Gretchen Richie
Gretchen has been working on her repertoire since she was very young, when recordings of Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Joao Gilberto, Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Julie London and Broadway musicals were always in the air. "I remember playing outside--I couldn't have been more than six—and singing 'You Make Me Feel So Young' with total abandon!" she laughs.
Born in Florida, she grew up in many worlds, from the Caribbean to New York City, Maryland, Virginia and Southern California to London, England. It was in California that she began her professional career at the age of 14, singing in a rock group that performed at school and community teen dances. While attending high school in London, U.K., she found time to perform Bossa-Nova tunes with Spanish guitarist, Luis Sebastian. After her return to the U.S., she spent the next 10 years performing her own compositions at small West Coast music venues. In the 1980s she took a turn acting and singing in musical theater, exploring the stories inside the songs which later would become part of her vocal style. When she met and married jazz pianist Randy Richie in the mid-1980s she returned to jazz and the popular song.
So far, she has recorded two CDs: 'Close Your Eyes', released in 2001 and 'It Could Happen To You', released in 2005. Her music can be heard on select jazz radio stations in Washington DC, Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Virginia Beach, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio. And thanks to the internet, she has fans throughout the U.S., Japan, Brazil, England, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia and the Ukraine!
Gretchen performs with her trio in Southern Maryland and D.C.-area venues such as Blues Alley Jazz Club in Georgetown and beyond, including Boca Raton, Florida, San Francisco and Palm Springs, California as well as France. She lives in Leonardtown, Maryland with her husband Randy.