Ricky Fanté

Ricky Fanté
Birth name	Ricky Fanté
Born	November 4, 1978
Origin	Washington, D.C., United States
Genres	R&B, Neo soul, soul
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Virgin/EMI Records (2002–2007)
Website	Ricky Fanté's Official Website

Ricky Fanté (born November 4, 1978) is an American R&B singer. He's best known for his debut single "It Ain't Easy," which garnered critical praise, in addition to numerous television and film soundtrack appearances. Fanté’s vocal sound has been compared to Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Al Green, and Otis Redding.

After serving in the United States Marine Corps for a few years after high school, a demo of his two-man group, produced by his partner ex-rocker Scott Rickett called Soul Surfers, fell into the hands of A&R executive Josh Deutsch, which led to a development deal in 2001. In 2002, Fanté met with Norah Jones's collaborator Jesse Harris, and began co-writing and recording his debut record.

Fanté was then signed by Virgin Records and released Rewind in July 2004. Fanté gained critical acclaim for the song "It Ain’t Easy". He performed the single on NBC’s long-running late night talk and variety show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Although the song was not considered a hit, the album garnered moderate success in the U.S. and abroad. The song reached No. #8 on Italian music charts.

In 2005, Ricky Fanté recorded the title song "Shine" for the film Robots, and the upbeat tune "That’s All I Need" for the HBO film Lackawanna Blues. In the same year, he performed a duet with the Italian singer Giorgia Todrani for her MTV Unplugged.

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