Richard Michael Barrett (born June 22, 1964), better known as Dicky Barrett, is the frontman of skacore band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, named the 11th most successful Boston-area band of all-time, and the announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Barrett is known for his distinctive loud, gravelly voice.

Personal life

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Barrett attended Norwood Junior High School and Xaverian Brothers High School in Massachusetts. He left Xaverian Brothers High School and went on to Norwood Senior High and later Bunker Hill Community College where he met Bosstones drummer Joe Sirois. He and his family now live in a small town, Marshfield, Massachusetts. He has mentioned that he is an Irish Catholic.

Music

Prior to his association with the Bosstones, Barrett played in the local Boston area bands Cheapskates, Toxic Toast (as mentioned in Michael Patrick MacDonald's book "Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under"), and Impact Unit.

Barrett spent the majority of his musical career playing with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. He appeared on seven full-length albums, three EPs and a live album with the Bosstones, as well as touring continuously throughout the world, until the band’s announcement of a hiatus in December 2003. The band's 1997 release, Let's Face It, would prove to be the band's biggest break, mostly due to the first single "The Impression That I Get," which charted at number one on the Billboard charts. The band's latest full length album entitled A Jackknife to a Swan was released in 2002.

In 2003, Barrett began working on an untitled solo album. The album was said to be a radical departure from the ska-core sound made popular by the Bosstones. Barrett was quoted as saying that the album will be "more sombre, darker". Fellow Bosstone, Lawerence Katz, was said to be assisting Barrett with the recording of the album. However there has been no further mention of the album, and its uncertain whether the album will be released.

Barrett has also made guest appearances on tracks from The Unseen, No Use For A Name, Rancid, H2O, Clowns for Progress, the Stubborn All-Stars, and local Boston band Darkbuster, The Briggs

Barrett appeared on two Brain Failure tracks, which are featured on their split entitled "Beijing to Boston" with Big D and the Kids Table.

Barrett had guest vocals on the Street Dogs song "Justifiable Fisticuffs" from their first album Savin Hill, on The Gaslight Anthem song "The Patient Ferris Wheel" from their album The '59 Sound, and on "Charge Into The Sun" from The Briggs' album Come All You Madmen . Also H2O songs "Force Field" and "Faster Than The World" from their 1999 album F.T.T.W., as well as Rancid's song "Cash, Culture and Violence" on their album Life Won't Wait.

Barrett announced that the 10th official Hometown Throwdown, will occur between the 26th-30th of December 2007 at Cambridge's famed Middle East club. Barrett also confirmed that the Bosstones would be joining him. He seemed unwilling to confirm any long-term plans for the band. Aside from the 10th Throwdown, he performed with the rest of the Bosstones on New Year's Eve 2007 in Providence, RI.

The Bosstones returned to the recording studio to record three new songs, which were included with unreleased material and vinyl b-sides on a collection titled "Medium Rare" released on December 18 2007.

Radio

Barrett became the host of his own radio show, the "Mighty Morning Show" on Los Angeles radio's Indie 103.1 FM from 2005 until his firing on March 22, 2006, under mysterious circumstances.

He has been a regular on three of Boston's rock stations: WAAF, WBCN, and WFNX.

In 2005, it was rumoured in that Barrett would be Howard Stern's replacement at heritage rock station WBCN.

On the April 13th 2009 episode of The Adam Carolla Podcast, Dicky Barret was Adam's guest.

On screen

In the mid-1990s, Barrett appeared as a bus driver on the Nickelodeon show Bus No 9. He also has a cameo role in the film Home of Phobia which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival

While Barrett was with the Bosstones he performed on several television shows, including Saturday Night Live, The Jon Stewart Show, as well as Sesame Street's Elmopalooza. Also, he and the rest of the Bosstones appeared in the film Clueless.

After the Bosstones went on hiatus Barrett became the announcer for ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2004.

Barrett has also done voice-over work for Minoriteam and appears in the documentary film American Hardcore. He has appeared on an episode of Criss Angel's Mind Freak. As well he portrayed rock pioneer Bill Haley in the miniseries Shake, Rattle, and Roll: An American Love Story.

Barrett in popular culture

In the April 2007 edition of Mad magazine, in the comic strip Monroe, the main character meets a school kid named Dicky Barrett. He looks strikingly similar to the real Dicky Barrett. This is owing to Barrett's association with fellow Kimmel staffer Anthony Barbieri, who writes the Monroe feature.

References

1. Ink 19 :: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
2. Howard Stern.com

External links

• An old Interview with Barrett