Rick Cua

Rick Cua (born December 3, 1948) is an American Christian rock singer, songwriter, bassist, author and ordained minister. He is a former member of the Southern rock band, Outlaws, whom he joined in 1980, but left in 1983 to pursue a full-time career in contemporary Christian music, the year after, wherein he gained popularity throughout most of the 1980s as a leather-jacket-wearing rocker with an arena rock sound featuring big, shout-along choruses.

Background
After recording with Reunion and Sparrow records, he signed to Reunion in 1988, where his works began to take on a softer, more radio-friendly tone that included "sentimental ballads and pop-rock anthems in the style of Michael Bolton." Cua left Reunion in 1992 after just over a decade of radio airplay including six No. 1 Christian radio songs, creating his own label, UCA Records, on which he recorded three studio albums in the 1990s but received little radio play. He was nominated for a Dove Award and has received various other awards and recognition.

Cua took a hiatus from recording in 1998 and went to work as vice president of the creative department at EMI Christian Music Publishing, where he stayed until 2003. He focused on managing his own two companies: Rick Cua Entertainment, which manages artists and works in music publishing, film and TV licensing; and All for the King Music, offering coaching and inspiration to lay musicians through workshops and free electronic delivery of original worship music.

Celebrating his 25th year in ministry, Cua released his twelfth album, Won't Fade Away, in 2007. It was his first album in ten years.

Cua's father, his veteran guitar teacher, Basilio "Buz" Cua, died on May 19, 2009, at the age of 90 in his home town of Syracuse, New York. Cua was unable to go to his father's funeral, due to successful prostate cancer surgery. <!-- EDIT LATER -- == Musical beginnings == Frederick "Rick" R. Cua was born in Syracuse, NY, December 3, 1948, to Basilio "Buz" and Rita Rivoli Cua. The eldest of five children, Rick has one brother, Nick, and three sisters: Christy, Luanne, and Joanne. Theirs was a musical family. From the mid-to-late 1940s, Buz Cua, an accomplished guitarist, performed in a military band; with The House Warmers on a weekday radio show on WNDR; and six nights a week in a band at the Eastwood Sports Center, where he first met his wife. After he married, Buz gave up performing to teach guitar, becoming one of the most respected guitar instructors in the Syracuse area. Rita Cua (d. January 1995; cancer) played piano and sang. Rick remembers, "Our uncles would come and play the mandolin and sing the Italian songs. Our mom used to sing."

Coming from an Italian family, Cua's first instrument was an accordion. He, however, moved on to try the piano, trumpet, and clarinet, and of course, with his father being an instructor of the instrument, the guitar, which Cua admits he didn't play very well. So he took his father's advice who told him if never wanted to be without work, then he should play bass guitar. That instrument stuck, and so did rock music.

By age 14, Cua was playing bass for gigs in Syracuse, and from 1965 to 1980, he performed in Syracuse bands The Legends, The Campus Walkers, The Larry Arlotta Trio, Dove and C.R.A.C. In 1980, Cua joined national Southern rock band Outlaws and stayed with Huey Thomasson, Henry Paul and gang until 1983.

Interestingly enough, she also was an avid golfer, a skill she learned from her father, and a tournament champion in the area.

Rick Cua President, Amerigo Vespucci Society Recording Secretary: Diana Cua http://italiansinnashville.net/officers_corner.html

Paper: Syracuse Herald-Journal (NY) Title: RITA R. CUA, 73 – WINNER OF SIX GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS < Date: January 17, 1995

Rita Rivoli Cua, six-time women's golf champion at Lakeshore Yacht and Country Club, died Monday of cancer at Crouse Irving Memorial Hospital. She was 73 and lived at 211 Grant Blvd., Syracuse.

Mrs. Cua was in her teens when she began to play golf. She learned the game from her father, Fred Rivoli, and the late golf pro Augie Nardone. "She played nice and easy. I could never beat her although I tried," her husband, Buz, said today. "One time, I went out there and I concentrated on every hole and I came back with an 89. For me, that was outstanding and I was tired of the concentration. One of our friends just came off the 18th hole and said, `Your wife just shot 85.' That's the way it was."

Mrs. Cua was on the course by 8:30 a.m. five days a week. "If weather permitted, she would play more often," her husband said. "One year at the club, she won everything that was winnable. All the awards were on her table. It was a great night."

