Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba (born Richard Blum; January 29, 1954) is an American punk rock singer and radio personality, best known as the lead singer of the New York City band The Dictators.
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Manitoba was born in The Bronx, New York. He started out his singing career as a roadie for The Dictators. He made his "official stage debut" with The Dictators at Popeye's Spinach Factory in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in 1975. On their first major-label album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (Epic Records, 1975), he was listed as the "Secret Weapon". This is because he sang some lead and some background, but was still considered a "mascot" of the band. He sang more lead on The Dictators' second offering, Manifest Destiny, a 1977 release on the Asylum label. On Bloodbrothers, the third and final Dictators studio recording from the 1970s (also on Asylum, 1978), Manitoba sang lead vocals on almost all the tracks.
The Dictators disbanded in late 1978, but performed sporadically until 1996, when they started to play again regularly.
In 1989, Manitoba — along with Andy Shernoff (bass, songwriter), JP "Thunderbolt" Patterson (drums), and Daniel Rey (guitar) – released an album under the name Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, on MCA Records. Ross the Boss, the original lead guitarist for The Dictators, eventually replaced Rey. Manitoba's Wild Kingdom played at the 2008 Joey Ramone Birthday Bash, with a guest appearance by Ross the Boss.
From 1999 Manitoba has operated "Manitobas", a New York City bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He appeared in the 2004 documentary Kiss Loves You.[1] Manitoba stepped in as the vocalist for a reformed version of the band MC5 for several performances (the original singer, Rob Tyner, died in 1991). In 2006, Manitoba also became involved individually with MC5 bassist Michael Davis, serving as a board member for Davis' Music Is Revolution Foundation,[2] a non-profit organization that supports music education in public schools.[3] Manitoba currently hosts "The Handsome Dick Manitoba Radio Program" on Little Steven Van Zandt's Underground Garage channel, on Sirius XM Radio.
Manitoba had been part of a project that recorded a rock album under the name "Manitoba's Wild Kingdom" that was released by MCA records in 1990. In 2004 he became aware that Canadian recording artist Daniel Snaith's electronic project had been releasing albums under the name "Manitoba" (also the name of a Canadian province) since 2000. Once aware of this, Manitoba had Snaith informed that he considered the situation to be within the scope of trademark infringement. Snaith disagreed, commenting: "It's like The Smiths suing John Smith or something" but complied by changing the project's name to Caribou rather than having the dispute decided in a court of law.[4][5][6][7]
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