Biography
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Born
9 May 1944 (age 80)
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Born In
Yellow Springs, Greene County, Ohio, United States
Richie Furay (born Paul Richard Furay, 9 May 1944, Yellow Springs, Ohio) is an American singer, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member who is best known for forming the 1960s band Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin, and then Poco with Jim Messina, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner. His best known song (originally written during his tenure in Buffalo Springfield, but eventually performed by Poco, as well) was "Kind Woman", which he wrote for his wife, Nancy.
Before Buffalo Springfield, Furay performed with Stills in the nine-member group, the Au Go Go Singers (Roy Michaels, Rick Geiger, Jean Gurney, Michael Scott, Kathy King, Nels Gustafson, Bob Harmelink, and Furay & Stills), the house band for the famous Cafe Au Go Go in New York.
In the late 1960s he formed the country-rock band Poco with Jim Messina and Rusty Young. The band failed to live up to Furay's expectations, with a disenchanted Messina and Randy Meisner leaving the band .Furay himself grew frustrated at the failure of Poco and he too departed .In 1974 he joined the The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. It was during this time that Al Perkins, the band's pedal steel guitar player, introduced Furay to Christianity. Although Souther, Hillman, Furay's self-titled first album was certified Gold and yielded the top thirty hit with "Fallin' in Love" in 1974, the group could not follow up on that success, and poor record sales eventually led to its demise.
Furay then formed The Richie Furay Band with Jay Truax, John Mehler, and Tom Stipe, releasing the album I've Got a Reason in 1976, which reflected Furay's newfound beliefs. To support the release of this album Furay formed an alliance with David Geffen and Asylum Records. Furay assured Geffen that his album would be Christian influenced but would not be an attempt to preach his newfound beliefs. "I've Got a Reason" did, however, establish Furay as a pioneer in Christian Rock. The title track of his third album, the secular "I Still Have Dreams", became a mild radio hit in 1979. Overall, his albums failed to chart satisfactorily, and, compounded with the strain of two tours during the late 1970s wearing on him and his family, he hung up his rock and roll shoes in favor of a call to the ministry.
Since the early 1980s, Furay has been senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado, a non-sectarian Christian church in the Denver area. He continues to perform as a solo artist, and very occasionally with Poco. He toured as an opening act for America and Linda Ronstadt during the Summer of 2006. The 2006 release of his latest CD The Heartbeat of Love returns Furay to his early country-rock roots with a contemporary flair.
In 2007 he toured with a new formation of the Richie Furay Band. At the Boulder and Bluebird Theatres in Colorado they recorded a double live CD ALIVE. The ALIVE set covers 29 songs of Furay's career. The Richie Furay band continued to tour through 2008 and 2009. Furay appeared with Poco for several shows in early 2009. At the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California in the Spring of 2009, Furay and the current Poco lineup were joined onstage by original members Jimmy Messina and George Grantham and former bass player Timothy B. Schmidt reuniting the Poco lineup that achieved the most critical acclaim.
On October 23, 2010, he reunited with surviving Buffalo Springfield bandmates Stephen Stills and Neil Young for a set at the 24th annual Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.
Richie regrouped with Buffalo Springfield for a 2011 tour, headlining 2011 Bonnaroo with them. In July 2011, Furay announced on his Facebook page that he would be touring with Buffalo Springfield in early 2012, ending speculation there would be a 2011 fall tour with them.
From 2011 to 2015, Furay collaborated with The Piedmont Brothers Band as lead vocalist of some songs recorded in the album PBB III (2011), Back to the Country (2013) and A Christmas Piedmont (2015).
Furay appeared on the April 2013 Carla Olson album Have Harmony, Will Travel. They sang the Gene Clark (of the Byrds) classic "She Don't Care About Time" with Richard Podolor (producer of Souther Hillman & Furay) on mandolin and latter day Byrd John York on guitar.
In 2015 Furay released his CD "Hand in Hand".
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