Lois Smith, Mrs. Cua's longtime golfing partner, said she had a natural golf swing. "Her drives were straight and long. She excelled at chipping. She was a very good putter, too. She had an all-around good game."

Mrs. Cua's temperament served her well as a golfer. "She never got excited; she never got upset, very even-tempered when she was playing. Everybody that knew her loved her and respected her," Smith said.

Mrs. Cua was born in Syracuse, the only child of Fred and Lucy Mercurio Rivoli. She graduated from North High School and attended Syracuse University.

She worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, Haberle Brewery and as secretary of the former Syracuse Nationals basketball team before her marriage in 1948. Then she remained at home to raise a family.

"She managed to have five children and never missed a summer of golf. Golf was her passion. Nothing was more exciting to her than a new set of clubs," her daughter Luanne Cua said.

"She was a very giving, compassionate, warm person. You couldn't have asked for a better mother."

The Cuas are a musical family. Besides excelling at golf, Mrs. Cua played piano and sang. Her husband taught guitar for many years. Their son Rick is a contemporary Christian rock musician who formerly played bass with Outlaws. Their son Nick, vice president of Magnetone Management, produces and manages country singers.

Mrs. Cua was a member more than 50 years of the Syracuse Women's District Golf Association, a select group of golfers with low handicaps.

She was a communicant of Our Lady of Pompei Church, Syracuse.

Surviving are her husband, Basil N. "Buz"; two sons, Rick R. and Nick R., both of Nashville, Tenn.; three daughters, Christy Cua Cadaret of Cazenovia and Luanne R. Cua and Joanne C. Samara, both of Syracuse; four grandchildren; an aunt, an uncle and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Services are 9:15 a.m. Thursday at Pirro & Sons Funeral Home and 10 a.m. in Our Lady of Pompei Church, Syracuse. Burial will be in Assumption Cemetery, Syracuse.

Calling hours are 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, 514 Turtle St. PHOTO No Credit CUA

Copyright, 1995, The Herald Company Author: Anne Roth Staff Writer Section: Obit Page: C4 Copyright, 1995, The Herald Company

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) (April 25, 2004): p.H6. (135 words) From Custom Newspapers. Nina L. Cua

Todd D. Bellinger

Rick and Diana Cua, of Brentwood, Tenn., announce the engagement of their daughter, Nina L. Cua, of Franklin, Tenn., to Todd D. Bellinger, of Franklin, son of Patricia Lee, of Syracuse.

An Oct 23 wedding is planned in Syracuse.

At 87, the name of the boy has become hazy. But the occasion remains sharp in the mind of this lifelong guitar player and instructor.

Rick Cua agrees. As the Cua family – represented by dad Buz and sons, Rick and Nick – are about to be inducted into the Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame Friday night, it's a time for the Cuas to remember what's important.

"My sister said one time, "What about this guitar or that guitar?' and (Dad) says, "I gave them away.' He says these things are meant to be passed along," says Rick, who lives in Nashville and runs his own artist management company.

Nick says he has adopted another of his father's lessons in his hectic life as a national tour manager.

"When I was a young kid, my father used to putter around in the garage," Nick recalls. "He'd ask me to help in the garage or rake the leaves. I had to move fast; he was slow and methodical and calm.

"I've taken that approach not only with the artists I meet and manage, but with life in general," Nick says. "When an artist who wakes up and can't swallow needs a doctor or there's a production problem, I remember those days as a 10-year-old. I'd be dropping the broom or rake because I was exhausted, and he'd just pace himself and keep going."

Buz Cua says he's proud he and his sons will enter the Sammys Hall of Fame together.

He and his late wife, Rita, had five children, Rick, Nick, Christy, Luanne and Joanne. "They've always been the kind of people that I hoped that I could have, and I did have. They did everything that they were supposed to do, and I enjoy them all."

The climate was right for loving music.

"Our uncles would come and play the mandolin and sing the Italian songs," Rick says. "Our mom used to sing."

Rick says the siblings realize their father sacrificed his professional performing career and became a guitar instructor because of them. "He played out a lot, but when he got married and started having kids, he stopped playing six nights a week and started playing occasional dates and teaching because he didn't want to be out all the time," Rick says.

Buz became one of the most respected guitar instructors in the city. His long line of successful students include Mark Copani, of the jazz group Eye Level; Rick Balestra, of Spaces; and blues upright bass player Pat DeSalvo.

