Biographies: Ric Sanders – violin

Ric was born on 8 December 1952 and brought up in Birmingham. He joined Fairport Convention in 1985.

The violin was Ric's first love and he took up the instrument as a youngster. His first professional engagement was in 1972, touring Europe with Stomu Yamashta's Red Buddah Theatre.

During the mid-1970s Ric was in demand as a jazz soloist and worked with, among others, Michael Garrick, Johnny Patrick and legendary jazz pianist Jaques Dieval.

In the late 1970s, Ric pursued both his folk and jazz interests as a member of, respectively, The Albion Band and Soft Machine. He toured and recorded with both bands. With The Albion Band, Ric performed at the National Theatre.

In 1980, Ric and Soft Machine guitarist John Etheridge formed Second Vision. They recorded an album and toured extensively. Ric next teamed up with guitarist Vo Fletcher in music education projects: the duo supported a Musicians Union initiative in schools and recorded for BBC television.

Since 1985, Ric has played full-time with Fairport Convention but has continued to take an active interest in jazz and other musical forms. He has collaborated with June Tabor, Andrew Cronshaw and Martin Simpson among others and also recorded solo albums and a violin tuitional introduced by Jools Holland. His session credits include Roy Harper, Jethro Tull, Strawbs, Pentangle, Gerry Rafferty, Loudon Wainwright III, Robert Plant, The Fureys, and Ashley Hutchings among many others.

As well as Fairport Convention, Ric has his own trio, The Ric Sanders Group, with Vo Fletcher and Mike Gregory. The group performs a wide repertoire of jazz and swing and recently has collaborated with Banbury-based Anjali Dance Company.

Ric lives in Bloxham, Oxfordshire.