Company History
Twenty five years ago the only accompaniment option available to most singers was finding a friend who could play the piano. Company founder and president, Rick Priddis, was a vocal music performance student at BYU and wanted something better. Like lots of singers he dreamed of singing with his own live band, but he soon discovered that pulling a band together and dragging them around town was not very practical. He remembered playing along with jazz "minus tracks" in high school with his saxophone. So he looked to the local music stores for something similar for vocalists. All he found was sheet music.
In 1984 Rick decided if he didn’t make his dream of singing with a band happen, perhaps no one would. So he pooled his resources and went into a local recording studio to make his own vocal "minus tracks". He began selling his new recordings to some local music teachers, then to regional Miss America Pageants around the country, and finally to music stores. Unknown to Rick, someone else on the other side of the world had the same idea because soon after, along came the karaoke craze. Although karaoke wasn’t exactly what he had in mind (his goal was to have the most professional sounding tracks), the karaoke market proved very helpful in getting the message out that anyone could sing with their own band. As the popularity of karaoke grew, it became evident that there were two types of "karaoke" products: cheap karaoke music for lots of laughs, and professional performance music for serious singers. Through the years Priddis Music has stayed focused on providing professional quality music to singers who are serious about what they are doing.
"As a singer myself, the most important requirement for these recordings was to make them sound as close to the original artist as possible", says Rick Priddis. "I wanted them to sound just as good as what I was hearing on the radio. That meant using the best musicians and recording facilities in the business, live instrumentation wherever called for, and spending the time and money to ensure that the recordings were professional in every way".
Priddis Music began with cassette tapes, then moved to audio CDs, CDG, DVD and now digital downloads, selling in musical instrument stores, record store chains, mass merchants, and now on Itunes and other download sites. Priddis Music's recordings are sold worldwide.
Now twenty five years and some 3,000+ songs after my his recording, Rick can say his dream is a reality. Priddis Music is happy to give singers everywhere the opportunity to experience the thrill of singing with their own professional band.
