ON THE RISE
Richard Allen Peshkin copyrighted his first song when he was just 10 years old, and in the decades since there hasn’t been a year when he didn’t write at least a dozen more.
Romance, the birth of children, the deaths of loved ones and Peshkin’s own unique philosophies on life have all been sources of inspiration for the New Jersey native, who earned his M.D. degree in 1976 and then practiced family medicine in Coral Springs, Florida. He wrote ballads for his muse, Karen, and lighthearted, silly songs for his family to enjoy.
But three years ago, when Peshkin was stricken with a serious illness, his songs became particularly morbid, and, he admits, somewhat self pitying. He wrote one tune called “The Last Thing” on which he pondered what he wanted to do for the final act of his life.
Fortunately, he recovered completely – and now Peshkin is back to writing about everything from artificial intelligence and pickleball to renowned professional wrestler Ric Flair. He has a renewed focus and says his illness perhaps activated his spirit even more.
“I managed to tell myself hey, when you feel better, you’ve written some really great stuff; find the person who can produce it right and go out with a blaze,” he says. “Don’t go around thinking what you could have done.”
And that’s what the Boca Raton-based Peshkin has done. He met producer and arranger Mick James, known for his music for the hit TV show Criss Angel Mindfreak, and found the missing piece he’d been longing for. And in October Peshkin released the 10-track album The World Needs Music, which has already generated more than a hundred thousand streams on platforms like Spotify.
“I’ve been writing music for a long, long time and primarily because I never hooked up with the right arranger and right producer, most of my stuff stayed in cabinets and my family loved it but it never had the sounds it needed until I met Micky,” he says.
Now he’s aiming for a much wider audience, and the self-titled opening track represents a stark transition from the time when Peshkin was undergoing therapy and treatments and pondering his mortality; it’s a song of hope and healing now.
“I always say it’s not my favorite track, it’s not my best track but it’s my most important one,” he says. “I really believe when we write contemporary music, occasionally a song will last beyond its immediate era and certain songs can last indefinitely. I really believe with the state of how things are right now, if we could get kids in school singing The World Needs Music side by side in harmonies, if they could sing it at Super Bowls and hold hands and put their arms around each other and understand we’re more alike than we are dissimilar, this song could be a very, very unifying theme. We can root for each other by singing harmoniously together and I think it can be a healing song.”
It’s an uplifting adult contemporary track with rich backing music and features vocalist Kelsey Demsky, who sings:
The world needs music, more than ever
The world is an angry place to be
We’ve got to sing, not shout
We need to figure it out
A way to sing away the hurt we feel today
Let’s put it in a song, it’s better
No matter where you’re from, no matter what you see, music transcends it all
The rest of the album is a diverse work of music; there are traditional love ballads, like “I Love You” and hard rock tracks like “Sucker of all Time” and pop tunes like “Dance To The Music.” Peshkin, as a composer, makes it his goal to appeal to as many audiences as he can within the framework of an album. The album’s final track, “A Better Place,” is about seeing someone you love in a nursing home, with deep lines all over their face, and questioning whether that is a just reward.
“The hope of that song is that there’s a better place where God will watch over them as they watched over you with so much love,” Peshkin says. “I thought that was a nice, compelling thought and the song is probably a little underrated; it deserves a second look.”
And he writes music that is topical, too, like his new song about artificial intelligence and another about the fast-growing sport of pickleball; there’s also homage to Flair, the wrestler, and his trademark “WOOOOO!” Those three tracks will appear on another upcoming album produced by James.
Peshkin has also released music videos for “The World Needs Music” and two other songs. The video for “Shut Up,” which Peshkin says is “a bit kooky” features Demsky and James having dinner and the latter uttering the two notorious words; Desmky reacts with a well-placed dinner fork and more.
Peshkin unveiled his music to an audience for the first time in 2019 in the musical comedy called BOCA BOUND, which was staged in Florida. He worked closely with stage luminaries Michael Moritz, Jr. and Jon Ranger on the project, and for his work earned a spot on the ballet for a Grammy nomination. A cast album for the soundtrack is available on streaming platforms.
He plans to release his next album, Looking for Answers, in March. In the meantime, he’s not basking in his success.
“I don’t believe I’ve had any success on the first album until I’m walking on the street and I hear people singing, ‘The world needs music, more than ever,’” he says. “Until then it’s a work in progress. I’m just very hopeful that the day comes when the world is in good enough shape that we don’t need songs like that, or that the song actually helped get the world in better shape. I’m just continually trying to explore all the different facets of my being and how I look at life and music is a wonderful way to make people feel things. It’s a great way of self expression and giving other people that ability to feel some of what you’re feeling.”
Make sure to stay connected to Richard Peshkin on all platforms for new music and videos.
Upcoming 100: How do you balance experimenting with new sounds and styles while still maintaining your unique artistic identity?
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