"I still watch their careers," Buz says. "I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it all," Buz says. "Copani, when I gave him a lesson, he was always, as they said in the business, six inches off the chair. He was always ready. Balestra, too. When you catch them like that, it's impossible to be a loser."

He told his son Rick, on the other hand, to switch his instrument.

"I was playing guitar, and he said, "If you want to never be out of work, take up***the bass.' And I did, and he was right," Rick says. "One, I wasn't that great on guitar. Two, he truly felt there were a lot of great guitar players at the time, and everybody was looking for a bass player. I was made for that instrument."

After a distinguished career in Syracuse that included stints with popular bands Dove and C.R.A.C. with his good friend, the late keyboardist Larry Arlotta, Rick got a job with national Southern rock band Outlaws in 1980. He moved to Nashville, where he became embedded in the Christian music scene, owning a label, then switching to the administrative side of the business

Nick also lives in Nashville, but he now travels the world as tour manager for a lengthy list of stars that included Cher. Now Pink and Shakira are his clients.

"Basically, I played drums from the second or third grade, but I realized at an early age that I wasn't very good," Nick says. "So when Rick made it to the big leagues, with Outlaws, I went to see him perform at the War Memorial. He introduced me to the tour business manager, the position that oversaw all the finances of the tour. I met the gentleman and didn't think much of it at the time. A couple of months later, I heard from him and he'd signed a new client. He asked if I'd fly to New York and check it out.

"I was pushed out the door by my mother and my girlfriend," he recalls. "That new account was Styx."

Nick got the job and started his climb up the musical ladder. By the way, he adds, he's been married to that girlfriend who nudged him to New York City for 24 years. Rick and his wife have been married for 36 years.

Family matters to the Cuas.

"My father, for 45 years, he carried a picture in his wallet of a room in an Adirondack-style home," Rick says. "A fireplace, cozy, warm. My sister Joanne and her family, they live on Feigel Avenue in the house we grew up in, and they just changed their garage into that room."

So Buz moved from his home on Grant Boulevard.

"I carried that damn picture forever," Buz says. "I said, "One of these days I'm going to have that.' And I've got it."

The new place is close enough for Buz to walk every morning to the McDonald's at Shop City, where he meets pals for coffee.

He's teaching them about music.

"They keep asking questions, and I keep answering them the best that I can," Buz says. "Some want to sing. Some want to play. I try to show them some things they can know. And they're great listeners."

Mark Bialczak can be reached at mbialczak@syracuse.com or 470–2175.

Syracuse Area

Music Awards

When: 5 p.m. Friday, as part of Taste of Syracuse.

Where: Main stage, in the parking lot at Franklin and Water streets.

Admission: Free.

Schedule:

5 p.m. – Simple Life.

6:15 p.m. – Donna Colton Band.

7:30 p.m. – C Jack Motown Revue.

9 p.m. – Todd Hobin.

Trophies: Winners in nine categories, Brian Bourke best new artist award and People's Choice awards will be announced between acts.

Lifetime achievement winner: Veteran radio host Phil Markert.

Inductees into Sammys hall of fame: The Cua family; Bill Knowlton; Nancy Kelly; The Kingsnakes; Gary Frenay & Arty Lenin.

About the Cua family

Two generations into hall of fame: Father Buz Cua and sons, Rick and Nick, will be inducted into the Sammys hall of fame Friday night. While guitarist and guitar teacher Buz, 87, has remained in Syracuse, bass player Rick and tour manager Nick now call Nashville home.

Basilio "Buz" Cua: Played guitar in the 629th Army Band 1944 to 1946. The next two years, he was heard on Syracuse radio station WNDR with The House Warmers live weekdays 9 to 11 a.m. He played with a band in the Eastwood Sports Center six nights a week, and that's where he met his future wife, Rita. After he married, Buz gave up performing to teach guitar. His students include Mark Copani, Rick Balestra and Pat DeSalvo, all of whom are prominent guitar or bass players in Syracuse.

Rick Cua: Played bass in Syracuse bands The Legends, The Campus Walkers, The Larry Arlotta Trio, Dove and C.R.A.C. 1965 to 1980. In 1980, Rick, 57, joined national Southern rock band Outlaws and stayed with Huey Thomasson, Henry Paul and gang until 1983. He started a Christian music label in Nashville, worked as vice president of creative division in music publishing for EMI for five years, and started Rick Cua Entertainment, which manages artists and works in music publishing, film and TV licensing.

