READ MORE

Marjorie Richards started writing songs in elementary school, playing the piano and then the guitar. In Junior High in New Jersey, Richards was part of a girls choir that performed at Carnegie Hall. In high school in the Seattle area, she sang in school performance choirs and she worked closely with Jim Valley of Paul Revere and The Raiders, who mentored her in songwriting and performing both as a part of a rock n' roll choir and through her first performances as a solo folk artist with Victory Music and other local venues. The choir performed locally and made a recording that included a choral version of a song that Marjorie wrote and she and Jim arranged.

While in college earning a degree in English and Communications, Richards traveled to Central America, and her writing become informed by her politics and education. "Folk music at its root," Richards says, "should be a voice of the people, a way of telling the stories that are not otherwise heard."(Victory Review)

After college, Richards decided to go back to school to learn a trade. She then worked as a carpenter for 7 years, including a season as a scenic carpenter on the set of the television show, Northern Exposure. She changed careers again, and went back to school to earn an M.A. in Adult Education and TESOL. Her current day job invvolves exploring the many facets of the English language with immigrants and refugee adults at Seattle Central College.

She came back to music and performing iat the encouragement of Charlie Murphy, of the internationally acclaimed Rumors of the Big Wave. Murphy, of whom it has been said is "not bad company to keep", a mutli-recording artist and songwriter himself, produced Richards' debut CD, entitled, here, which received glowing reviews from industry publications like The Performing Songwriter Magazine and the Victory Music Review as well as a large number of radio stations across the United States. Since that time, Richards performed with Tamara Grunhurd and Jessica Papkhoff in a trio called The Meddlers, as well as with Amy Roberts. She took a musical hiatus to go back to school and focus on education. In 2025, rested and fired up, she is reclaiming her musical roots, and performing both solo as well as with Nancy Reinhold

AWARDSREVIEWS