Richard Lee Cody was born, (Richard Stephen Espinoza) in Ogden, Utah
on January 5, 1966. His father, Steve Espinoza, hailes from Cortez,CO and is a Veteran of the United States Navy, and
his mother, Elaine Cummings Espinoza,was born in Heber City,UT where Richard and his Wife Lynnie and their family
still live today.
His Grandparents,
"Roe" and Lois Cummings instilled a love for Country/Western music in their daughter and she in turn passed
it along to her son.
"While my friends were listening to hard core rock n roll", Richard says,"In our
house it was Country music...Period!" He says, he doesn't recall any other music connecting with him like that, "Good
old Classic Country". This exposure to Country/Western music is evident in his vast knowledge
of music, lyrics, and the singers who sing it.
In 1980 one final move would take Richard back to his, "ancestrial homeland", so to speak, to the Heber Valley
of Utah. It was here that 100 years earlier his G.G. Grandfathers would settle with the Mormon pioneers.
Richard graduated from Wasatch High School in 1984, and a year later would
wed Wendi Mills. The couple made their home on the ranch of her parents, where they raised Quarter horses, and beef
cattle, as well as four great kids, JD, Cody,Brandee, and DJ. Tough
times would break up their marriage in 2000.
Through
this dark time, came the brightest spots in his life. Richard says "I found me, my voice, my music, and my companion,
Lynnie"
Richard and Lynnie married on June
2nd of 2001, and have been inseparable ever since. In 1998 he would write a song that would later become the title track
to his first CD, "Leave the Light On". It's a tribute to Lynnie's son Tyrel who passed away in a bull
riding accident on July 3,1998. He was almost 16.
For the next year and a half the songs just kept flowing from his pen and with
the encouragement of a family friend, Donnette Hicks, Richard found himself at a local recording studio asking what it would
take to record a single song, one he had written for, and about Donnette and her husband Jim. After the owner of the studio
heard just a portion of the song, (The Ground You Walk On) he asked, "Do you have any more songs like this?" He
answered "Yes", and Richard was signed to a contract to record the, "Leave the Light On" CD.
With CD in hand, he started out to expose the CD to folks around
the West from Montana to So. California. Today he has 5 CD's and is busier than
ever.
Richard's deep Western roots
and lifestyle are evident in the Western/Cowboy Music he produces and sings today. He has had the honor of
playing with and getting to know many of the genres top performers.
Besides his music, he is also a Disc Jockey on his Hometown Radio Station, 1340
am KTMP, in Heber City.
Today you'll find him on the road with his Duet partner, Mary Kaye. One of the finest
Western Duos in the Country.
If you need great
voices, and sharp wits, look no further than Richard Lee Cody and Mary Kaye.
