Ricky Montgomery | |
|---|---|
 Montgomery in 2024 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard Owen Holmes Montgomery |
| Born | April 3, 1993 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Origin | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Labels | Warner |
| Website | rickymontgomery |
Richard Owen Holmes Montgomery (born April 3, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter. In 2020, his [a] songs went viral on TikTok, leading to being signed with Warner Records later that year.
Richard Owen Holmes Montgomery [1] was born in Los Angeles [2] on April 3, 1993. [3] His mother was a teacher,[ citation needed ] and his father was a gaffer. [4] When Montgomery was young, his parents got a divorce, [5] and in 2005, he and his mother moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived from ages 12–21, [2] and also attended college. [6] At the age of 14, he began to play in various bands. [7] In 2014, he gained a following on Vine, a short-form video service, posting comical original songs. [8] He found the site the day after the app had launched from a CNN news article. He saw the site as a potential "springboard for a possible music career." [5] After finding success with Vine, Montgomery released his first EP, Caught on the Moon. [8] Soon after, he dropped out of college and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. [7]
In 2009, Montgomery's father died in Mexico. His father's death was initially thought to be a scuba-diving accident; however, Montgomery later discovered his father committed suicide after finding hand-written letters. [9] In regard to this experience, Montgomery said he initially "didn't talk about it a lot", but in 2023, he released the song "Black Fins", about his father's death. [10] [11]
He has a sister. [5]
Montgomery is non-binary [12] and uses he/they pronouns. [13]
Montgomery proposed to his then-girlfriend, writer, journalist, and critic [14] Jess Joho, in late May 2024. [15] [16] In January 2025, the pair announced they were officially engaged as of January 5. [17]
In LA, he released his first studio album Montgomery Ricky on April 1, 2016. [7] [18] Montgomery founded indie band The Honeysticks with a childhood friend of his [19] to experiment musically.[ when? ] [7] [8] The band name was derived from a snack Montgomery ate every Saturday morning when he was a kid, made of sticks of honey. [5] In 2018, he took the year off from making music. [7] He has started social media marketing companies to earn more money. [20] By 2020, he considered quitting making music entirely. [7] [8] However, in mid-2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, his two singles—"Mr. Loverman" and "Line Without a Hook"—went viral on TikTok. [7] With his explosion in popularity, he was contacted by "virtually every single major label A&R in a matter of months." [8] In December 2020, [8] after a large bidding war, Montgomery signed with Warner Records. [7] [21]
I think because we had a really traumatizing year, these songs kind of found a moment, because they're all, in their own way, about traumas in my life.
— Ricky Montgomery [19]
Since then, he has remixed two songs in 2021 from his debut album with fellow artists Chloe Moriondo and mxmtoon respectively. [8] [19] Montgomery came in contact with mxmtoon after finding her perform one of his songs on the streaming platform Twitch, learning that she had been a fan of his Vine content before it shut down. [8] He found Moriondo from a song cover of "Out Like a Light". [22]
On going viral leading to a record deal, he told Vox that despite virality in songs or a record deal, artists get stuck on a perpetual treadmill of self-promotion: "Next thing you know, it’s been three years and you’ve spent almost no time on your art. You’re getting worse at it, but you’re becoming a great marketer for a product which is less and less good." [23]
On October 8, 2024, Montgomery announced the single, "Superfan", and confirmed that he had been dropped as an artist by Warner Records. [24]