RICK STEFFEN WikBIO
Daytona and Key West veteran singer/songwriter Rick Steffen is a producer and artist of a unique blend of island, blues, country, pop sounds spanning a musical career of almost four decades.
Rick, aka Rick Stephen Felisko, born in Bridgeport, Ct., at 4 years old became a Daytona local in the 60’s, took up guitar and vocals imitating the entertainers in his dad’s night club. Later in Seabreeze High School, his band, the Idols performed at the City Island and Seabreeze recreational centers, following the styles of the Ventures, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Ten Years After, Rod Stewart, Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, the Animals.
Greg Allman, a Seabreeze High school classmate (1962), was an occasional performer in this band (1965).
Rick was the bass player with Floyd Miles in the Floyd & Tootie band who performed at the Daytona Beach Pier
in it’s Casino Ballroom 1964-65), and with Decembers Children at the original Wreck Bar in Daytona.
He also backed up many touring celebrities that passed through including Sam & Dave, and Lou Christie.
Steffen spent the late 60’s and 70’s playing show venues in Florida, Georgia, and New Jersey including
Tom Cellie‘s group VIRGO at the Oasis Club in Wildwood, NJ.
1970-1980 –Rick’s residence and home base in Ft. Lauderdale found him as Bass player with the
Big Mamma Blue band at the Wooden Spoon, and Click, (formerly Sweet Seasons) at Yesterdays Restaurant /disco
and a seasonal bass player for the National touring act, the Shirelles, and Billy Vera at the 7 Seas Lounge/Newport Beach motel in Miami Beach.
In 1975 he started writing songs, honing his guitar skills and began singing demos at
Criterion recording studios in Miami, his lifelong friend Lee Hazen at the helm.
In 1977, Rick started his own solo career with his bands Resonance, & Mind Body & Soul, & enjoyed great local success with his first recording efforts in Ft. Lauderdale (45rpm “In Love With Love“ & “Livin in the Middle“ c1979 Silver Touch Productions.
Rick's first album, “Love & Escape”, in 1985, recording with famed Nashville producer Jack Grochmal and
Engineer Lee Hazen, owner of “Studio by the Pond“.
The genre Trop-Rock was born at this time with hits from another emerging Nashville artist, Jimmy Buffet.
Lee Hazen was engineer on Buffet’s “A White Sportcoat and Pink Crustacion” LP.
Those songs found acclaim and acceptance with the emerging groups now called Parrotheads and later
with Trop-Rock circles and websites that relished Sailing motifs and escape to simple island places
where life was easier than the 9-5 and rush hour syndromes in the U.S..
Discography on Love & Escape was:
1 Beggar’s Holiday, 2. One More Chance, 3. Island in the Sun, 4. When Good Times Come Around, 5. Offshore, 7. She’ll Always Be Somebody’s Baby, 8. I Wish You Had Me Here Tonight, 9. It Only Hurts Til the Next Time,
10. Missin You This Mornin’.
It was re-released with 3 additional songs:
“If you can’t say something nice”, “Burned Out Broke and Disgusted”, and “So Much in Love”.
In 1986 Rick teamed up with Steve Mello, a Juliard Student and former drummer for the band Windjammer, of famous Ocean Deck (Daytona) fame. Steve’s major at school was Marimba, and they started a guitar-marimba duo
that lasted 15 years in Key West.
They perfected their “Island sound” and recorded Ricks next 2 albums, Tropical Nights and Another Island,
with many songs in the spirit of Key West and Daytona leisure lifestyle.
In Key West , that duo held down the house band at Casa Marina, Schooner Wharf, and Pier House from
1986-1996. More performances at the Key West Seafood Festivals and Sloppy Joe’s.
Steffen also shared some songwriting credits with Shel Silverstein, with his song, “Pinchin’ My Penny” ,
the song still in rotation on many Airline Headphone entertainment systems and Sirius Satellite radio,
and with his cover of “Wet Dream” from Kipp Addotta.
