I have been in love with The Blues just about all my life. I was given this gift from my Grandmother, who was a singer in Ohio and later in Harlem, New York City, where i was born. As a very young boy I spent some years in Northeast Texas, where I could not only hear Texas Blues, but learning first hand what the FEELINGS of the blues were all about : Love, Respect, and coping with the ignorance of oppression and predjudice. After leaving the Army late ‘60s, I travelled around Europe and I learned that people all over are pretty much the same and want the same things : Love , Respect, and a decent life for themselves, themes that permeate The Blues.

Since 72 I have been living, teaching, and playing in the Netherlands, working with suchs bands as The Boom Boom Blues Band, Ziggy and the Bluesmen, Jazza Bozza, Captain Gumbo, The RumbleCats, Arthur Conley, Hans Dulfer, The Greyhound Blues Band, and The Ness among others . I also spent a couple of years as DJ at Q-Radio, where I presented The Blues Highway. During this time I had the chance to meet and talk with hundreds of Blues fans throughout Europe

Ric Stokes