The Scrucialists (Switzerland), The Sharp Axe Band (Germany), The Ranking Soldiers (Spain/Catalunya), Eastern Standard Time Washington DC, USA), The Drastics (Chicago, USA), Soundsystems all over the world
Dr. Ring Ding is also a member of Kingston Kitchen (jazzy Ska from Netherlands/Germany) and El Bosso & die Ping Pongs (German-singing Ska band) and the Dub Guerilla (Instrumental Dub Jazz from Germany)
Influences
Anything I listen to really influences me in one way or another. What I like, I try to include, what I don't like, I try to exclude. The fact that I like and listen to a lot of different music types such as Latin, Classical, Country and Western, Blues, Swing, Chanson, Rock, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Funk, Soul, World Music et al definitely influences the way I look at and perform Ska and Reggae.
The Ska style is influenced by the recordings of the originators - the bands and musicians and producers that started the sound in early sixties Jamaica such as the Skatalites, the Supersonics, Desmond Dekker, Toots Hibbert, Bob Marley, Justin Hinds, Lord Creator, Winston Francis, Prince Buster, Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid and many more...
The Deejay/Dancehall/Rub-A-Dub styles of the originators and eighties-performers are another strong influence. The range of people spanning from I Roy, U Brown, Dillinger and Prince Far-I to Josey Wales, Yellowman and later Cutty Ranks, as well as the Britain based Tippa Irie, Daddy Freddy and Macka B
Dr. Ring Ding vs. Mashed Beans - "Ruff Like A Rock"
Black Cat Zoot feat. Dr. Ring Ding - Shake That Bone
Dr. Ring Ding a.k.a. Richie Senior was born in 1970 in Münster, Germany to a multi-cultural and musical household. His introduction to music began with singing along with his family and learning the recorder (deathly boring) but he soon switched to more interesting instruments such as the trombone. From 1987 on he played in the horn section of El Bosso & die Ping Pongs, one of Germanys most famous Ska bands and the only one of its time which sang in German. From this experience he came to love Jamaican music.
Around Christmas of 1992 Richie formed his own band, Dr. Ring Ding & the Senior Allstars. Over the next ten years they would release five albums, numerous singles and two albums as the backing band for Doreen Shaffer (JA) and Lord Tanamo (JA), and in doing so made their mark on the international Ska scene.
Dr. Ring Ding is a popular live performer, studio musician, arranger and producer in many different music genres such as Swing, Rhythm & Blues, Chanson, Hip Hop, Rumba-Soukouss and Punk, but, above all, in Reggae, Dancehall and Ska.
His cooperation with German Reggae producer HP Setter was immortalized on the solo dub album Big Tings and on the compilation Riddim In Exile. His work with the Rock crossover band H-Blockx secured him a hit with the tune Ring Of Fire, which went to number 13 on the German charts (respectively ..9 in the Austrian Charts) in the summer of 2000. Further collaborations with H-Blockx followed; among others on the title track of their album Get In The Ring (2002), which boxing world champion Sven Ottke selected as his entrance music.
Dr. Ring Ding has also made spectacular contributions to single selections for national and international producers: Doctors Darling (Germaica Records) went to the top 20 of the German Black Music Charts at the end of 2002, was released in Jamaica and found its way on the VP-label's "Riddim Driven - Doctor's Darling Compilation", and the German language Vom Vatter (Germaica Records) appeared on numerous Reggae compilations.
Dr. Ring Ding has performed live all over Europe and North America. He has appeared alongside many veterans of Jamaican music (Bob Andy, Doreen Shaffer, Phyllis Dillon, Hopeton Lewis, Derrick Morgan and Dennis Alcapone, just to name a few), and has played in the horn section of the New York Ska band The Toasters, most recently during their 1998 Independents Day tour in the US.
2004 saw him tour the United States and Canada twice as a part of the infamous Ska Mob 2004, performing alongside Washington DC's own Eastern Standard Time and his longtime pal King Django.
In the november of 2005, he had the pleasure and the privilege to play the trombone at eight shows in Europe for the Skatalites, world famous "inventors" of Ska music...
Television and radio appearances in Germany, Spain, France and the US have helped spread the positive vibes that emanate from Dr. Ring Ding. As a Deejay, singer and/or trombonist, he has appeared on a great number of albums from international Ska, Reggae and Hip Hop artists, such as:
Stubborn Allstars (New York),
Soul Kid Click (New York),
Curse (Germany),
Adjusters (Chicago),
Toasters (New York),
Italo Reno & Germoney (Germany),
Spook & the Guay (France)
and many more
Additionally he has appeared as Deejay or MC with famous sound systems all over Europe, the USA and Russia.
In brief, Dr. Ring Ding lives music, particularly the music of Jamaica! As one of the first performers in Germany who bridge the Ska and Reggae scenes, he has opened many ears and hearts for the Good Vibes of his favorite sounds.
Thanx for your gig at Mighty Sounds! For me, it was one of the highlights of the festival and I was really happy to hear you sing with Polemic! Much respect Bara