Discography of Tropical Nights: 1. Tropical Nights, 2. Lighten Up, 3. Wet Dream, 4. Low Key in the Upper Keys, 5. Driftwood, 6. Jump, 7. Seafood, 8. Beggars Holiday, 9. Given Half a Chance, 10. Key West Calypso,
11. Pelican Bay, 12. Offshore
Steffen’s home base moved from Key West back to Daytona Beach in 1997 the beachside being a tidal estuary hence the title of his 2003 CD release “Another Island.
Discography for Another Island,: 1. Sloppy Joes, 2. Palm Tree on de Island, 3. Use Your Freedom, 4. Cannonball, 5. Sherry Girl, 6. Caribbean Run, 7. Out On the Ocean, 8. Take de Bull, 9. Hurricane, 10. Pinchin My Penny, 11.Coconut Rum,
12. Wine Wine Wine.
In 2001 The song “Out On The Ocean“, was featured on a Migration Music compilation CD and in
Attitudes & Lattitudes magazine.
He was the featured act for Christmas and New Years 2004 at Margaritaville at Universal Studios Orlando.
His 2004 CD release, “Mango Music” took a musical style leap into a new sub-genre worthy of the moniker, Caribbean Blues, of blues with Caribbean rhythms, for Parrotheads with overworked livers.
The circle of musicians on the next two albums includes:
Clarence Wares from Trinidad & Jamaica, having played on albums with Toots & Maytals, Sly & Robbie, Sparrow, Dennis Brown and Windjammer from world famous Ocean Deck fame @ Daytona Beach.
Drummer Dennis Thomas, from Trinidad, has been in the states 10 years but not before playing with top Soca and Calypso bands in the Caribbean. Playing locally with Spice, Caribbean Posse (backup drummer) and Rick’s group Offshore4.
Guitarist, - BERT BAILEY - Lead Guitar and Bass for Rick’s band Offshore and with Kelvin’s Pepper Pot steel drum orchestra that does Carnival time in Miami. Bert also did a tour with Bob Marley as guitarist and other Caribbean music artists.
Bass & vocals Bing Oliver, a favorite player at the Ocean Deck and other Florida venues, plays 5 string bass for incredible island grooves and Rick’s originals.
Mark Hodgson - A career performer on Harmonica, also recording and performing as a solo blues guitarist. Recording Credits with Root Boy Slim, Noble Watts, and Floyd Miles.
Steel Drummer - Kelvin Hart 1935-2013 Kelvin, From Trinidad, had been around almost since the inception
of the steel drum. A pioneer of playing the traditional 55 gallon drum, He also pioneered playing on the
newer Custom 72 Gallon steel drum. Having played with many of the island greats.
Discography of Mango Music : 1. Caribbean Blues, 2. Watering Hole, 3. Good Luck,
4. Where Have All the Flowers Gone, 5. Weekends in de Islands, 6. Votesong, 7. Spend Some Time With You,
8. One Wave At A Time, 9. Wastin’ My Time, 10 Great Divide, 11. Internet Overload, 12. Give Til It Hurts.
Rick’s CD, More Palm Trees, was released in 2011 with the original song “West End Girl” in regular rotation on
Sirius satellite radio, Music Choice, Amazon.com , Apple I-tunes and many local Florida radio stations.
Discography for More Palm Trees is: More Palm Trees, Party til My Ship Comes In, West End Girl, Cottage in Negril,
Job Change, Tourist Town, Drinks For the Band, Iguana, Rusty Old Heart, and Reggae Music Flowin.
The release of Zany Key West Songs CD in 2015, archives crazy lifesytles in Key West in the “wild west years”.
They include discography: Pissin in the Pool, Chicken Salad-Chicken shit, Parts and Labor, I’m Sleepin With Your Ex,
Chasin Pussy, Dick, Fat Girl In My Pickup, It’s 420 Somewhere, Coke Oh No, Pirates, Back On The Sea, Thorium,
You Can’t Afford It.
