"Many years ago, there was a strong blizzard in New York that brought a huge amount of snow and a baby boy named Rick Marotta. Things went along quite normally for the first 18 years of his life; but when he turned 19, a friend went into the army and left Rick his set of drums. That was the beginning of the end." (Had enough? Sorry, but there's more.)
Rick started in playing with R&B bands in the New York area, recording with David Spinozza and the group Giant as well a s The Riverboat Soul Band. A super-group called The Vagrants asked him to join their new band Brethren, and Rick followed them to Los Angeles where they recorded the first of their two albums.
His career started to get on track after returning to New York and began his studio career by working with John Tropea, Deodoto, The Brecker Brothers, and David Sanborn. Additional recordings and tours soon followed with such luminaries as James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Larry Carlton, Warren Zevon and Bette Midler.
Rick's current activities include writing music for movies and television, recording jingles and producing. Some of his movie credits include Just the Ticket, Painted Hero, HEAT, Up in Smoke, Alive, and A Stranger Among Us.
His scoring for TV can be heard on Everybody Loves Raymond, Yes, Dear, and the Hank Azaria Show. Rick was also the Musical Director for The Tracy Ullman Show.
Rick has been a Yamaha Drum Artist since 1977.
