# Rick Davies
**Rick Davies** (Richard Davies; 22 July 1944 – 6 September 2025) was an English singer, songwriter and keyboardist who co-founded the British rock band [Supertramp](https://www.edgepedia.org/supertramp) in 1969 and, with [Roger Hodgson](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-hodgson), wrote and sang the band's most enduring songs, including "Goodbye Stranger" and "Bloody Well Right".[1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary) He was the band's lead singer and principal keyboardist, known for a soulful baritone and his playing of the [Wurlitzer](https://www.edgepedia.org/wurlitzer) electric piano, which the band's own statement described as the "heartbeat" of its sound.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-09-08/supertramp-rick-davies-goodbye-stranger-dead-at-81)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 1944, Swindon, England; 6 September 2025, East Hampton, New York, aged 81[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary) • [4](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/la-mort-de-rick-davies-un-des-deux-leaders-du-groupe-pop-britannique-supertramp_6640020_3382.html) |
| Role in Supertramp | Co-founder (1969), lead singer, keyboardist and co-songwriter with Roger Hodgson[1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) |
| Signature sound | Blues-tinged baritone vocals and Wurlitzer electric piano[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-09-08/supertramp-rick-davies-goodbye-stranger-dead-at-81) |
| Breakthrough | *Crime of the Century* (1974), whose title track Davies wrote; *Breakfast in America* (1979), which topped the US and Canadian charts, won two Grammys and sold over 18 million copies[1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) • [5](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/rick-davies-chanteur-et-cofondateur-de-supertramp-est-mort_6639838_3382.html) |
| Songs he wrote or sang | "Bloody Well Right", "Goodbye Stranger", "Rudy", "Gone Hollywood", "Casual Conversations", and the title track of *Crime of the Century*[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/i-think-a-certain-amount-of-friction-is-inevitable-when-youre-involved-in-a-creative-process-its-like-two-people-are-painting-a-picture-on-the-same-canvas-how-rick-davies-described-the-conflict-that-ruined-supertramp) |
| Illness | Diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, in 2015; he battled it for more than a decade[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/08/ick-davies-supertramp-frontman-co-founder-dies-aged-81) |
| Later career | Led Supertramp after Hodgson's 1983 departure; band disbanded 1988, revived 1996; final performance in Madrid, 2012[1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) |
## Early life
Davies was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, the son of Elizabeth (née White), a hairdresser, and Richard, a merchant seaman.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary) His interest in music began at the age of eight, when his parents gave him a second-hand radiogram and records that included the jazz drummer [Gene Krupa](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-krupa)'s "Drummin' Man"; he took up drums first, playing snare drum with a marching band at age 12, and later taught himself the electric piano.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary) • [4](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/la-mort-de-rick-davies-un-des-deux-leaders-du-groupe-pop-britannique-supertramp_6640020_3382.html) By the end of the 1950s he was playing drums with the rock and roll band Vince and the Vigilantes.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary)
## Founding Supertramp
By 1969 Davies's band The Joint had collapsed, but he retained the support of a Dutch millionaire patron, Stanley "Sam" Miesegaes, who had both money and confidence in Davies's talent.[8](https://supertramp.com/about) Davies placed an advertisement in *Melody Maker* looking for musicians, and among those who answered was Roger Hodgson, then 19 years old.[8](https://supertramp.com/about) The two first called the group Daddy, rehearsing in a Kent farmhouse; guitarist Richard Palmer, an early member, suggested the name Supertramp, taken from W.H. Davies's 1908 book *The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp*.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary)
The band's self-titled debut album appeared in 1970, followed by *Indelibly Stamped* the next year; neither sold well, and Miesegaes withdrew his support.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-09-08/supertramp-rick-davies-goodbye-stranger-dead-at-81) • [9](https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2025/09/13/rick-davies-obituary-founder-of-supertramp-whose-breakfast-in-america-lp-sold-18-million-copies/) A stable lineup formed around the two songwriters in 1973 with the addition of bassist Dougie Thomson, saxophonist John Helliwell and drummer Bob Siebenberg.[10](https://dalspaceb.library.dal.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/56d5af19-f856-415f-b66e-b73f2443e273/content)
