Richie Furay

Paul Richard Furay (/fjʊˈreɪ/; born May 9, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, and retired pastor. He co-founded Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and the Souther–Hillman–Furay Band, where in all three groups he helped pioneer the country rock genre. His best known song (originally written during his tenure in Buffalo Springfield, but eventually performed by Poco as well) was "Kind Woman," which he wrote for his wife, Nancy.

During his time in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, he converted to Christianity. After releasing several Christian albums as a solo artist, Furay became full-time pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado, serving from 1983 to his eventual retirement in 2017.

In 1997, Furay was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Buffalo Springfield. In 2015, he was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame as a member of Poco.

Richie Furay was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in the nearby village of Yellow Springs. Furay's parents, Paul and Naomi "Snookie" (née Coffman), managed Furay's Drug Store in downtown Yellow Springs, where Paul would often work long hours and have little time to spend with the young Richie. In 1955, Paul sold the drugstore and established Furay's Gift Shop, where he became highly-respected by the town's children, which included future Ohio governor Mike DeWine. However, in August 1957, shortly before Furay entered the eighth grade, his father died at the age of 45 from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Naomi managed the store until her eventual retirement and lived in the Yellow Springs area until her death in 2007 at the age of 94.

Furay was inclined towards music from a young age. When he was eight, Furay received his first guitar, a Gibson ES-295, and would attend weekly lessons in the nearby city of Springfield. As a condition for paying for his lessons, Furay's father required him to learn trumpet in high school. In addition, as Furay's elder sister Judy would later recall: "We had an old jukebox in the drugstore, a great big fancy thing. When those records got old brought them home. I had no interest in them, but Richard did… he had every single record memorized by their labels." While in middle school, Furay joined his first band, the Barons, a doo-wop group with three older high schoolers; Furay served as lead vocalist. Furay's first musical hero was Ricky Nelson and in high school he became a fan of the Kingston Trio after hearing their 1958 hit cover of "Tom Dooley".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.