Richie Pratt

Who is Richie Pratt?

Richie Pratt is an American musician. He embarked upon a career as a professional musician on the New York scene in the early 1970s, it was as much due to unanticipated intervention as anything else. Pratt was born to a musical family and grew up in the Kansas City metro city of Olathe, Kansas. He studied music via the piano, as well as, attended various music camps as a youth.

Eventually growing into a rather large and powerful man, he attended the University of Kansas under a full four-year scholarship to play varsity football. While enrolled in school and living in Lawrence, Kansas he would not only block for Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Gayle Sayers as an All-Time KU Football Letterman, but Pratt also continued his musical development. He performed in orchestra, jazz and wind ensembles, along with performing in a student USO show that first took to him to Hawaii as a performer. He was eventually drafted to play professional football by the NFL’s New York Giants.

Richie Pratt’s prolific tenure as a first-call percussionist on the highly competitive New York City music scene began after he suffered a career-ending injury during his second season with the Giants.