## Success in the 1970s
Supertramp's commercial rise began with its third album, *Crime of the Century* (1974), whose title track was Davies's own, celebrated for its dramatic closing piano ostinato.[5](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/rick-davies-chanteur-et-cofondateur-de-supertramp-est-mort_6639838_3382.html) Davies also wrote and sang the group's first hit, "Bloody Well Right", a sharp-tongued rebuke of Britain's privileged class.[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2025/09/13/rick-davies-obituary-founder-of-supertramp-whose-breakfast-in-america-lp-sold-18-million-copies/) Other Davies compositions from this period include "Rudy", which incorporated a recording from London's Paddington rail station announcing a train to Bristol calling at Swindon, his birthplace.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/i-think-a-certain-amount-of-friction-is-inevitable-when-youre-involved-in-a-creative-process-its-like-two-people-are-painting-a-picture-on-the-same-canvas-how-rick-davies-described-the-conflict-that-ruined-supertramp)
**Breakfast in America.** The band's sixth album, *Breakfast in America* (1979), made Supertramp a worldwide phenomenon. It topped the US and Canadian charts (reaching number 3 in the UK), stayed at number one in the United States for six weeks, won two Grammys, and sold over 18 million copies; the Guardian obituary puts worldwide sales at 20 million.[1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary) Davies contributed two of its cornerstones, "Gone Hollywood" and "Goodbye Stranger", the latter a Top 20 pop hit whose keyboard playing was among his most prominent work on record.[3](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-09-08/supertramp-rick-davies-goodbye-stranger-dead-at-81) • [6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/i-think-a-certain-amount-of-friction-is-inevitable-when-youre-involved-in-a-creative-process-its-like-two-people-are-painting-a-picture-on-the-same-canvas-how-rick-davies-described-the-conflict-that-ruined-supertramp)
## The Davies–Hodgson partnership
Although every Supertramp song recorded through 1983 was legally credited to Davies and Hodgson jointly, the two wrote separately; Hodgson's hits included "Dreamer", "Give a Little Bit", "The Logical Song" and "Take the Long Way Home".[11](https://rogerhodgson.com/epk/radio_songs__facts/Roger%20Hodgson%20Supertramp%20-%20Radio%20DJ%20Fact%20Sheet%202009%20F.pdf) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) Their styles differed sharply. Hodgson described the partnership as "the kind of yin-yang polarity of Rick's songwriting and my songwriting and our two musical styles", recalling that Rick came up with the quirky additions while Hodgson saw the big picture of a song.[12](https://www.onamrecords.com/sites/default/files/2022-04/Roger_Hodgson_Goldmine_2010_4_21.pdf) Davies himself described their creative friction as two people painting a picture on the same canvas, one wanting red where the other wanted blue.[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2025/09/13/rick-davies-obituary-founder-of-supertramp-whose-breakfast-in-america-lp-sold-18-million-copies/)
Divergences over the band's direction contributed to *…Famous Last Words…* (1982) being Hodgson's last album with the group; he left in 1983 for a solo career.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) When Hodgson departed, the two agreed that the band would not play Hodgson's songs, and Davies kept the Supertramp name while Hodgson retained approval rights over the songs he wrote.[13](https://www.rogerhodgson.com/documents/songlist.html) • [14](https://www.rogerhodgson.com/documents/RH%20and%20ST%20Story.html) The long-running dispute over songwriting credit and royalties outlasted the partnership itself.[15](https://www.thewrap.com/rick-davies-supertramp-frontman-songwriter-dies-at-81/)
## Later years
Davies took over the band's leadership after Hodgson's departure.[4](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/la-mort-de-rick-davies-un-des-deux-leaders-du-groupe-pop-britannique-supertramp_6640020_3382.html) He reconstituted the group and in 1985 released *Brother Where You Bound*, which swung back toward progressive rock and featured guitar contributions from [Pink Floyd](https://www.edgepedia.org/pink-floyd)'s David Gilmour; its 17-minute title track was nominated for Best Music Video, Short Form at the 1987 [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards).[9](https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2025/09/13/rick-davies-obituary-founder-of-supertramp-whose-breakfast-in-america-lp-sold-18-million-copies/) • [16](https://live.grammy.com/news/rick-davies-supertramp-singer-co-founder-obituary) Davies and varying line-ups continued to release studio albums until 2002.[17](https://pitchfork.com/news/rick-davies-supertramp-founder-and-singer-dies-at-81/) Supertramp disbanded in 1988, Davies revived it in 1996, and the group performed for the last time in Madrid in 2012.[1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486)
