Rikki Morris
aka Rick Morris
There are hardly any positions at the coalface of the New Zealand music industry that Rikki Morris has not filled with aplomb. Roadie, sound man, band member, songwriter, pop star, studio manager, producer and talent spotter – he’s done it all.
Morris had a No.1 hit song with ‘Nobody Else’ and won the APRA Silver Scroll with ‘Heartbroke’. He recorded the early demos of Finn Andrews (The Veils), The Checks, Gin Wigmore and Lorde and produced or engineered albums by Hammond Gamble, Graham Brazier and Paul Holmes.
Hammond Gamble with Mike Caen and Rikki Morris at Rikki's studio The Bus in 2006 whilst recording Hammond's Recollection
The Crocodiles’ 1981 single ‘Hello Girl’, sung by Rikki Morris
Corporate band Golden Kiwis, 2006. Left to right: Harry Lyon, Tony Waine, Ricky Ball, Rikki Morris.
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris promo shot from 1988
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Richard Morris collection
The Crocodiles on stage at Sweetwaters 1981. Rikki Morris is nearest to camera.
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with The Canons, Sydney, 1981
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris reunites with former members of Daggy & The Dickheads, Auckland, March 1987. Left to right: Tim McCartin, Paul Kennedy, Morris, Mark Kennedy.
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Richard Morris collection
Arthur Baysting with Andy Dickson and Tony Waine of the Narcs, plus Rikki Morris, after collaborating on a Narcs song called 'I Don't Want to Go to Work Today', 14 July 2018
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Rikki Morris
Rikki Morris, 1990
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Richard Morris collection
The short-lived Rocking Love Gods, 1986. Left to right: Steve Clarkson, Rikki Morris, Andy Dickson and Tony Waine
‘Come Back Louise’ video shoot, 1989
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Richard Morris collection
Backstage with Bread at the Playhouse, Edinburgh, November 1997. Left to right: David Gates, Larry Knechtel, Rikki Morris, Mike Botts, Scott Chambers, Randy Flowers, James Griffin.
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Richard Morris collection
A 1980s publicity shot of Rikki and Ian ‘Tex Pistol’ Morris
‘Come Back Louise’ single released on Pagan, 1989
Rikki and Ian Morris in a still from the 'Nobody Else' video, 1988
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Simon Grigg collection
Roadies in the Auckland Star, 1979, including Th'Dude's Richard Morris and the late Keith McKenzie ('McFrenzy')
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Richard Morris Collection
Co-hosts of 3:45 Live! Fenella Bathfield and Rikki Morris, 1989
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Richard Morris collection
Kuhtze Band, 1990. Left to right: Ryan Monga, Rikki Morris, Harry Lyon, Paul Dunningham, Steve Larkins.
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Richard Morris collection
The brothers Morris in a Pagan records publicity shot for the No.1 Tex Pistol & Rikki Morris single Nobody Else
Rikki Morris in Sydney, 1981
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Richard Morris collection
Neil Hannan (left) and Rikki Morris engineering Glen Moffatt’s Superheroes & Scary Things, Mt Eden, 2013
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris and Jude Dobson on the set of Alive & Kicking, 1993
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Richard Morris collection
The Crocodiles - Call Me (Live at Sweetwaters, 1981 - Rikki Morris on guitar)
Ian and Rikki Morris, 1988
The final Crocodiles gig, Bondi Astra, Sydney, July 1981. Left to right: Rikki Morris, Barton Price (drums), Fane Flaws, Jonathan Zwartz, Jenny Morris, Tony Backhouse.
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Richard Morris collection
Tex Pistol and Rikki Morris - Come Back Louise (1989)
Rikki Morris - Heartbroke (1990)
Ian and Rikki Morris in matching Hank Wangford T-shirts, Earl of Lonsdale, Notting Hill, 1985. After three weeks visiting Rikki in London, Ian departed for New Zealand only to have second thoughts in New York and return to his brother’s side.
