Talk:Rick Davies

Redirect: Supertramp?

I wonder if this wouldn't be better as a redirect to Supertramp, where there is more information on Rick Davies already. Joyous 01:21, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

Probably not. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:09, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Nationality

Well well, I always thought Supertramp were American. You learn something new every day.

Apparently they only breakfasted there. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:10, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Redundancy

I find it amazing that Davies actually married his wife :P —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.232.204.48 (talk) 22:14, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Restructured that sentence somewhat; at least now the redundancy isn't as obvious. Anyone know his wife's maiden name so it can be fully corrected? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.0.54.36 (talk) 22:24, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Age

This article doesn't mention his age, but he's 64. So he'll be 65 next year. Rick is becoming an old man. --Tony Feld (talk) 11:29, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

He lived to be 81. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:10, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Barry Gibb range

Barry Gibb is absolutely not alto-anything, he's a common barytone and he just use his falsetto. --Donkey (talk) 17:18, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

The article no longer mentions Barry Gibb. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:11, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Additional citations

Why, what, where, and how does this article need additional citations for verification? Hyacinth (talk) 04:30, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

The article only has one citation, and three 'citation needed' tags, more than enough of a discrepancy to warrant the additional citations needed tag. Furthermore, numerous claims in the article are not tagged as needing a citation, but do indeed need them. I spot at least two unqualified claims in each paragraph of the article. Colinclarksmith (talk) 06:53, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Weasel words

Why, what, where, and how does this article contain weasel words? Hyacinth (talk) 04:29, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Examples of weasel words and phrasing - 1.) "Davies' voice is more of a....", 2.) "Roger Hodgson solely wrote, composed and sang Supertramp's hits.... and so many more", 3.) "Unfortunately, this agreement was broken very quickly". Example 1 lacks precision. Example 2 is puffery. Example 3 is editorializing. Colinclarksmith (talk) 06:58, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Dear Rick, ty for Goodbye Stranger.

Lyrical profundity + the musical power of R n R...reading the lyrics today brought me to tears again. -- Johnny Yank. 74.60.161.158 (talk) 14:52, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Rick and copyrights

I don't think it's correct to say that Rick Davies owns the copyrights to the Supertramp catalog. He owns the Supertramp trademark and brand name (as Roger Hodgson has said) and has control over how the band's material is used, but that's not the same as owning the copyrights. I'm sure Hodgson, as songwriting partner, still gets paid every time a copy of Breakfast in America is sold. Either way, there's not a cite for this information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.199.76.177 (talk) 18:55, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes, that was the trademark and brand name. That claim remained unsourced in the article for 11 years. The current source is this. But I'm not sure how useful this is, and it looks like a primary source, not a secondary one. The detail of the split in royalties between Davies and Hodgson, and the ensuing copyright dispute with the other the band members, has now been added separately, with a BBC source. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:13, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Lead not in line with article

The lead claims certain songs were written by Davies, but has been unsourced for some while now. The article states that Davies and Hodgson were jointly credited for much of Supertramp's output, and while it may be possible to best guess who wrote what, it is not Wikipedia's responsibility to determine who should be solely credited for these songs. Unless there is a cite to support these claims they should be removed. --Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 17:26, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia policy is to WP:PRESERVE any verifiable information, whether or not it has a source right at the moment. This is why we have "citation needed" tags. Sources verifying the individual songwriters of many Supertramp songs have already been found, and it is highly unlikely that two such popular songs as "Bloody Well Right" and "Goodbye Stranger" do not similarly have information on them out there. These two songs are also so distinctively Davies in style and tone that it doesn't really make sense to pretend that we have no idea who could have wrote them. I'd be a lot more comfortable with sources for those songs' authorship too, but there really is very little doubt that we will eventually find sources confirming that Davies wrote those songs.--NukeofEarl (talk) 18:02, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

I feel I should speak up here, as though I haven't been getting to the Supertramp-related articles of late, I am the one who added most of the references for who wrote what. I generally remove unsourced songwriting attributions where I find them, but in the case of the lead sections for this article and Roger Hodgson, I've had to make an exception. First of all, like NukeofEarl already stated, those attributions are almost certainly verifiable. Second, the authorship of those songs is a key part of Davies and Hodgson's importance, so by removing those attributions, I'd in effect be making the articles much more inaccurate, which is the opposite of what I'm trying to do when I remove unsourced claims.

I'll have a look around the net to see if I can dig up any good sources for who wrote those songs; it's been a while since I last did that.--Martin IIIa (talk) 21:40, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

Found a source. Not a particularly good one - just a brief mention in a news article - but it's certainly better than nothing, and hopefully it will discourage people from deleting that statement from the article until I can find a better source.--Martin IIIa (talk) 14:08, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Many thanks, Martin.--NukeofEarl (talk) 19:08, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

Each of the Supertramp albums listed has its own article where writing credits can be found. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:14, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Sanford Street School

Just to note that Sanford Street County Secondary School was designed by architect Brightwen Binyon, see e.g.: "Former Sanford Street School is lying empty" at Swindon Advertiser. Martinevans123 (talk) 07:16, 11 September 2025 (UTC)

Raspy baritone

Davies' vocal range and preferred voice type, which are mentioned in the lead section, are rather thinly sourced. The only source I could find was this one. Any ideas? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 08:12, 11 September 2025 (UTC)

Also "He was known for his rhythmic blues piano solos, jazz-tinged progressive rock compositions and cynical lyrics." I don't think that's cited in the article either is it? All sounds like it might come under Wikipedia:No original research. Rodericksilly (talk) 09:01, 11 September 2025 (UTC)

Yes, although all those claims look fair to me, just based on listening to the albums, as they stand they are just OR. I see that Michael Hann in his The Guardian obit says: "It was fitting though, because the tension between Davies and Hodgson was very much the driving force of Supertramp. Davies loved jazz and blues, whereas Hodgson was in love with pop." and "Davies's standout song on that album [Crisis? What Crisis?] was "Ain't Nobody But Me", which personified much of his musical character within Supertramp – over a jaunty blues piano riff, resolving into a 50s ballad pastiche chorus, he sang of an appalling man being tied to someone even more appalling..." Perhaps that and the other obits could be used to re-write the stuff on his voice and style? Martinevans123 (talk) 09:23, 11 September 2025 (UTC)