Leslie Rich is a singer/songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He performs solo and also backed by the beautifully monikered Rocket Soul Choir – An ever changing and adapting group now presently a tight four piece.

In 1997 he spent time playing around the coffee house scene in Minneapolis, putting together and recording with an American version of the RSC. Part of the results from this venture can be found on the 1998 Immortal Records (IRE) compilation “Covers and Others”, which was augmented by a latinesque version of the punk classic “Holiday in Cambodia”.

In 1999 he released his first album, the eight track “Geeklove” that quickly became a playlist regular with the thunderous, piano driven “Air Is Just A Breeze”. He took this album with him to Minneapolis and New York in September 2000 and performed in a number of venues in both cities including First Avenue in Minneapolis. He also recorded two new tracks with his band there, which appear on “The Written Lie”.

In October of that year, he took part in the Finnish Irish Cultural Festival headlining several dates around Finland, receiving extensive airplay and featuring in the national press. Due to the success of this tour he was able to return with long-time drummer and percussionist Gary Morrison to do a short residency in O’Malley’s in the capital.

He spent most of 2001 in the studio recording “The Written Lie”, taking short breaks to be a regular performer at London’s Kashmir Klub and opening in Belfast for Juliet Turner, Mark Eitzel (American Music Club) and Justin Sullivan (New Model Army).

He returned to New York in September to perform and to promo the new album. Due to the events of September 11th he moved on to Minnesota to reacquaint himself with promoters and DJs there, getting together with the US version of the Rocket Soul Choir once more and performing as a last minute addition to the bill in First Avenue.

June 2003 saw another return to the States, this time for four weeks of shows in the Midwest
and also in California on the back of his March 2002 nomination for “Best International Unsigned Act” at the Orange County Music Awards.

Leslie has called Minneapolis a home from home for the last ten years and so in December 2004 he became a permanent resident there.

Recent recordings have included two tracks for the "Time To Be Proud" compilation for Immortal Recordings celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the Good Vibrations label in Belfast.

At present Leslie is writing and recording with Hounds Of Finn for an EP due this Summer and an album due for release on St Patrick's day 2010.
He has also been writing and recording with Mike Johnson and Jay Wahl of The Skullcranes for a soundtrack to a Yellow Fever Productions movie entitled "The Truth About Tom, Dick And Harry". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.