Richard Müller (born on 6 September 1961) is significant figure in the Slovak and Czech musical scene.
He started his journey as a music journalist. In 1980's, while studying screen writing at the University of Music Art in Bratislava, Müller began writing for Popular and Gramorevue magazines. Müller's interest in music journalism was based on the access he gained to the musicians whom he admired. His early learning experience as a journalist prepared him for his life long musical journey as a recording artist.
Richard Müller's first single "Rádio" was performed with the band Burčiak Pavla Daněka. The single became a huge success after a performance on the hit popular music show 5xP. Following the success of "Radio" Müller, together with Martin Karvaš, formed their own band called Banket. Martin Karvaš, Muller's first musical partner, was a member of the famous Slovak band Limit Miro Žbirka, would later go on to join the legendary Slovak rock group Elán.
After Karvaš's exit from Banket, Müller started working with Sväťo Jurík, a major contributor to Banket's first album entitled Bioelektrovízia (1996). Bioelektrovízia was produced during Richard's one year obligatory military service. The album was full of hits, including the never-dying single, Vašo Patejdl - Po schodoch. In 1986, during Richard's military service, he met Andrej Šeban, who was, together with Richard, a member of the Army Artistic Ensemble. Šeban became a co-leader of Banket and played the piano and guitar. His strong influence on Banket's music can be seen on albums "Druhá doba?!" (1988) and on their third album "Vpred!" (1990).
In 1990 Richard decided to start a solo career. Immediately he did something unprecedented for a Slovak singer, he made a huge federal Czech-Slovak success with songs that he sang in the Czech language, most notably "Štěstí je krásná věc, Rozeznávám". The album was called "V penzionu svět" and its authors were Petr Hapka and Michal Horáček.
At this stage of his career, Richard started to cooperate with Henrich Leško, who became his new composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. With Leško's help Richard produced his first two solo albums - "Neuč vtáka lietať" (1992) and "33" (1994).The first album was mainly composed by Richard, on the second album he started to cooperate with Jaro Filip, who became his exclusive composer for several years. The result of their cooperation was fruitful; they went on to create three successful albums - "L.S.D." (1996), "Nočná optika" (1998) and "Koniec sveta" (1999). Thanks to these three albums Richard reached the absolute top in both the Slovak and Czech music markets. Sales of Richards albums were consistently at multi-platinum level, he received several major awards, his concerts were fully sold out, whether he was performing with his band or with just a piano player.
In 1999 he produced his first live album "Müllenium Live". It was the very first album in both Slovak and Czech Republics mixed in Dolby Surround. In 2000 he released his so called "Czech" album, on which he worked together with Michal Horáček, entitled "Richard Müller a hosté". One year later his album "01" came out and it became a monster hit in Slovakia and received many Slovak annual awards. Muller's collaborator and producer on "01" was Ivan Tásler from the band I.M.T. Smile. Following the successful release of "01" Richard embarked upon a successful Slovak and Czech tour and produced his next album "Retro" (2002).
In 2003 during a stay in his most beloved city - New York, Richard met with local musicians and recorded his first entirely self-authored album "Monogamný vzťah".
After 11 years, Henrich Leško returned to once again work with Müller. While in New York, Leško produced the album "44". "44" was a cooperative effort involving the strongest instrumentalists in the world. The cast of luminaries included Omar Hakim - drums, Anthony Jackson and Will Lee - bass guitars as well as guitarist Hiram Bullock. These artists are noted contributors to the music of Madonna, Sting, Miles Davis, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, James Brown and Eric Clapton, to name only a few.
In December, 2005 Richard brought the all-star American band to Slovakia. The lineup included Omar Hakim, Hiram Bullock, Will Lee, Clifford Carter on keyboards, and Mike Caffrey on guitar. The results were widely acclaimed as the greatest tour ever seen in both the Slovak and Czech Republics. In 2006 Müller plans to release a DVD from the tour with extra features and footage.
At the age of 44 Richard Müller has unquestionably joined his father (the Slovak actor Vlado Müller) as a national treasure and a living legend.
Richard Müller has been working on many other projects:
" He is the screenwriter of the academic TV movie Dirigent.
" For the SNP theatre in Martin, Slovakia, together with Andrej Šeban and Kamil Peteraj, he composed and recorded music for the musical entitled Baal.
" He was a member of the superband PPF (Müller, Šeban, Rózsa, Frátrik) and released a limited CD edition of vamp music.
" He narrated "A Little Prince" that was composed by Henrich Leško
" He edited a book of his photographs called American Diary and received several prestigious awards for the project.
" In 90´s he had his own programme in two Slovak radios - Fun and Twist.
" He had his own TV programme on the Slovak TV called Promülle, as well as on the now defunct TV Luna called Müllerád.
RICHARD MÜLLER'S AWARDS
Grand Prix Radio
2004: most popular singer
2003: most popular singer
2002: most popular singer, swept the year's major awards
2001: most popular singer
Aurel (Slovak Music Academy)
2005: W: video (Ondrej Rudavský, Sníh)
2005: W: best selling male album (44)
2005: N: singer, album (44), producer (Leško - 44), audio record (Jombík - 44)
2004: N: singer
2003: N: song (2 líšky),
2002: W: singer, cover (Retro)
2001: W: singer, album (01), song (Nahý II.), clip (Nahý II.), audio record (01), N: cover (01), producer (Tásler-01)
2000: W: singer, cover (Mullera hosté), N: album (Muller a hosté), lyrics (Tajné milovanie)
1999: W: audio record (Koniec sveta)
1998: W: singer, song (Nočná optika), album (Nočná optika), producer (Nočná optika)
1996: W: lyrics (Cigaretka na 2 ťahy)
1992: W: audio cover (Neuč vtáka lietať)
N - nomination
W - won
Altogether 18 awards + 7 other nominations
Slávik - Slovak Grammy
2005: 2. place
2004: 3. place
2003: 1. place
2002: 4. place
2001: 3. place
2000: 3. place
1999: 2. place
1998: 2. place
Deska roku (Czech Republic) - Album of the Year
2005: 2. place in category best selling album (as the only Slovak singer ever)
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