Rich Dodson

Rich Dodson (born 1947) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer. He is the guitarist and a founding member of Canadian Rock trio, The Stampeders. He is best known for penning the group's biggest hit, "Sweet City Woman", which hit Number 1 in Canada, and Number 8 on Billboard in 1971. He also wrote other notable hits for the band such as "Wild Eyes" (1972), "Devil You" (1971), "Johnny Lightning" (1974) and "Carry Me" (1971).Dodson has stated that his influences come from instrumental bands of the 1960s such as The Ventures and The Shadows, as well as Lovin' Spoonful and The Zombies. On stage, he is known for playing his self-designed Fender double neck guitar. Dodson left the Stampeders in 1978 to pursue his interests in music production and built his own 24-track recording studio called Marigold Studios. There he produced his own solo material as well as producing and engineering "Fate Stay with Me" (1987) for Alanis Morissette. In that same year, he began his nationally distributed independent record label called Marigold Productions. Dodson went on to have a successful solo career with three top-ten hits in Canada including "Lookin' Back" (1981), "She's Comin' Back/Your Own Kind of Music" (1985), and "Cruel Emotion" (1986). In 1994, Dodson released his solo songs on an album called Secret Hits on Aquarius Records. In 1992, Dodson re-united with his Stampeders bandmates. The band continue to tour Canada doing fairs, festivals, casinos and theatres. In 1994, Dodson was inducted into the SOCAN Hall of Fame for composing "Sweet City Woman" and "Carry Me". In February 2006, Dodson was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame with "Sweet City Woman". His daughter, Holly Dodson, is a singer-songwriter, vocalist, and key member in Canadian synth-pop trio Parallels.