Hailed as the British Michael Buble and popular amongst some of the world’s biggest celebrities such as Streisand and the Bee Gees, Rick Guard is releasing an album that brings ‘smooth swing’ to the masses. Rick, has already played to TV audiences of 4 million and stadiums of up to 65,000 people. His first ever single was one of the top 75 highest radio played records in the world, and he has performed in South Africa, France, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Egypt, Spain, Holland and Ireland. Funnily enough he was also the first ever artist to be given permission to film a music video in Harrods, an event that stopped traffic in Knightsbridge. Ironically, Rick is more impressed with the fact his track is on the jukebox in the Queen Vic pub on the set of Eastenders!

Since making his debut with Decca Records/Universal, his first single reaching top 20 in eleven countries, Rick has taken time out from releasing his own records to focus on his hugely successful platinum selling songwriting partnership with Phil Rice. Anyone But Me(Rick’s album released September 2009) is a record that picks up where his first album Hands of a Giant left off, pushing the jazz/pop crossover genre further into uncharted territory.

The record consists of a mix of self penned songs and cover versions, including re-imaginings of Big Spender and How Deep is Your Love?, a version that comes highly approved of by none other than Barry Gibb himself – a man for whom Rick has completed vocals for an exciting new musical project.

Rick can count a number of highly recognised figures as fans. Along with performances forThe Queen, Princess Anne, and the Prime Minister, Rick has also played at private celebrity parties for the likes of Shirley Bassey, Lionel Richie, David Guest, Coleen and Wayne Rooney, Alex Ferguson, Steven Gerrard, Alan Hanson and Kenny Dalgleish. Simon Cowell is such a fan of the song Stop it that he even approached Rick to have it used as a song for the X Factor finalist. Barbra Streisand dedicated the song You Don’t Bring Me Flowers to Rick at a recent UK show he attended at her personal invitation and Lionel Richie even compared Rick’s work to a project he’d previously worked on with the late Michael Jackson (a compliment that prompted Rick to spill wine down Richie’s trousers in shock!)

But it’s the self-penned tracks on Anyone But Me that really show why Rick Guard is an artist worthy of all the plaudits. He has worked with the likes of Shirley Bassey, Ronan Keating andRussell Watson. But it is perhaps most refreshing to see Rick take the stage (often with an 18 piece band) and give his own songs the emotional delivery they truly deserve. Album closer Missing Person is written about Rick’s recent time away from music, during which time he helped nurse his mother through Alzheimers before her eventual death. The song, and the album, is dedicated to her struggle and as such, Rick has teamed up with the Alzheimers Society, a cause for which he has been a huge supporter, to make a contribution from every sale of the new album.

• Stop It 

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• Missing Person 

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• Big Spender 

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• Making Movies 

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• The Bug 

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• The Principle 

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• How Deep Is Your Love 

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Website: www.rickguard.net

Myspace: www.myspace.com/rickguard