home. Reconnecting with old musical friends has been joyous. The most unexpected thing has been that when I’ve shared my creations with others, they have given me such positive feedback, it been a real surprise and I’m still shocked everytime, but it spurs me on to try harder, to do better and just keep going. I still can’t quite believe that since October 2022 I’ve released 5 singles and an EP and have played at some amazing venues, including the Cavern Club, Liverpool as part of a BCMA showcase (thanks to Rachel’s support). I’m never giving up now. Even if public facing part of my music fades away, I will never let music be lost to me again.

Please talk to us about your music.
Whilst I’d written just a few song in my teens, I started songwriting in earnest about 4 years ago. Following my return to music I was keen to explore the sort of music I could create rather than replicate through doing covers of other people’s songs. The truth is, I didn’t believe I could write a song – apart from tunes with with silly tales I’d improvise for my daughter whilst she was growing up. Around the time of my return to music I’d written a handful of songs when I discovered an online songwriting forum for people over the age of 50 called Talent is Timeless. There I connected with people from all over the world and began joining in the monthly challenges and events to really starting growing my skill. It was within this community that my confidence started to grow, having received such positive feedback about my songs, my singing and performance. Ive been regularly approached to collaborate with others which again helped me grow in ability and confidence. I write from the heart, from my own experiences and sometimes from my imagination and always aim to put a beautiful tune and chord progression with it. I strive to move listeners both lyrically and musically. It was as a result my participation within this group that I released my first single “Unluckiest of Hearts” in October 2022 which has been played on radio stations all over the world and received such positive reviews. Spurred on by this I released a further 2 singles within the following few months, one of which “I love it when you smile” I released as a charity single for a beautiful local charity called The Matthew Walklin Make a Smile Foundation which does wonderful acts of kindness to raise a smile for people undergoing cancer treatment across South Wales. It was this song which was nominated for song of the year at the UK Country Music Awards where I got to sing it live to an appreciative crowd in Donnington in October ‘23. I’ve also been fortunate to have played in local festivals and fabulous venues in the UK and in November I released my debut EP “New Yesterdays” which has also been streamed all over the world.

I’d say the music I write is definitely influenced by the music I love to listen to which includes legends like Glen Campbell, The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, but I also like the dark side of tales as told by Gretchen Peters and the fabulous storytelling of Blackberry Smoke. So a little bit country, a little bit blues and maybe a touch of folk/rock.

I’ll be releasing more music this year starting with my next single called “The House” which tells the tale of me growing up with my beautiful family and the positive impact it had on my life, even through all the trials and tribulation that I faced.

You’ll be able to find all my music so far on all streaming platforms and you can find me on all social media using the handle @becmusician where I love to interact with people. I also have a website www.rebeccarichardsmusic.com where you can subscribe to my newsletter for exclusive content. More than anything, I love that music has connected me to so many people I otherwise wouldn’t have. Meeting people though this process, hearing how my music has touched them has been the greatest gift, I feel really blessed to have had the opportunity to do so.

Rachel Sellick and Scarlet River PR have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Rachel Sellick and Scarlet River PR and your experience with them.
I first came across Rachel from Scarlet River at an event she was cohosting with The Hidden Lyrics. It was a songwriters round for country influenced artists in Cardiff and one of my favourite artists – Laura Evans – was included in the line up. I’d not heard of Scarlet River before but with a little online research, found that she had a great reputation for supporting artists. I reached out to her when I was looking for help with the launch of my EP New Yesterdays in October / November 2023. Im still quite new to releasing music but she’s been really patient with my never ending list of questions and has helped me with contacts and exposure I could never have found or managed on my own. She’s secured radio play, interviews and reviews through her contacts and expertise in the genre that I wanted to target and these have really helped me to create content for my online presence. Ultimately for me however, I’ve loved working with her because I really sense she’s committed to my ambition and works really hard to find opportunities for me which have by far exceeded my expectations. Overall, she’s just a beautiful human being.