Richard Mazda

Richard Mazda is a record producer, writer and musician. In his 40's he decided to add actor and director to his skills.

Mazda was one of the co-founders of punk/mod band Tours. They signed to Virgin Records in 1979 after selling large quantities of their self produced and distributed Language School/Foreign Girls double A side 7" single. BBC Radio 1 DJs John Peel and Mike Read championed the band which led to a bidding war between Virgin, Polydor, Sire and EMI records. Eventually the band signed to Virgin but the association was shortlived after an argument between the band and the label led the other founder/leader Ronnie Mayor to quit.

Mazda went on to become the in house producer of IRS Records working with seminal punk/new wave acts such as The Fall, The Birthday Party, Wall of Voodoo, The Fleshtones, Tom Robinson, Alternative TV, Yello, Suburban Lawns, Brian James, The Scientists and The Folk Devils. Later, Mazda turned his attention back to his first musical love and began working with R&B musicians such as Average White Band, The JBs, Neneh Cherry, Bootsy Collins and Ultra Nate.

Mazda also pursued a parallel career as a songwriter. After signing to Warner Chappell Music in 1989 he went on to write, "How Long', a Billboard R&B No 1 hit for American Singer Ultra Nate which won him a prestigious A.S.C.A.P award. As a writer he contributed to albums by Jamie J Morgan, The JBs, Average White Band, Clyde 'Funky Drummer' Stubblefield, Nick Kamen and many others.

In the 1990's Mazda was looking for a new challenge. He took a bold step and 'retired' himself from the Music business and decide to re-train as an actor. This radical action followed a revelation whilst on a Michael Radford movie set. After taking acting classes for a few years and grabbing whatever jobs he could Mazda began to make some headway. One acting gig came after a meeting with Richard Curtis who was looking for someone to portray the 'Record Producer/Engineer' in Love Actually. This led to a surreal moment on set with Bill Nighy butchering The Troggs Love is All Around whilst he pretended to push the buttons of a mixing console that he had made real records on.

On September 19, 2001 Richard's wife moved to New York. Richard stayed in London and commuted every few weeks to see her, during this period he was cast in EastEnders as Dirty Den's long lost son, Dennis' Prison Guard. He was delighted to discover that in his very first appearance he would be given the coveted 'cliffhanger' last line. To say your lines and then have the iconic EastEnders drum roll follow your last word is a real TV moment. He subsequently went on to get small roles in Quills, Batman Begins as well as several theatrical roles in London's Fringe theatre's including the Arcola Theatre, Cockpit Theatre and Union Theatre.

By 2004 it was decided that the entire family including Richard's daughter Savannah would relocate to New York. It wasn't long before Mazda had made a small dent in the rarefied NYC acting world. In Jan 2005 he formed his own acting troupe, [The Queens Players ] and a year after emigrating he scored an Off Broadway role as 'English' in Scott Brooks' Bag Fulla Money which played at 42nd St's Clurman Theatre.

After several years in New York Mazda is now the proud owner of his custom built theatre, [The Secret Theatre] . He has recently wrapped production on his second music video as Director for NY's The Bramblemen and is in post production for a filmed production of Edward II by Christopher Marlowe. Musically, Richard Mazda is making something of a comeback in 2007-2008. Following an invitation from NYC's premier garage rock band The Fleshtones camp to contribute to a tribute compilation marking their thirty plus years Mazda returned to the studio to cut a new version of 'Hope Come Back' which he had originally produced for the 'Tones back in 1981. Always very fond of this untypical Zaremba/Streng composition he gave it a hard rocking Ramone-ish treatment.

References

* {Bonomo Joe: Sweat The Story Of The Fleshtones, America's Garage Band ISBN: 9780826428462}
* {Gray Oliver: Volume: A Cautionary Tale of Rock and Roll Obsession ISBN-10: 1897609523}

External links

* [http://www.irscorner.com/ Unofficial IRS Records site]
* [http://secrettheatre.com/ The Secret Theatre]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2311046/ imdb.com]