Cully, Dick (Richard) was born on April 19th, 1949 in Manhattan, New York to his parents, Richard born 1917 and Jeanette born 1921 in New York. In 1955 they moved to Lyndhurst, New Jersey where he began his musical career at the age of 16 studying with James Rago, Julliard School of Music graduate in percussion, timpanist with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra since the early 1970â??s and Professor of Percussion at the University of Louisville. While still in high school, he formed a very popular quartet, (The Charades) with three school friends. The group performed countless club dates and casuals in the New York/New Jersey area. In 1967, he attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying with drummer Alan Dawson and continued his studies with former Tonight Show drummer Ed Shaughnessy. His early career included performing a variety of musical styles: pop, rock, funk, disco, jazz and country with numerous groups. In 1978 he relocated to Boca Raton, Florida. In 1982, he formed the DICK CULLY BIG BAND, a 15 piece, high energy, exciting unit performing a wide variety of arrangements for all age groups. It features the most popular arrangements from the Libraries of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Harry James, Buddy Rich, Les Brown , Woody Herman and others as well as the compositions of contemporary artists. Since itâ??s inception, the DICK CULLY BIG BAND has received numerous rave reviews. Has appeared on WLRN-TV Miami, PBS station Channel 17 three times. Black Entertainment Television, Jazz Discovery, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and WPTV Channel 12, a local CBS affiliate in Palm Beach Florida. The band was also featured weekly on Adelphia Cable with its own 30 minute TV show titled, Strike Up the Band which was also the title of the bands very first album on Ocean Properties Records. It received air play locally in Florida on big band stations as well as the former New York AM radio station, WNEW, once considered to be the premier jazz and big band station in the country. In 1984, he became an artist/endorser for the world famous Slingerland Drum Company, Niles IL and was recognized as a à World Class Drummer by the Pro-Mark Corporation of Houston, Texas, the world’s largest manufacturer of drumsticks.