Then comes Rick’s blues CD, “Black Coconuts” . Labeled “Rogue Blues”, it portends to avoid the standard blues chord changes to a new, less worn out blend of chord changes. Refreshing, and entertaining music and songwriting makes this effort an equally honest project to certainly get genuine reviews.
Discography for BLACK COCONUTS 2018 : 1. Black Coconuts, 2. Dead Cellphone Blues, 3. Good Man Going Down, 4. Fishin and Drinkin, 5. Rust Old Heart, 6. Hurricane, 7. Caribbean Blues, 8. Burned Out Broke and Disgusted, 9. Given Half A Chance, 10. Missin You This Morning, 11. It Only Hurts Til the Next Time, 12. The Only Constant Is Change,
13. Give Til It Hurts.
Rick's current and last project SMILIN ISLAND ,https://ricksteffen.bandzoogle.com/home, is a remixed and remastered collection of the above songs and THREE new originals. 17 SONGS IN ALL !
Rick’s Island music adaptations of covers have been heard at the Daytona Beach Bandshell , Sloppy Joe’s Daytona Bahama Breeze Daytona, 21st Woodstock Reunion , the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Carnival Cruise Ship Lines, the 4 SEASONS RESORT IN NEVIS BWI.
Florida venues included: Silver Springs, Margaritaville Key West, Margaritaville @ Universal Studios Orlando, and Cypress Gardens. Key West: Sloppy Joes, Pier House, Casa Marina beach, and Schooner Wharf.
He is currently based out of DAYTONA BEACH & doing venues, HOUSE CONCERTS, and festivals Throughout Florida. His songs can be heard on Apple I-tunes, YOUTUBE , Sirius Satellite Radio, Margaritaville channel, and many Trop-Rock internet radio stations.
In 2000, Ralph Nader used Rick's song "Use Your Freedom" at his presidential rallys, and in 2006, The Today CBS show featured his song Seafood on their cooking segment. He was also featured in Southern Florida magazine as one of the up and coming artists in Key West.
Daytona and Key West veteran singer/songwriter Rick Steffen is a producer and artist of a unique blend of island, blues, country, pop sounds spanning a musical career of almost four decades.
Rick, aka Rick Stephen Felisko, born in Bridgeport, Ct., at 4 years old became a Daytona local in the 60’s, took up guitar and vocals imitating the entertainers in his dad’s night club. Later in Seabreeze High School, his band, the Idols performed at the City Island and Seabreeze recreational centers, following the styles of the Ventures, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Ten Years After, Rod Stewart, Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, the Animals.
Greg Allman, a Seabreeze High school classmate (1962), was an occasional performer in this band (1965).
Rick was the bass player with Floyd Miles in the Floyd & Tootie band who performed at the Daytona Beach Pier
in it’s Casino Ballroom 1964-65), and with Decembers Children at the original Wreck Bar in Daytona.
He also backed up many touring celebrities that passed through including Sam & Dave, and Lou Christie.
Steffen spent the late 60’s and 70’s playing show venues in Florida, Georgia, and New Jersey including
Tom Cellie‘s group VIRGO at the Oasis Club in Wildwood, NJ.
1970-1980 –Rick’s residence and home base in Ft. Lauderdale found him as Bass player with the
Big Mamma Blue band at the Wooden Spoon, and Click, (formerly Sweet Seasons) at Yesterdays Restaurant /disco
and a seasonal bass player for the National touring act, the Shirelles, and Billy Vera at the 7 Seas Lounge/Newport Beach motel in Miami Beach.
In 1975 he started writing songs, honing his guitar skills and began singing demos at
Criterion recording studios in Miami, his lifelong friend Lee Hazen at the helm.
In 1977, Rick started his own solo career with his bands Resonance, & Mind Body & Soul, & enjoyed great local success with his first recording efforts in Ft. Lauderdale (45rpm “In Love With Love“ & “Livin in the Middle“ c1979 Silver Touch Productions.
