Born Richard Lewis Springthorpe on August 23, 1949 in Sydney, Australia, Ricky as he was then known, got his first taste of music in his own living room.

"My dad was a singer...so we use to sit around this player piano and sing Rogers and Hammerstein songs, which still I love...that was the first music I started to hear."

At age 9 Ricky studied the piano but as most 9 year olds, his interests lied elsewhere. But it was at age 13, when Rick received a guitar for his birthday, that you could say his road to the stage began.

"I proceeded to saw it in half, trying to make an electric guitar out of it...then I painted it bright red. My parents weren't too thrilled about that, so I had to buy the next one myself. Later they helped me buy my first electric guitar."

Rick taught himself how to play, and like many musicians during the early to mid-60's, Rick was heavily influenced by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

While still in high school Rick found himself performing in a few local bands, such as The Jordy Boys, and Wickety Wak. But in 1968 opportunity came knocking, and Rick found that he had a tough decision to make, stay in school or play professionally with the band Rock House. Rick chose the band and in November the band got a very unique invitation.

"...he said 'do you want to go to Vietnam? We've got this offer to play. It could be really good money'...'Yeah, are you kidding, playing & money!?! ...Where's Vietnam?'"

When the boys returned from Vietnam, they decided to go their separate ways and Rick found himself out of work, but not for long. In 1969 one of Australia's most popular teen bands, Zoot, was on the lookout for a new guitar player and asked Rick to join them. Although there was one catch, you had to look good in pink.

"We use to dress in pink for awhile, it was a big gimmick you know. Even to the point of dying a poor dog pink and driving around in a pink car, you know it got a bit out of hand. And we'd get frequently [abused] and you can imagine threatened by the guys. And we use to get into fights after the shows."

But it was with Zoot that Rick was able to spread his wings, not only as a guitar player but also as a songwriter, composing such hits as Mr. Songwriter and Evil Child. But it was with a revamped version of the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, arranged by Rick, that Zoot found its biggest success. Eleanor Rigby sustained a 21 week run on the charts and sales stopped just short of gold (after its' re-release in 1979 gold status was achieved).

In 1971 the band decided to take a break and with Robie Porter & Steve Binder Management, Rick found the opportunity to record some of his material that Zoot had passed up. With his first single, Speak to the Sky, Rick soared to the top of the charts and it wasn't long before America came calling.