Born in 1948 in Canterbury, England,
Richard Sinclair has worked with a large number of British and European prog rock, avant-prog, and jazz-rock musicians over the course of several decades. In fact, in many ways his performance résumé reads like a who's who of the legendary Canterbury scene.
Sinclair got his start as rhythm guitarist and vocalist with
the Wilde Flowers in 1963, a gig that lasted three years. His next move was to
Caravan (along with other
Wilde Flowers members
Pye Hastings,
Richard's cousin
David Sinclair, and
Richard Coughlan). He sang and played bass on their albums Caravan (1968), If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You (1970),
In the Land of Grey and Pink (1971), and Waterloo Lily (1972).
Sinclair next joined a Canterbury supergroup of sorts,
Hatfield and the North. In addition to
Sinclair, who contributed characteristically smooth, bombast-free, and sometimes eccentrically whimsical vocals (including underwater effects) and increasingly masterful bass playing,
the Hatfields featured former
Egg keyboardist
Dave Stewart,
Matching Mole guitarist
Phil Miller, and
Gong drummer
Pip Pyle.
Sinclair's bass and vocals were prominently featured on
the Hatfields' self-titled 1973 Virgin Records debut in 1973 and he appeared on
Robert Wyatt's classic
Rock Bottom album released the following year, while 1975 saw the arrival of the second
Hatfield and the North album,
The Rotters' Club, which for many fans remains an apotheosis of the Canterbury sound.
In 1976,
Sinclair appeared on
Kevin Ayer's Odd Ditties album. The next year he began a stint with another legendary prog outfit,
Camel, singing and playing bass on their albums
Rain Dances (1977), Breathless (1978), and
A Live Record (1978).
Hatfield and the North's Afters, a compilation featuring rare and previously unreleased tracks and featuring
Sinclair in his customary bassist/vocalist role, was released in 1980. The following year he appeared on the album Before a Word Is Said with a quartet also featuring keyboardist
Alan Gowen,
Hatfields guitarist
Phil Miller, and drummer Trevor Tompkins. Before a Word Is Said was the final album
Gowen played on before his death from leukemia in 1981; the group
National Health released a
Gowen tribute album, D.S. al Coda, the following year, and
Sinclair appeared on that album as well. He next contributed vocals and bass to one track on
Phil Miller's album Split Seconds, issued by Reckless Records in 1989.
As the '90s began,
Sinclair formed Richard Sinclair's Caravan of Dreams, releasing a generally easygoing self-titled debut in 1992 and the live album An Evening of Magic the following year.
Sinclair returned to the studio, supported by a diverse array of musicians, for his 1994 solo album, R.S.V.P. His musical activities were rather infrequent into the middle of the 2000s, when he joined a re-formed
Hatfield and the North (with keyboardist
Alex Maguire replacing
Dave Stewart) for touring and festival appearances in far-flung locations from Japan to Europe to North America. (
Hatfields drummer
Pip Pyle died after a show by the quartet in the Netherlands in 2006, yet the band played a pair of additional concerts with Mark Fletcher in the drum chair.)
Sinclair and his wife Heather subsequently moved to Italy and
Richard's musical activities have reportedly been sporadic since then, but this inimitable artist still makes occasional Canterbury-esque vocal contributions to noteworthy albums including
Panzerpappa's
Koralrevens Klagesang (Schmell, 2006),
douBt's
Never Pet a Burning Dog (MoonJune, 2010), and
Accordi dei Contrari's Kublai (ADC, 2011). Arranging the collaboration with
Accordi dei Contrari might have been easiest logistically for
Sinclair, since the proggy jazz-rock quartet are from Italy, and recorded Kublai in Milan. ~ Dave Lynch & Gary Hill