Rick's first album, “Love & Escape”, in 1985, recording with famed Nashville producer Jack Grochmal and
Engineer Lee Hazen, owner of “Studio by the Pond“.
The genre Trop-Rock was born at this time with hits from another emerging Nashville artist, Jimmy Buffet.
Lee Hazen was engineer on Buffet’s “A White Sportcoat and Pink Crustacion” LP.
Those songs found acclaim and acceptance with the emerging groups now called Parrotheads and later
with Trop-Rock circles and websites that relished Sailing motifs and escape to simple island places
where life was easier than the 9-5 and rush hour syndromes in the U.S..
Discography on Love & Escape was:
1 Beggar’s Holiday, 2. One More Chance, 3. Island in the Sun, 4. When Good Times Come Around, 5. Offshore, 7. She’ll Always Be Somebody’s Baby, 8. I Wish You Had Me Here Tonight, 9. It Only Hurts Til the Next Time,
10. Missin You This Mornin’.
It was re-released with 3 additional songs:
“If you can’t say something nice”, “Burned Out Broke and Disgusted”, and “So Much in Love”.
In 1986 Rick teamed up with Steve Mello, a Juliard Student and former drummer for the band Windjammer, of famous Ocean Deck (Daytona) fame. Steve’s major at school was Marimba, and they started a guitar-marimba duo
that lasted 15 years in Key West.
They perfected their “Island sound” and recorded Ricks next 2 albums, Tropical Nights and Another Island,
with many songs in the spirit of Key West and Daytona leisure lifestyle.
In Key West , that duo held down the house band at Casa Marina, Schooner Wharf, and Pier House from
1986-1996. More performances at the Key West Seafood Festivals and Sloppy Joe’s.
Steffen also shared some songwriting credits with Shel Silverstein, with his song, “Pinchin’ My Penny” ,
the song still in rotation on many Airline Headphone entertainment systems and Sirius Satellite radio,
and with his cover of “Wet Dream” from Kipp Addotta.
Discography of Tropical Nights: 1. Tropical Nights, 2. Lighten Up, 3. Wet Dream, 4. Low Key in the Upper Keys, 5. Driftwood, 6. Jump, 7. Seafood, 8. Beggars Holiday, 9. Given Half a Chance, 10. Key West Calypso,
11. Pelican Bay, 12. Offshore
Steffen’s home base moved from Key West back to Daytona Beach in 1997 the beachside being a tidal estuary hence the title of his 2003 CD release “Another Island.
Discography for Another Island,: 1. Sloppy Joes, 2. Palm Tree on de Island, 3. Use Your Freedom, 4. Cannonball, 5. Sherry Girl, 6. Caribbean Run, 7. Out On the Ocean, 8. Take de Bull, 9. Hurricane, 10. Pinchin My Penny, 11.Coconut Rum,
12. Wine Wine Wine.
In 2001 The song “Out On The Ocean“, was featured on a Migration Music compilation CD and in
Attitudes & Lattitudes magazine.
He was the featured act for Christmas and New Years 2004 at Margaritaville at Universal Studios Orlando.
His 2004 CD release, “Mango Music” took a musical style leap into a new sub-genre worthy of the moniker, Caribbean Blues, of blues with Caribbean rhythms, for Parrotheads with overworked livers.
The circle of musicians on the next two albums includes:
Clarence Wares from Trinidad & Jamaica, having played on albums with Toots & Maytals, Sly & Robbie, Sparrow, Dennis Brown and Windjammer from world famous Ocean Deck fame @ Daytona Beach.
Drummer Dennis Thomas, from Trinidad, has been in the states 10 years but not before playing with top Soca and Calypso bands in the Caribbean. Playing locally with Spice, Caribbean Posse (backup drummer) and Rick’s group Offshore4.
Guitarist, - BERT BAILEY - Lead Guitar and Bass for Rick’s band Offshore and with Kelvin’s Pepper Pot steel drum orchestra that does Carnival time in Miami. Bert also did a tour with Bob Marley as guitarist and other Caribbean music artists.
