Richard Lewis Spencer is an African American musician and teacher. He played tenor saxophone in Otis Redding's band, behind Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions with The Winstons. He was awarded the Grammy Award (R&B Songwriter Of The Year 1969) for his composition "Color Him Father". Spencer wrote "Color Him Father" and Richard was the singer of the mega-hit with The Winstons on Metromedia Records.
Spencer is a North Carolina native who, at the ages of 11 and 12, studied classical piano at the famed Beckwith Piano School in Charlotte, North Carolina. At age 13, he became the organist and pianist for the late Bishop J.H. Sherman of The Church Of God In Christ.
In 1962, Spencer moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked with various bar bands including recording with Leroy Taylor and The 4k's as one of the first acts to sign with historic Shrine Records.
In 1969, Richard was lead singer for the song "Color Him Father" became a hit for The Winstons, an R&B group from Washington, D.C. The Winstons' recording reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song was also recorded by Linda Martell who took it to No. 14 on the Billboard country chart . Spencer is the owner of the famous Amen break featuring a drum solo by the now-famous G.C. Coleman (deceased). There are some who claim that this piece of music helped to launch hip-hop and the electronic subcultures.
After a successful career, Spencer left the music business in 1970. He returned to college to study at the University of the District of Columbia where he received a B.A. in political science and a M.S. in labor management relations. He studied for a M.Ed. at the University of Phoenix and the University of North Carolina, and completed the course work for a Ph.D. at Howard University. Spencer retired from the Washington Metro system in 2000, and is currently a licensed Baptist Minister and high school teacher (U.S. history, psychology, civics) in Montgomery County, Maryland.
He is married to Angela Boatright, an Episcopal priest, author, former nun, and former journalist (WOR radio and Newsday),who has co-authored with Spencer their first novel, The Heir, released on Xlibris Press. Spencer published his first novel The Molasses Tree: A Southern Love Story in 2003.
The couple have three sons: Kahlil Boatright, Richard L. Spencer, III; and Cassian Boatright.
Famous quotes containing the words richard, lewis and/or spencer:
“I think that Richard Nixon will go down in history as a true folk hero, who struck a vital blow to the whole diseased concept of the revered image and gave the American virtue of irreverence and skepticism back to the people.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“We will win this war because we are willing to sacrifice 10,000,000 lives. How many lives is the White Man willing to sacrifice?”
—Jerome Cady, U.S. screenwriter, and Lewis Milestone. General Mitsubi (Richard Loo)
“Anyone can see that to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the knee in the kitchen, with constant calls to cooking and other details of housework to punctuate the paragraphs, was a more difficult achievement than to write it at leisure in a quiet room.”
—Anna Garlin Spencer (1851–1931)