Shari “Shazz” Richardson; photo: Epic Eye Photography
Southern New Hampshire cover band vocalist Shari “Shazz” Richardson is a woman of few words. The reticent crooner prefers to let her vocal work speak for itself. Richardson began her music career about seven years ago at Methuen’s New England Seafood Thursday night Karaoke sessions. When she found herself going every Thursday night, Richardson knew it was something she had to pursue with greater determination.
“I just had more time on my hands and started going there. I went every Thursday. I never missed a Thursday,” she said. “I met all the band people there that I know now.” Richardson found it a supportive environment, especially when a new lady became the host. “She just made people really comfortable.”
From there, Richardson went on to join, in 2013, a band called Rewind. Just working with a band, getting comfortable on stage with other players, and the band getting really tight was the best experience for the budding crooner. “They had really good musicians,” she said. “I really learned a lot from them.”
Using her old high school nickname, “Shazz,” as a trademark got her noticed by an even greater number of bands. Richardson was briefly a member of The Molly Maguires which put her in more New Hampshire venues. The Molly Maguires required her to sing alternative music and hard rock. That required her to adjust her vocal approach.
“There was a lot less stuff in the higher register,” she said. “With Rewind, we did a lot of the classic rock, 70s and 80s stuff. There was a lot of Journey, Billy Squire, all the higher register stuff. Alternative tends to be deeper and darker.”
Richardson’s current band, Hit Squad, is possibly her most intensive learning experience. She shares lead vocal duties with another vocalist, requiring her to learn interaction.
“It’s helping me with my stage presence,” she said. ”They’re all really easy going, go with the flow. It’s a lot of fun.” Richardson noted that Hit Squad plays “a lot of 70s and 80s stuff and a few more current songs and southern rock and classic rock.”
On occasion, Richardson can be seen on stage performing disco and other danceable material like KC And The Sunshine Band. She might eventually find a side project where she can be a disco queen. “It’s just fun,” she said. “I just feel happier on stage, dancing around to it.”
Richardson prefers to sing the classic rock material that she grew up listening to. Her mother also sang in a rock band when she was a child in the 1970s, and it feels like home to her.
“I think it suits my voice better,” she said. “I’m not a super trained vocalist so I can think I can do the rock stuff better than say an R&B song.” Fearless, Richardson said she will eventually try to meet the challenge of singing soul music and R&B. “I feel I could become more disciplined.”
Richardson, however, did recently tackle Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down” with her new side band Terminal Velocity. That song requires a singer to sing, at once, up high and uptempo without pausing to breathe.
Shari “Shazz” Richardson; photo: Epic Eye Photography
“There’s a lot of tongue tying lines in that song.” Richardson said. The younger Richardson may have been more subconsciously influenced by her mother’s music career than she realized herself at the time. Having a mother who worked with a band as opposed to being a nurse or a secretary was very exciting for her.
“She did the Queen song. It’s the only one I can remember right now,” Richardson said. “A lot of that stuff, that era was in the 70s. I used to go to practice with her. She was young. We felt more like siblings than mother and daughter.”
Versatile, Richardson can jump up on stage with just about any kind of popular rock band. This Friday, she will be performing with 1980s tribute band Radio Star at The Claddagh Pub in Lawrence, Massachusetts. “Sometimes I need my lyrics in front of me but otherwise I’m confident,” she said.
Lately, Richardson has been getting her feet wet dabbling in original music. When her Hit Squad keyboard player, who composes original music for his other band, Purple Germs, asked her to do a vocal track, Richardson jumped at the chance.
“He wants to get as many people as he can to collaborate on it,” she said. “He’s got 20 different people collaborating on songs and different parts of songs. We work together so he wanted to get me in on his project.”
Richardson’s venture into original music is a learning experience. “I’m still learning,” she said. “I’m still listening to the song right now and kind of getting used to it. I get to put my little spin on it.” Richardson will also be working on some original material with her Colorado-based, multi-instrumentalist brother. She isn’t sure where her brother will place her voice. “I think it might be backing vocals,” she said.
Shari “Shazz” Richardson
Richardson’s night job as a vocalist might seem like a tough business. She actually has to be a tough cookie 24/7. She and her father run a self-storage business and a used car lot out of the same office. Her family’s enterprise, Bruce H. Richardson Auto Sales, on route 28 in Windham, New Hampshire, requires her to go to auctions to purchase vehicles to sell. Her business experience gives her a little insight into how the music business works.
“It all does sort of work together,” Richardson said. “Both things are helping me build my confidence and both are helping each other.” At some point, Richardson said, a band could be working for her rather than her working for them.
Looking forward, the singer said she would like to play out more. She’s currently playing out twice a month but would like to play out every weekend. The most important thing to Richardson is helping people to enjoy a night out.
“That’s my big thing,” she said. “I like to make eye contact with people when I’m singing. I like to smile at them and have them smile back.”
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