There’s more than corn in Indiana…..

Rick Howard Jr’s parents knew he was born to entertain from an early age. Since he was able to make noise as an infant he was amazed by the acoustics of the local post office and would vocalize just to hear it. His first public performance came at the age of five when he sang “Zippity Doo Da” with his Mickey Mouse record for the school’s talent show. As he grew older he limited his public singing to his living room and practiced by singing the theme songs of his favorite television shows. It was the 80’s musical series “Rags to Riches” that gave him the inspiration to pursue his dream of music. His mother Kathy saw his potential as well as his fear and she threatened to ground him if he didn’t audition for the school’s swing choir. So rather then suffering his mother’s wrath, Rick auditioned and made the choir.

Only a few short years later, Rick’s passion for music had grown into obsession. He started working on a farm shoveling pig manure for two dollars an hour just to buy concert tickets and cd’s of his musical heroes. His first year in the high school swing choir he was voted by the class to win the “outstanding showmanship” award and later won the “Director’s Award’ that was only given out one other time in the choir’s history. Rick was also the lead in the school’s musical of “Bye, Bye Birdie” and won the award for best actor. Upon graduation he found that he was consumed by the Nashville lifestyle and worked to make his move to Music City.

Finding the money to make his move was the only obstacle standing in the way of chasing his dream. He began working in a facility for adults with special needs and singing in all of the state’s nursing homes to earn the money needed to move. After traveling to the variety of facilities, he began to see the power the music had on people who were normally not responsive. This created a new passion and love for music as well as nursing. Rick got accepted to nursing school and became the class president.

In July 2001 after graduating nursing school, Rick made his move to Nashville. With a head full of dreams of being discovered, he began singing at all of the karaoke clubs around town with his new found friends. He soon found the stressors of being in the big city and that his priorities had to focus on survival instead of music. He began working sixty hour work weeks to keep the bills paid and writing songs in his free time. By the fall of 2002 he had written and recorded a four song demo. After looking for a band with no success he focused his time on working and songwriting. He spent his evenings going to writer’s nights and meeting his musical influences which landed him and his country trio an opening spot for Kevin Sharp at a benefit concert in Wabash, IN.

When the trio fell apart and their self produced cd was shelved, Rick began working on his first solo cd. His first full length, co-produced project “Single and Strong” was available for sale at his shows and on his myspace profile. He started building a fan base when he performed his true story ballad “I Gave Her A Ring (She Gave Me The Finger)” on live internet shows and select radio stations. With no band and no financial backing he continued his work as a pediatric nurse and began being a foster parent.

After singing at several benefits and meeting several other writer’s around town, Rick met and began performing as well as co-writing with Stephen Barker Liles and Canaan Smith. Rick hired Stephen as a guitarist while Stephen was starting work with a band called “Love and Theft”. A year later Rick hired “Love and Theft” as his opening act for a festival in Gas City, Indiana. With the success of Stephen’s song on the radio, Rick finally pieced a band together and organized an after hours concert for the 2009 CMA Music festival in which he shared the stage with Ty Herndon, Katie Armiger and His friend Robin English. He received praise from the artists and fans for his strong performance and felt that his star was rising. Following the show, the band fell apart due to his recently hired manager/bass guitarist trying to change Rick’s image by encouraging him to be a cover artist. When he disagreed, the band split despite his article in the February 2010 edition of Country Weekly.

In March of 2010 Rick became a single foster dad to three children under the age of five. The oldest two children were diagnosed at birth with Cystic Fibrosis. He is currently caring for these children on top of working a 40-50 hour work week as a pediatric nurse. To make his life even more exciting, he is dealing with the very unhappy biological mother of these children. Rick is a strong male role model to his patients, family and fans and he will not give up once he sets his mind to doing something.

Rick is currently back to work on his third self produced cd. He is interviewing musicians who share his dream and his passion for music in hopes that he will be back in the public eye and accomplish his dream of landing a record deal so he can start his own organization for children with disabilities. Unlike the name of his latest cd, this Nice Guy WILL NOT Finish Last!”

Message from Rick: 
I perform at a lot of events in my former hometown of Fairmount, Indiana as well as at other venues in Nashville and throughout the country. I appreciate my fans, friends, and family and always try to return emails as quick as I can.

To follow my journey, keep checking back for updates.

I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at my shows!