**Illness and final years.** Davies was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer concentrated in bone marrow that affects white blood cells, in 2015.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/08/ick-davies-supertramp-frontman-co-founder-dies-aged-81) The diagnosis forced the cancellation of a planned European tour that year, but he continued making music close to his home on [Long Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/long-island), occasionally performing with a local project, Ricky and the Rockets.[18](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/rick-davies) He died at his home in [East Hampton, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/east-hampton-new-york), on 6 September 2025, aged 81, after more than a decade with the disease.[4](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/la-mort-de-rick-davies-un-des-deux-leaders-du-groupe-pop-britannique-supertramp_6640020_3382.html) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486) The band's tribute noted his warmth and his devotion to his wife Sue, with whom he had shared more than five decades.[19](https://supertramp.com/)
## References
1. [Rick Davies, co-founder and singer of Supertramp, dies at 81, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/abe0298e31704f390b5f17f99a104486)
2. [Rick Davies obituary, The Guardian (12 September 2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/12/rick-davies-obituary)
3. [Supertramp's Rick Davies, who sang 'Goodbye Stranger,' dies at 81, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-09-08/supertramp-rick-davies-goodbye-stranger-dead-at-81)
4. [La mort de Rick Davies, un des deux leaders du groupe pop britannique Supertramp, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/la-mort-de-rick-davies-un-des-deux-leaders-du-groupe-pop-britannique-supertramp_6640020_3382.html)
5. [Rick Davies, chanteur et cofondateur du groupe de rock Supertramp, est mort, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/09/08/rick-davies-chanteur-et-cofondateur-de-supertramp-est-mort_6639838_3382.html)
6. [How Rick Davies described the conflict that ruined Supertramp, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/i-think-a-certain-amount-of-friction-is-inevitable-when-youre-involved-in-a-creative-process-its-like-two-people-are-painting-a-picture-on-the-same-canvas-how-rick-davies-described-the-conflict-that-ruined-supertramp)
7. [Rick Davies, Supertramp frontman and co-founder, dies aged 81, The Guardian (8 September 2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/sep/08/ick-davies-supertramp-frontman-co-founder-dies-aged-81)
8. [Supertramp: Musical Alchemy, supertramp.com About page](https://supertramp.com/about)
9. [Rick Davies obituary: Founder of Supertramp whose Breakfast in America LP sold 18 million copies, The Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/obituaries/2025/09/13/rick-davies-obituary-founder-of-supertramp-whose-breakfast-in-america-lp-sold-18-million-copies/)
10. [It's a bird! It's a plane! No — it's Supertramp, DalSpace (Dalhousie University repository)](https://dalspaceb.library.dal.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/56d5af19-f856-415f-b66e-b73f2443e273/content)
11. [Roger Hodgson / Supertramp Radio DJ Fact Sheet 2009, rogerhodgson.com](https://rogerhodgson.com/epk/radio_songs__facts/Roger%20Hodgson%20Supertramp%20-%20Radio%20DJ%20Fact%20Sheet%202009%20F.pdf)
12. [Roger Hodgson interview, Goldmine magazine (2010), onamrecords.com](https://www.onamrecords.com/sites/default/files/2022-04/Roger_Hodgson_Goldmine_2010_4_21.pdf)
13. [Roger Hodgson / Rick Davies Song List, rogerhodgson.com](https://www.rogerhodgson.com/documents/songlist.html)
14. [Agreement between Supertramp's Songwriters, rogerhodgson.com](https://www.rogerhodgson.com/documents/RH%20and%20ST%20Story.html)
15. [Rick Davies, Supertramp Co-Frontman and Songwriter, Dies at 81, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/rick-davies-supertramp-frontman-songwriter-dies-at-81/)
16. [Remembering Supertramp Co-Founder Rick Davies, GRAMMY.com](https://live.grammy.com/news/rick-davies-supertramp-singer-co-founder-obituary)
17. [Rick Davies, Supertramp Founder and Singer, Dies at 81, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/rick-davies-supertramp-founder-and-singer-dies-at-81/)
18. [Rick Davies Obituary, Legacy.com](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/rick-davies)
19. [Supertramp homepage tribute, supertramp.com](https://supertramp.com/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical practice and theory › Popular music genres › Rock performers, groups, and musicians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license