Richard Sanderson

Born on March 5, 1953 in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, British singer-songwriter Richard Sanderson is a pianist, guitarist, organist, composer and singer known best for his 1980 pop hit, "Reality," which was written by French composer Vladimir Cosma and recorded by Richard Sanderson as the main theme of the hit French movie La Boum starring Sophie Marceau. "Reality" topped the charts in 15 countries including France, Germany and Austria - although failing to make an impact in the UK – and has been covered on more than one occasion on DSDS, the German version of American Idol. Richard Sanderson also put his voice to various other songs on the La Boum soundtrack including "Murky Turkey" and "Go on Forever." Having initially worked as the official pianist of Nancy Holloway and David Christie after a stint in America studying at the Berklee College of Music, Richard Sanderson had returned to England and began working at the celebrated Trident recording studio which is where he met Vladimir Cosma. Channeling a smooth, radio-friendly pop sound that often reflected his heritage (he was born in England to a Scottish drum-playing father and a French accordionist mother) in 1982, his album I'm in Love was released on Polygram with the single "She's a Lady" seizing the Number 1 spot in Italy and Number 4 spot in Europe and Asia, notching up more than three million copies. Surprise arrived two years later, collecting songs from La Boum 2, and that same year Fairy Tale was released as the film score of French sci-fi film L'Unique. 1987 marked the release of two albums, Reality, and the compilation Songs for Lovers. Shortly after, he began working more behind-the-scenes in continental Europe as a composer for other singers and also for French television, working as the official composer of Daniel Costelle who directed the Emmy-nominated historical documentary film La Victoire en Couleurs. 1990 marked Richard Sanderson's final album of original pop songs, Anytime at All, while 2009 saw the release of a collection of his favorite songs on the covers album Re-Creátion. In 2011 he released Sings the Classics and he returned in 2018 with an easy-listening-adjacent and downbeat-tipped new album, How to Be Elegant.