He was born in New
London,
Connecticut
and has the nickname "Magic
Dick".As a youngster he always carried and
played a trumpet and then once he was attending Worcester Polytechnic
Institute he began to concentrate on the harmonica.He was also a harpist and founder
member of the J. Geils Trio with J. Geils and Danny Klein.The J. Geils Band was then
officially formed after the addition of new members and released their
first album in 1970 which was recorded in three days.The group saw their biggest success
in 1981 with the release of the Freeze
Frame album.After the
semi-retirement of the band in 1984 he was a harmonica soloist with artists
including Patti Smyth, Debbie Harry and Ryuichi Sakamoto.He formed a band called Bluetones
with J. Geils, where he played harmonica and J. Geils the guitar.He has worked on and patented a
revolutionary new type of harmonica with Pierre Beauregard.
