Rick Guard
I always tend to write about big events in my life. The writing helps me take in things that have happened, or to move on from something negative. I avoided the pull to write about my mum for as long as I could though, as it was very raw and painful for me. I knew I would, I was just waiting for it to feel right. I eventually sat around a piano very nervously and allowed myself to think about it. I'm not ashamed to say I cried like a baby and the song literally poured out of me in 20 minutes. It was pure therapy. There was no need to be creative, it was all there, I just wrote down exactly what I felt. Singing the song now still wrenches me, but I know it's doing me good to face it and also raising money for the Alzheimer's society, so I feel I'm doing my mum proud.
I can't for a minute claim that I was there for her every inch of the way, because it wouldn't be true. As my mother worsened my father took the brunt of the care responsibility. But it's like a chain of support, where you hold each other up. It's terribly exhausting constantly caring for someone with dementia, so sharing the work between us is the only way. I did devote a great deal of time to her and supporting my father instead of carrying on promoting and touring etc. But I just kept telling myself that I had a whole life ahead of me and if I wasn't there for them now, when they needed me, I'd regret it for the rest of my life. Looking back now I don't regret a thing. Knowing I was there for my mother gives me a huge sense of satisfaction.
My main ambitions haven't changed in that I still want to make music to the best of my ability and for it to touch as many people as it can. I still have my 'life list', a list I made in my twenties of the things I would like to achieve before I checked out. Most of them, from getting a record deal, to getting a book published, to getting a number one, to parachuting out of a plane, to travelling the world have been ticked off. So I'm not doing bad for my thirties. I'm much less interested in wealth now and much more family-orientated. I've recently got married and had a baby boy and the joy my family brings me is immeasurable. In a non-conceited way I know that this album is great work and my current ambition is to get it heard worldwide and watch people enjoy listening to it, while raising money for the Alzheimer's Society. There's nothing more fulfilling than seeing someone dance, sing along, cry or smile to a record that you've made. It may sound trite, but it is the honest truth.
Awareness, awareness, awareness! We are so uneducated about dementia, that it's seen as something a bit shameful. This is nonsense: it can happen to the brightest and most active of minds. So the most important thing to me is to retain and uphold the dignity of those with the condition. The people who retain the dignity for those with the condition are the carers. It's more natural to respect this dignity when it's a member of your family. However, I believe that carers in rest and nursing homes should be specifically trained to provide the utmost element of respect and dignity when dealing with individuals who are unable to retain it for themselves. Care homes have an already difficult task providing constant care and stimulation. My family was very fortunate eventually to find a wonderful home for my mother for the last year of her life. However, other homes we saw shocked us with dignity-crushing displays through neglect of patients' hygiene, appearance and general treatment. Support for carers is the other huge sticking point, it is vital to have a support network for yourself when you are caring for someone with the condition as it is all consuming. You can lose your life in theirs, if you do not get a distraction.
The album is a collection of smooth swing/jazz uptempo dance songs and ballads, drawing on big band swing with a 20-piece band in some tracks, to an intimate quintet with sweet strings in the ballads. The title track 'Anyone But Me' alludes lyrically to me, saying 'this is me'. I've tried to please a lot of people in the past, but I've learned that the only way to do your best work is to do what your heart tells you. Hence, I can be a lot of things, but I can't be 'anyone but me'. The album is dedicated to the memory of my mother, a tribute to her love of music.
Yes it most definitely was. I still worked, I had to earn a living, but I didn't go abroad. I stayed in the UK and wrote, mostly for other artisits. Most of my successes have been around the rest of the world, I've done very little commercially yet in the UK, so it was a bit of a shock to be still, and in one place rather than travelling so much. My career did suffer as a result of it, particularly my relationship with my record company, as after all the music business is a business and without attention to it, it suffers. However, I don't regret a minute and wouldn't change a thing. Anyway I'm back now!
In all honesty I'm not in a position to talk about this. I would count myself very lucky to be involved in it in any shape or form as he is a personal hero of mine, a magnificent songwriter. I can say that to my delight he has given the thumbs up to both my cover version of the Bee Gees song 'how deep is your love' and my voice.
I have been extremely fortunate to play for and gig with some incredible artists and individuals from the Queen to Shirley Bassey. I originally met Streisand through a mutual director friend. She's an incredibly sweet person, despite the diva label she's given. To gain positive words and encouragment from a legend like her is wonderful, I'm a lucky boy. The first time I met Lionel Richie, he complimented me on my songwriting. It took me around a week to process the fact in my head that he had even heard one of my songs, never mind liked it. I still hope one day to hear them sing one of my songs. My reputation as a writer for other artists is growing...so watch this space.
There is no one particular influence on my work. I'm a very driven individual, so I suppose it is a burning to achieve ' a fire in the belly' or 'ants in the pants' as my grandad called it, which influences me and the goal of continuing to make myself and my family proud. I want to read the poem and add a verse. It's the adding the verse bit that drives me, the need to leave my mark on the world. Musically, I listen to anything if the songwriting is good, the genre is irrelevant. Quality lasts - that's probably why there's more Sinatra in my record collection than anything else!
Rick Guard's new album Anyone But Me is out on September 21, 2009.