Richard
Band was born in Los Angeles on December 28, 1953. He is the
son of film producer-director-writer Albert Band (THE RED
BADGE OF COURAGE – screen adaptation) brother to producer-distributor
Charles Band and uncle to young rock star Alex Band of the
rock group ‘The Calling’. At the age of 5 years
the family moved to Sweden so his father, following his years
working with John Huston could direct and produce the film
FACE OF FIRE (James Whitmore, Theodore Bickel). Subsequently
the family moved on to Paris for a year where Richard upon
returning from school would on an almost daily basis conduct
Beethoven’s 5th and 9th symphonies while standing on
the dining room table. In late 1959 the family then moved
to Rome, which was then considered the "Hollwood of Europe"
where they remained for almost 11 years. One night in 1963
on a location shoot in Madrid, Spain, Richard fell even more
in love with music. Having been mesmerized by the masterful
guitar playing in a flamenco show, Richard went out the following
morning and bought his own first guitar. Shortly
the young teenager began playing professional jobs in and
around Rome and a year later he was forming his own bands
and began touring Italy accompanied by four adult musicians.
At age 17, after touring around a great deal of Italy and
Europe, Richard had already achieved. an incredible amount
of success and so in 1970 returned to the United States.
Not wanting to be a "rock & roll" star like
every other musician in La at the time, Richard realized if
he wanted to remain in music, he would have to begin studying
music seriously. Richard began his formal music studies at
the Immaculate heart College in 1972, and later he studied
privately with John Ringgold and composer Dorrance
Stalvey of the famous "Monday Evening Concerts."
Since brother Charles Band had just formed his first movie
company, Richard decided to take a break from music and began
to work as an assistant director on some films. He then went
from assistant director to production manager and then to
associate producer and producer on over 12 films.