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Richard Morris collection
Walter Kirby prize-winning Gnome’s only gig and Rikki Morris’s first, St Chads Hall, Meadowbank, December 1977
The 1991 APRA Silver Scroll went to Richard (Rikki) Morris for 'Heartbroke' and he's seen here with APRA CEO Brent Cottle
Rikki Morris in 1988
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Simon Grigg collection
Rikki Morris recording Finn Andrews, 2003
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris in his studio The Bus, 2000
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with Poison singer Bret Michaels on the set of 3:45 Live! in 1989
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with The Rocking Love Gods at Wildlife in 1986
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Richard Morris collection
Concord Dawn feat Rikki Morris - Forever
Brothers Rikki and Ian Morris, 1988
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Ian Morris collection
The Crocodiles - Hello Girl (1981)
Rikki Morris recording guitar on Jenny Morris demos at Trafalgar, Sydney, 1982
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Richard Morris collection
Cor Blimey! in 1983. Front to back: Debbie Chin, Shelley Pratt, Paul Lightfoot, Steve Melville, Rikki Morris.
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Richard Morris collection
Nobody Else: The Rikki Morris Story (full length documentary)
Rikki Morris and Peter Urlich on Waiheke Island in the 2010s
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris, aged 21
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris suiting up for The Crocodiles, Sweetwaters, 1981
Soundmen extraordinaire Chris Tate and Rikki Morris (who also supported When The Cat's Away on the earlier Melting Pot tour) on the 2001 tour
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Photo by Mark Roach
Rikki Morris’s only album Everest, released 1996
Cor Blimey! at the Hillcrest Tavern, Hamilton, 1983. Left to right: Paul Lightfoot, Steve Melville, Shelley Pratt, Debbie Chin, Rikki Morris.
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris Mushroom publicity shot, June 1992
Rikki Morris nurses the legendary Lucille, guitar of BB King, on the set of 3:45 Live!, 1989
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with former Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter backstage at a Jimmy Barnes gig, Sydney, 1990.
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Richard Morris collection
Robert Rakete, Malcolm Smith, Rikki Morris, Sony Music's Paul Ellis and Mike Chunn at the 1991 APRA Silver Scrolls, Hammerhead's restaurant, Auckland
Ian and Richard Morris performing at a gang show in the 1960s
Rikki Morris in the 2010s
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris and Wayne Bell, 2013
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Courtesy of Richard Morris
Rikki Morris and Graham Brazier during sessions for Brazier’s East Of Eden, produced by Morris
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Richard Morris collection
Ian and Rikki Morris in a publicity shot outtake from 1988
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Ian Morris collection
Rikki Morris - I'm An Island (Live on TVNZ Good Morning, 2001)
Rikki Morris - These Dark Moods (1997)
Th' Dudes road crew - 1979 NZBC documentary featuring Rikki Morris as roadie
Message To My Girl (ENZSO concert November 2013)
Rikki Morris - World Stand Still (1996)
Rikki Morris with Fine Young Cannibals singer Roland Gift and Fenella Bathfield on the set of 3:45 Live! in 1989
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Richard Morris collection
Tex Pistol and Rikki Morris - Nobody Else (1988)
Rikki Morris - I Can't Give You Anything (1991)
Rikki Morris - Nobody Else (2016 acoustic version)
Rikki Morris, 1996
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Richard Morris collection
Drummer Ian Gilroy and Rikki Morris, on the road with The Crocodiles, Dunedin, 1980
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris in the 2010s
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris at work in the 2010s
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris and Gin Wigmore
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris on stage with Chet O’Connell (left) and Karl Benton in the 2010s
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Richard Morris collection
Rikki and Ian Morris recording ‘Nobody Else’ at Soundtrax in Wellington, 1987
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Richard Morris collection
The Rocking Love Gods front line, 1986. Left to right: Andy Dickson, Tony Waine, Rikki Morris.
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Richard Morris collection
Trivia:
While signed to Mushroom in the early 1990s, Rikki Morris and his then wife Debbie Harwood provided backing vocals for Jimmy Barnes on his Soul Deep shows.
The video for Rikki Morris’s only Mushroom single ‘I Can’t Give You Anything’ was directed by Tony Johns and filmed at the elephant enclosure at the Auckland Zoo.
Rikki Morris’s children have all taken an interest in music. Son Marlon fronted thrash metal band Kingdoms, daughter Gala is a singer-songwriter and has played in Jesse Sheehan’s band, and younger daughter Oni is pure of voice and is taking vocal lessons from New Zealand legend Suzanne Lynch.
In 2010, Matthew Harvey’s drum and bass unit Concord Dawn had Rikki Morris write lyrics and a vocal melody for single ‘Forever’, which he also sang and was the lead track on Concord Dawn’s album The Enemy Within.
Rikki Morris chose the spelling of his stage name from the 1974 Steely Dan hit single ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’.