Back to the main page. The history of our company. The artists we work with. Past releases from our great artists! Additional projects that we have worked on. The Radionic Studio. The Publishing Company. Awards and other acknowledgements. Shop in our store for CDs and merchandise. Some of our favorite links.

Richard Duncan

      "I was bitten by the music bug when I was but a wee lad." says Duncan in his phoniest Irish dialect. "It helped keep the demons away."
      Born and raised in New Orleans, Duncan was influenced by Elvis (picture an 8-year-old lip-synching in front of nursing home patients with an umbrella for a guitar), and later by the British invasion. His first band featured 2 singers, 3 rhythm guitar players and a drummer, all wearing black turtlenecks. When asked after one of their first gigs if they wanted money or a surprise, they took the surprise and ended up with a pair of red socks.
      Things improved in boarding school with Duncan fronting a band called he Trids who were so successful they got their own page in the school yearbook.
      Upon returning to New Orleans, Duncan started White Fox with Nick Buck on keyboards and Duncan's childlike friend Norbert Wabnig (not a typo) on drums. They achieved a certain level of notoriety around the city doing songs by Procol Harum and John Mayall, but the highlight of any White Fox performance was Norbert wrecking his battered drum kit(a la Keith Moon) after an extended version of Repent Walpurgis.
      During this period, Duncan and Wabnig started writing songs together. Once they realized New Orleans was the wrong market for waltzes and European sounding pop songs about sad violinists, they decided to move to Los Angeles.
      Surprisingly the boys had some close brushes with success in L.A. After a few false starts, they assembled a band with the help of three young classically trained string players from USC. Calling themselves The Wendell Nightfall Troupe, they performed their hybrid European pop at places like the Troubadour and the Improvisation (no, they weren't a comedy act) while exploring management and recording opportunities. And all this in the middle of the "disco era".
      Their sound continued to evolve and eventually they incorporated bass and drums into the music with the addition of Glenn Cornick (formerly of Jethro Tull) and Thom Mooney (formerly of the Nazz). There were showcases, demos, management deals, spec deals, but never the ever elusive recording contract. After seven years of chasing the golden carrot, the band dissolved and Duncan and Wabnig began raising families and doing the old "nine to five". End of story, right? Not quite.
      In 1995 Duncan decided to give up his job and return to New Orleans to care for his elderly father. He subsequently discovered some of his former musical cronies were forming a band to back up Francesca, a singer-songwriter on the recently created Four Cats record label. He met Buzzy Langford, the label's owner, and offered to provide valuable assistance to the fledgling operation. Since then Duncan has done string arrangements for Gary Hirstius and Todd Washko, and has become more actively involved in production and artist development.