Born 7th March 1945. “Googie” was the artist’s schoolboy nickname but he writes under his real name of Richard G. Sykes. Originally classically trained on piano, he soon realised his real enthusiasm for music lay elsewhere as he had been exposed from an early age to a variety of musical styles Jazz, Rhythm and Blues and Pop. He first starting composing in 1966 in the Boogie-Blues style, influenced by the great Boogie Woogie pianists, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis. He first performed in public in 1966, playing a mixture of his own material and covers, which were mainly boogie and blues piano solos, with the odd blues vocal. He continued developing musically in his own style into the late 1970’s. His music is drawn from a variety of styles dating from the 1920’s to the present day, including: Traditional & Modern Jazz, Boogie, Swing, Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, Progressive and general Pop. He became a professional musician and actor in 1974, but by 1983 he had become disillusioned with the whole scene and retired. However, in 2005, whilst clearing out some cupboards, he came across some old recordings of his music. After hearing them, his youngest daughter encouraged him to take up playing instruments again and to record the songs that he had composed in the 1960’s/70’s. This is Album 4 of a series.