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.
Corporate band Golden Kiwis, 2006. Left to right: Harry Lyon, Tony Waine, Ricky Ball, Rikki Morris.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
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.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
The Crocodiles’ 1981 single ‘Hello Girl’, sung by Rikki Morris
The Crocodiles - Call Me (Live at Sweetwaters, 1981 - Rikki Morris on guitar)
‘Come Back Louise’ single released on Pagan, 1989
The brothers Morris in a Pagan records publicity shot for the No.1 Tex Pistol & Rikki Morris single Nobody Else
Rikki Morris and Gin Wigmore
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris nurses the legendary Lucille, guitar of BB King, on the set of 3:45 Live!, 1989
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris Mushroom publicity shot, June 1992
Cor Blimey! at the Hillcrest Tavern, Hamilton, 1983. Left to right: Paul Lightfoot, Steve Melville, Shelley Pratt, Debbie Chin, Rikki Morris.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris - Nobody Else (2016 acoustic version)
Rikki Morris - These Dark Moods (1997)
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.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris’s only album Everest, released 1996
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
Photo credit:
Rikki Morris
Th' Dudes road crew - 1979 NZBC documentary featuring Rikki Morris as roadie
Rikki Morris and Peter Urlich on Waiheke Island in the 2010s
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
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.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Message To My Girl (ENZSO concert November 2013)
Neil Hannan (left) and Rikki Morris engineering Glen Moffatt’s Superheroes & Scary Things, Mt Eden, 2013
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris and Jude Dobson on the set of Alive & Kicking, 1993
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris, 1990
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris on stage with Chet O’Connell (left) and Karl Benton in the 2010s
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
The short-lived Rocking Love Gods, 1986. Left to right: Steve Clarkson, Rikki Morris, Andy Dickson and Tony Waine
Rikki Morris with Poison singer Bret Michaels on the set of 3:45 Live! in 1989
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Ian and Rikki Morris in a publicity shot outtake from 1988
Photo credit:
Ian Morris collection
Rikki Morris - I'm An Island (Live on TVNZ Good Morning, 2001)
Rikki Morris and Graham Brazier during sessions for Brazier’s East Of Eden, produced by Morris
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
‘Come Back Louise’ video shoot, 1989
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Ian and Rikki Morris, 1988
The Rocking Love Gods front line, 1986. Left to right: Andy Dickson, Tony Waine, Rikki Morris.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with The Rocking Love Gods at Wildlife in 1986
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris in his studio The Bus, 2000
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris, 1996
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with former Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter backstage at a Jimmy Barnes gig, Sydney, 1990.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
The Crocodiles - Hello Girl (1981)
Rikki Morris in the 2010s
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with The Canons, Sydney, 1981
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Brothers Rikki and Ian Morris, 1988
Photo credit:
Ian Morris collection
The Crocodiles on stage at Sweetwaters 1981. Rikki Morris is nearest to camera.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Concord Dawn feat Rikki Morris - Forever
Rikki Morris - World Stand Still (1996)
Co-hosts of 3:45 Live! Fenella Bathfield and Rikki Morris, 1989
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Tex Pistol and Rikki Morris - Come Back Louise (1989)
Nobody Else: The Rikki Morris Story (full length documentary)
Tex Pistol and Rikki Morris - Nobody Else (1988)
Rikki Morris recording guitar on Jenny Morris demos at Trafalgar, Sydney, 1982
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Drummer Ian Gilroy and Rikki Morris, on the road with The Crocodiles, Dunedin, 1980
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris promo shot from 1988
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki and Ian Morris recording ‘Nobody Else’ at Soundtrax in Wellington, 1987
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris in the 2010s
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Roadies in the Auckland Star, 1979, including Th'Dude's Richard Morris and the late Keith McKenzie ('McFrenzy')
Photo credit:
Richard Morris Collection
Rikki Morris recording Finn Andrews, 2003
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
The 1991 APRA Silver Scroll went to Richard (Rikki) Morris for 'Heartbroke' and he's seen here with APRA CEO Brent Cottle
Rikki Morris, aged 21
Photo credit:
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
Hammond Gamble with Mike Caen and Rikki Morris at Rikki's studio The Bus in 2006 whilst recording Hammond's Recollection
Rikki Morris at work in the 2010s
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
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
Photo credit:
Photo by Mark Roach
Rikki Morris - I Can't Give You Anything (1991)
A 1980s publicity shot of Rikki and Ian ‘Tex Pistol’ Morris
Cor Blimey! in 1983. Front to back: Debbie Chin, Shelley Pratt, Paul Lightfoot, Steve Melville, Rikki Morris.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris with Fine Young Cannibals singer Roland Gift and Fenella Bathfield on the set of 3:45 Live! in 1989
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki Morris and Wayne Bell, 2013
Photo credit:
Courtesy of Richard Morris
Rikki Morris in 1988
Photo credit:
Simon Grigg collection
Rikki Morris in Sydney, 1981
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Rikki and Ian Morris in a still from the 'Nobody Else' video, 1988
Photo credit:
Simon Grigg collection
Walter Kirby prize-winning Gnome’s only gig and Rikki Morris’s first, St Chads Hall, Meadowbank, December 1977
Rikki Morris suiting up for The Crocodiles, Sweetwaters, 1981
Rikki Morris - Heartbroke (1990)
Ian and Richard Morris performing at a gang show in the 1960s
Rikki Morris reunites with former members of Daggy & The Dickheads, Auckland, March 1987. Left to right: Tim McCartin, Paul Kennedy, Morris, Mark Kennedy.
Photo credit:
Richard Morris collection
Kuhtze Band, 1990. Left to right: Ryan Monga, Rikki Morris, Harry Lyon, Paul Dunningham, Steve Larkins.
Photo credit:
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’.