At the ripe of old age of 11, Luke Wayne Richards began his career
playing the bass guitar with a group called the Heavy Accents. The
group
consisted of musicians such as the late Phillip Oliver, who played
the trumpet;
Cal Bennett, a saxophonist; Michael Spencer on guitar,
Rocky as
the drummer and Clifton Garret on the keyboard. Phillip
later
became the trumpet player for the well-known Isaac Hayes,
and
Cal Bennett, the saxophonist for Isaac Hayes as well. Cal now
has a
solo career and is
one of
LA's hottest.
Michael Spencer
became
Joe Tex's
lead
guitarist
and Rocky became
the drummer
for Count
Basic. Clifton
Garret went on to
play keyboards
with Edwin Starr.
Luke went on to perform with a group managed by Radio DJ and Politician Skipper Lee Frazier called the Masters of Soul, affording him the opportunity to perform with The Chilites, and Archie Bell and the Drells.
At 18 years of age, Luke received a phone call from Leroy Lewis, former bandleader for the TSU Tornadoes, and was asked to perform with Joe Tex, which he had to decline because his father was not comfortable with his son traveling the distance. So instead, he took up with the group Wild Honey that Don Robey was indeed a part of.
Luke later did do some traveling and played with Leo Bater's orchestra which included the great Duke Barker on drums, Johnnie Calvin on keyboards, Vivian Singletary as the female vocalist for the orchestra and Darryle Crooks on guitar, who is now with the Gap Band and Regina Bell.
Luke went on to create a group called Station Break and to play bass guitar for Grady Gaines. He has played with some big name talent including: Wynonna Judd, Clay Walker, Kirks Carr, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Lynn Swan and Twinkie Clar, as well as performing with Olympic super-star, Carl Lewis during his singing career. He opened his own recording studio called Phat Trax Recording Studio and has worked with several rap artists including The Hawk, Lil flip, Lil Keke, The Botny Boys, Big Mellow, K Youngsta, DJ Screw, and Too Short.