Rick Parker’s love of dance music started in his last year of High School listening to Trance and Happy Hardcore mix tapes. He was amazed at how the tunes were blended together - it was this that made him buy his first set of decks at the age of 17. Rick started to teach himself the tricks of the trade through hours of practicing, driven by pure passion for the music he plays which was originally the harder side of dance.

In June 2002 Rick was asked to play his first live set in Bar Beba (Macclesfield) – One problem - they wanted House. So for this gig, playing with records borrowed from a very good friend, he played it, and this was where the start of his love for house music began! With a Trance and Hardcore mixing background, this brings a unique style to the way he mixes Funky House.

Two years later, after moving to Manchester and building up his House record collection, he started to promote himself. The main breakthrough came in October 2004 when Rick entered ‘DJ Idol 2004’ which was run by Jon Besant (2Risque) and was held at The Bar Cafe on Deansgate Locks in Manchester. During the competition, Rick was spotted by the owner of a new bar/club due to open in 2005 called 14 Lloyd St.

In March 2005 Rick received the call from the owner of Lloyd St and thus got his first residency at this 900 capacity venue. Playing 5 hour sets every Friday and Saturday night, with his unique style of Funky House Rick quickly got a great following every week. Rick’s ability to read the floor is spot on, keeping it constant all night long.

In the September Rick was asked by Jon Besant to enter DJ Idol 2005. This was to be held at Revolution (Parsonage Gardens) Manchester. Rick accepted  the invitation, successfully getting through to the final in December. The following month, Rick learned that the owners of 14 Lloyd Street had decided to sell up and were closing at the end of January 2006 - so he had to find something new!

Rick’s main ambition had always been to play in Manchester’s Gay Village. It was with thanks to Anni Hogan (who wrote, arranged and produced Marc Almond for 9 years, and is also Resident DJ at Spirit Bar - Canal Street – Manchester) that he finally got his chance.

In February 2006 Rick dropped a demo disk into Anni at Spirit and a week later was playing the only slots she could give him, mainly covering for resident DJ’s who were away and on Bank holidays. Whilst playing one Bank Holiday, Rick was spotted by the manager of Via (620 capacity bar/club also on Canal Street, Manchester) and was given his new residency every Sunday night which took off in true style. Due to the success of this night Rick has now moved from Sundays to Fridays.