Bass & vocals Bing Oliver, a favorite player at the Ocean Deck and other Florida venues, plays 5 string bass for incredible island grooves and Rick’s originals.
Mark Hodgson - A career performer on Harmonica, also recording and performing as a solo blues guitarist. Recording Credits with Root Boy Slim, Noble Watts, and Floyd Miles.
Steel Drummer - Kelvin Hart 1935-2013 Kelvin, From Trinidad, had been around almost since the inception
of the steel drum. A pioneer of playing the traditional 55 gallon drum, He also pioneered playing on the
newer Custom 72 Gallon steel drum. Having played with many of the island greats.
Discography of Mango Music : 1. Caribbean Blues, 2. Watering Hole, 3. Good Luck,
4. Where Have All the Flowers Gone, 5. Weekends in de Islands, 6. Votesong, 7. Spend Some Time With You,
8. One Wave At A Time, 9. Wastin’ My Time, 10 Great Divide, 11. Internet Overload, 12. Give Til It Hurts.
Rick’s CD, More Palm Trees, was released in 2011 with the original song “West End Girl” in regular rotation on
Sirius satellite radio, Music Choice, Amazon.com , Apple I-tunes and many local Florida radio stations.
Discography for More Palm Trees is: More Palm Trees, Party til My Ship Comes In, West End Girl, Cottage in Negril,
Job Change, Tourist Town, Drinks For the Band, Iguana, Rusty Old Heart, and Reggae Music Flowin.
The release of Zany Key West Songs CD in 2015, archives crazy lifesytles in Key West in the “wild west years”.
They include discography: Pissin in the Pool, Chicken Salad-Chicken shit, Parts and Labor, I’m Sleepin With Your Ex,
Chasin Pussy, Dick, Fat Girl In My Pickup, It’s 420 Somewhere, Coke Oh No, Pirates, Back On The Sea, Thorium,
You Can’t Afford It.
Then comes Rick’s blues CD, “Black Coconuts” . Labeled “Rogue Blues”, it portends to avoid the standard blues chord changes to a new, less worn out blend of chord changes. Refreshing, and entertaining music and songwriting makes this effort an equally honest project to certainly get genuine reviews.
Discography for BLACK COCONUTS 2018 : 1. Black Coconuts, 2. Dead Cellphone Blues, 3. Good Man Going Down, 4. Fishin and Drinkin, 5. Rust Old Heart, 6. Hurricane, 7. Caribbean Blues, 8. Burned Out Broke and Disgusted, 9. Given Half A Chance, 10. Missin You This Morning, 11. It Only Hurts Til the Next Time, 12. The Only Constant Is Change,
13. Give Til It Hurts.
Rick's current and last project SMILIN ISLAND ,https://ricksteffen.bandzoogle.com/home, is a remixed and remastered collection of the above songs and THREE new originals. 17 SONGS IN ALL !
Rick’s Island music adaptations of covers have been heard at the Daytona Beach Bandshell , Sloppy Joe’s Daytona Bahama Breeze Daytona, 21st Woodstock Reunion , the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Carnival Cruise Ship Lines, the 4 SEASONS RESORT IN NEVIS BWI.
Florida venues included: Silver Springs, Margaritaville Key West, Margaritaville @ Universal Studios Orlando, and Cypress Gardens. Key West: Sloppy Joes, Pier House, Casa Marina beach, and Schooner Wharf.
He is currently based out of DAYTONA BEACH & doing venues, HOUSE CONCERTS, and festivals Throughout Florida. His songs can be heard on Apple I-tunes, YOUTUBE , Sirius Satellite Radio, Margaritaville channel, and many Trop-Rock internet radio stations.
In 2000, Ralph Nader used Rick's song "Use Your Freedom" at his presidential rallys, and in 2006, The Today CBS show featured his song Seafood on their cooking segment. He was also featured in Southern Florida magazine as one of the up and coming artists in Key West.