Richard Clay - also known as Dick Clay - was born in Holbeach in South Lincolnshire but came up to Leeds University in the late sixties and has stayed in Yorkshire ever since. He had learnt classical violin as a child but then, in his teens, took up first the mandolin and then the guitar, and played in several folk, jazz and rock bands in the 1960s and 70s (notably “Nonesuch”, "The New Metronome All Stars", and "Bop City") collaborating firstly with singer/guitarist Pete McGuffin and later with keyboard and bass player Andy Macgill. In 1968 “Nonesuch” supported The Sallyangie which included the 15 year old Mike Oldfield, and also, amongst others, The Strawbs, and Alexis Korner.
Richard did little performing from the late 70s to early 90s as family and career took up more time, though he did a lot of music with young people in his time as a teacher: running jazz bands (the jazz pianist Robin Aspland started his career in one of Richard's school bands), writing musicals and concert pieces, and playing violin, double bass, french horn, and saxophone in school bands and orchestras. He also sang in - and composed for - the Leeds Teachers' Choir.
With children grown up he started playing again. He formed the band "Rattlebag" with Simon Kilner and Pete 'Peanut' Turner, and they were later joined by James Whelan and Beth Harris. When Rattlebag split up he formed the trio "Mulberry Blue" with Beth and James, which enjoyed considerable success around the Yorkshire area for a couple of years.
When Beth left Mulberry Blue to pursue her teaching career, Richard and James continued for a while under the name "Mixing up the Medicine" performing blues, bluegrass, and their own original songs.
Richard has collaborated with many musicans on the Yorkshire folk/acoustic scene in recent years. He has performed in a duo with Tim Light, with Nick Hall of the Hall Brothers, and with Dave Allen and Barry Smith in The Allensmith. In 2008 Richard and Beth Harris briefly reformed The New Mulberry Blue as a five piece rock band, which later evolved into "The Other Band" with singer and guitarist Andy Dunderdale.
Richard currently plays and sings in the folk-rock band "Mahogany Monkey".
On stage Richard plays an Oakwood Teardrop Special mandolin, strung as a four-string, through a Zoom effects pedal and into a Roland Microcube as a PA preamp and monitor. He also plays a Yamaha acoustic guitar and a Fender Telecaster, and, on his solo recordings, a Fender Jazz Bass.
In 2006 Richard took early retirement from a thirty year career as a physics teacher and head of a high school science department, and now works as editor and graphic designer at Stockholm Environment Institute (based at York University). He is married with three grown up children and lives in Bishopthorpe, near York.
