From Shiphay to Hollywood: How DJ Richard Blade found his way to the Walk of Fame

Torquay will now forever be represented on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in California, after legendary DJ Richard Blade had his star unveiled last week.

Richard Blade is one of the most popular and best-known DJs in America, having been the top-rated morning-drive DJ on KROQ in Los Angeles for over a decade. From hosting a bar mitzvah for Barbra Streisland’s son to DJing for Micheal Jackson and becoming best friends with Duran Duran, Richard certainly has had a colourful life. Now, his contributions to music will be immortalised by becoming the 2,782nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The unveiling of his Star was hosted by a long-time friend of Richard and TV star Jimmy Kimmel, and attended by music legends such as Billy Idol.

The journey onto the Walk of Fame has been a long road for Richard, and it all started in Shiphay, Torquay.

“I grew up in Shiphay and Cockington,” said Richard, who now lives in the Grenada Hills in Los Angeles.

“I took Torbay for granted when I was there, but it was an idyllic place to grow up. I would play in Cockington all the time, go to Armada Park, then down to Tor Abbey, and snorkel off Livermead.

“I was even an extra for a scene in Monty Python at Oldway when I was 17. They shot the election of fF'tang F'tang Biscuit Barrel there. I was in the crowd waving and got paid £5 for it.”

Torquay at the time was a hotbed for music and clubbing, with the likes of Slade and Mud coming to the Torquay Town Hall. It wasn’t until Richard began studying at Oxford, that he took his first steps as a DJ.

He said: “I began by just helping out but over the years I became the college DJ. Soon I was doing five or six nights a week. When I came back to Torquay I decided to put out some feelers. I worked as a DJ for a Newton Abbot company called Soundwave and helped open a club in Teignmouth.”

After finishing university, Richard decided to tour Europe and try to make a name for himself, spending two years on the road, working in a series of bars and clubs. It wasn’t long before he set his sights on the US. In late 1976, Richard got a one-way flight to Los Angeles with $400 and a suitcase.

“I knew that America had 5,000 radio stations so it seemed like a good place to make my mark,” Richard remembered.

“I stayed in Hollywood because where else would I stay? I rented a place called Studio Apartments, which sounds good but it was actually next to a brothel. It wasn’t the most glamorous start to my radio career.”

Richard’s foot in the door came when he got a job spinning records at a club in San Pedro. After a year, he started his own mobile disco company. One of Richard’s first jobs was to play at a bar mitzvah for a truly unique client.

He explained: “I didn't know what a bar mitzvah was, but I thought I’d still do it. I went up to meet the client with her assistant in Malibu before the event. She comes out and introduces the client as Barbra. I said to her ‘I think I play your records’, it was Barbra Streisand!

“I didn't realise she was going to be the biggest thing in the world at the time. And I got to do her son, Jason Gould’s bar mitzvah. Suddenly, I became an in-demand DJ.”

Soon after, Richard began rubbing shoulders with more music royalty, this time Micheal Jackson.

“Zsa Zsa Gabor had me do a party, and this little kid comes in and asks if he could play a few songs for me. I say sure you can, I got your new record on mailing, but it’s not released yet, do you want me to play it?

“I put it on and it was the tracks from the ‘Off the Wall’ album, he played ‘Rock with You’ and ‘Can’t Stop Till You Get Enough’. I could see him still just working away at it, writing notes to himself and dancing. He was so focussed.

“After that, I did a lot of parties at his house in Ravenhurst. We really hit it off that night.”

Richard, however, was still yet to have his breakthrough into the world of radio. That would come with radio gigs in Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo.

Blade soon found himself a regular at the station and on music video shows such as MV3, Video Beat, and Rock ‘n Roll Evening News.

However, his dream of a morning slot in LA still eluded him.

“When I was in Torquay I wrote a list of ten things I wanted to do. At the top of the list was I wanted to live somewhere sunny. The next was I wanted my own radio morning show.”

Those two dreams could come true at KROQ, one of LA’s top radio stations, where he became the morning DJ for 18 years.

“That was my home,” said Richard, “It was my spot during the last golden age of wireless.

“We wanted the kids to think, particularly in Orange County, that this was their station. We broke the bands, it didn’t matter where they were coming up from or if they couldn't get on the air anywhere else. If they were good enough, we were willing to take a chance.

“I was there right when English music was taking off, with bands like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Eurythmics, and Depeche Mode. It just exploded for me, I rode that new wave and I never let go of it.”

From his Los Angeles radio booth, Blade interviewed and showcased bands including OMD, The Police, Culture Club and more, injecting British new wave into US radio.

He won numerous awards, including The Golden Microphone, California’s Best DJ, the Brit-of-the-Year, and the American DJ Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

As friend and fellow star Billy Idol put it: “Richard was the British blade that cut through the state of US radio and TV in the 80s. He personally supported me when many others didn’t believe or couldn’t accept the new sounds and styles of fashion and music pouring out from the bruised and battered psyche of young people in those days.

“Richard has gone on to a varied and long-lasting career that still evokes the era we all came from, all power to him and long may he rock on.”

After decades in the music industry, Blade began to also turn his hand to another passion of his: writing. Having produced screenplays, fiction, autobiographies and interviews, his latest book brings him back to where it all began, south Devon.

Released for the anniversary of D-Day, Slapton Sands is based on the true events of Operation Tiger, the book is based on a romance between a US serviceman deployed in Slapton and a local girl.

“The book is a labour of love,” explained Richard.

“It's deeply personal to me as I grew up just a few miles from Slapton Sands, my parents would take me to Slapton to play on the beach. Back then it had all these signs, warning about unexploded ordnance.

He added: “There's that old phrase, if you forget the past you’re doomed to repeat it. That’s never been more true. For me, writing this book at this time was so important, so we never forget what those men fought for.”

The book comes out on the same day that his Hollywood Star is unveiled. His star will be on Vine Street, so he could be close to the legendary music venue The Palace, which is now the Avalon.

Richard added: “I'm this little kid from Torquay. To be recognised on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is not something I ever even thought possible.

“When I first came over to America, I stayed right around the corner from here. I used to walk along Hollywood Boulevard and look at the stars. I'd see John Wayne, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, and Marilyn Monroe. I never dreamt that my name would be there with them.”