Nick Cua: Started as a tour accountant, joining his older brother with the Outlaws in 1981. Nick, 49, became a tour manager and has worked with Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Foghat, The Police, Shakira, Pink, Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Smashing Pumpkins, Monsters of Rock, Hole/Courtney Love, Metallica, Bon Jovi and Velvet Revolver.

Born into an Italian family, Rick Cua hails from Syracuse, New York. His father, apparent in his first instrument – as a young boy, he started on the accordion. He eventually moved on to the piano, trumpet, clarinet, guitar and eventually settled on the bass guitar – and rock music. Membership in early bands fed his musical obsession and led to playing gigs by age 14 and an inevitable career choice. He played in a fairly successful regional group called CRAC (an acronym formed from the surnames of its members). Raised a faithful Roman Catholic Rick got saved when he attended a nondenominational Pentecostal church in 1977. His wife, Diana, who'd become a believer in 1972, prayed faithfully for Rick until he too found Christ. Rick continued to work in the music mainstream. He explained, "Those of us that got saved in New York at that time, we just got saved. We cleaned up our life, we loved the Lord, but we kept doing what we were doing career wise. We were professional musicians. We played music and we went home." In 1979 Rick joined the Outlaws, the Southern rock band who scored three million selling albums.

While still a member of the Outlaws, singer, drummer and one-time member of Wings Joe English introduced Rick to the fledgling world of contemporary Christian music and more specifically Refuge Records whose debut album with English had produced a number one Christian radio hit. In 1982 Rick's Christian music debut, 'Koo-ah' – recorded when Rick was still a member of the Outlaws – was released by Refuge. It too landed a number one Christian radio hit with the song "You Can Still Rock And Roll" which the Encyclopedia Of Contemporary Christian Music described as "a Joan Jett-like anthem promising youth that God and good music are not incompatible." In interviews Cua promised his audience that he would always be a rocker. "10 years from now I will not be turning out love ballads with violins." For the most part he kept his word as more successful CCM albums followed. In 1983 Refuge released 'No Mystery' which featured the fiery rock guitar of Ian Bairnson of the Alan Parsons Project and then, after signing with Sparrow Records the punchy blues rock of 'You're My Road' (1985) produced by Dave Perkins, Cua's frequent guitarist, rocked even harder.

More of the same came with 'Wear Your Colors' (1986) but by the time Rick signed with Reunion Records in 1988 executives were urging the singer/bassist to adopt a softer sound that "would attract more female listeners." 'Can't Stand Too Tall' followed with a radio-pleasing pop sound which included an acoustic duet with Ron Henby of The Imperials. 1989's 'Midnight Sun' produced big US Christian radio hits with a soulful Hall And Oates-style ballad "I'll Be Satisfied" and "Young Boy, Young Girl", a duet with Rebecca Sparks about exercising self-control until marriage. 1991's 'Within Reach' produced Christian radio hits with the rockers "Message Of Love" and "Heaven Won't Stop The Rain" while 1992's 'The Way Love Is', although rather disparagingly described by CCM magazine as "white bread power pop," scored with the turntable hit "What If?" In 1992 Rick left Reunion and formed his own label, UCA.

But though UCA albums 'Songs To Live By' (1993), 'Times Ten' (1995) – featuring the autobiographical rocker "Italo Americano" with a chorus in Italian – and 'Like A Cool Drink' (1997) contained some excellent stuff, Rick wasn't getting the radio support he had once enjoyed. But though Rick was no longer gracing the front cover of CCM magazine, he was very much involved in the industry. For five years he served as a music publishing executive. He said about that time, "My years at EMI Christian Music Publishing were wonderful! Although I had a pretty good grip on the business of music prior to getting there, EMI was a big dose of higher education! I was very privileged to work with my friends and relate to our writers as a music business professional and also as an artist/songwriter. I hope my decisions and advice to the folks I came in contact with were well balanced because of that." Rick Cua: The Singing, Bass Playing Veteran Who 'Won't Fade Away'

Rick has also been an ordained minister for more than 15 years. He told Cross Rhythms about his church commitment, "Diana and I attend Grace Chapel in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee. We lead a small group and I am in rotation on the worship team. Church and small group life has always been a very important part of our lives. We pastored a home church for a season as well. I made the decision to seek ordination in the late '80s in order to line up with other men of God. I didn't want to be a lone wolf but rather part of a community of pastors and ministers united for a common purpose." -->