Rick Florian

Rick Florian
Born	April 10, 1962
Origin	South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Genres	CCM Rock
Occupation(s)	singer, songwriter, producer
Instruments	vocals
Years active	1986–present
Associated acts	Whiteheart

Rick Florian (born April 10, 1962) is a musician, songwriter and producer, most known for being the lead singer of Contemporary Christian Music rock band Whiteheart since 1986. He currently lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife, Lisa, and two of their five children, and works as a real estate agent. Rick still lends his voice to several music projects over the year.

Early life

Florian was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1962. He graduated from Taylor University in 1984.^[1]

Whiteheart

Florian was a three-time lighting tech/roadie for the band back in the 80s. When Florian was caught off guard singing and dancing to Whiteheart's songs, he was asked to audition for the open position as the band's vocalist. He got the job and recorded eight studio albums with them.

Throughout his tenure with the band, he was praised on several occasions for his clean voice and excellent performing abilities. He could always find a clever spot to show off his back handspring in each concert. Despite not being a founding member, he became the core of Whiteheart along with Billy Smiley and Mark Gersmehl (who's also an Indiana native, like Florian himself). Florian issued a statement several years ago that the band was only at "a dormant stage".

Name spelling

When Florian released his first album with Whiteheart, a tradition of using unique spelling variations of his name for each album began. There is no precise account as to who started it, but it remained up until the last albums of the band.

The various spellings used have been: Ric, Rikk, Riq, Ricke, Rhic, Rikcq, Ricque. For the record, the correct spelling of his name is simply Rick. Rick has also been known to go by the nickname, "Tubes".

References

1. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Taylor-University_94395_2.html