Mikey "Boo" Richards
Artist. Rocksteady, reggae, roots
- Active
- 1970-2021
- Sunset
- November 28, 2021, Kingston, Jamaica
- Also known as
- Mikey Boo, Michael Richards
Michael "Mikey Boo" Richards was a session and touring drummer whose playing runs through the 1970s, from Federal's house band to Lee Perry's Black Ark, and who later kept time for the Wailers and Jimmy Cliff.
His father, Leonard Richards, was a Latin and jazz drummer, but Mikey taught himself, playing on the veranda. He joined Fil Callender's band the In Crowd, with Robbie Lyn among its members, and through the players the two bands shared moved into the Now Generation, the house band at Federal for most of the decade. He learned, he said, by listening: "If you're listening keenly you will know what you want to pick up and where you can pick it up." His first session was at Studio One, on John Holt's "A Love I Can Feel," and he went on to work at Dynamic, Harry J's, Randy's and Joe Gibbs's; for Geoffrey Chung he played on Lorna Bennett's "Breakfast in Bed." At the Black Ark, with Boris Gardiner as his rhythm partner, he played on Perry's Super Ape and the Congos' Heart of the Congos. Other records with his drumming include Dennis Brown's "Silhouettes," Bob Marley's "Wake Up and Live," the Abyssinians' "Y Mas Gan," Bob Andy's "Honey," and Beres Hammond's "One Step Ahead."
He was the original drummer of 809, joined the Wailers after Carlton Barrett's life was taken in 1987, and then played in Jimmy Cliff's band Oneness, touring regularly with Cliff and with Culture. He departed in Kingston at seventy-four, after several years of dementia; Robbie Lyn called him "the complete drummer."
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Lee "Scratch" Perry (bandleader)
- The Wailers (band)
- Jimmy Cliff (bandleader)
- Robbie Lyn (bandmate)
- Boris Gardiner (bandmate)
- Fil Callender (bandmate)
- Lorna Bennett (backed)
- Bob Marley (session work)
- Dennis Brown (session work)
- John Holt (session work)
- Beres Hammond (session work)
- Joseph Hill (toured with)
- Pablo Moses (session work)
- The Abyssinians (session work)
- Bob Andy (session work)
- Geoffrey Chung (session work)
- The Congos (session work)
- Studio One (session work)
- Black Ark (session work)
- Federal Records (session work)
Notes
- Howard Campbell, "Mikey Boo Passes," Jamaica Observer, November 29, 2021, https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2021/11/29/mikey-boo-passes/.
- Angus Taylor, "Interview: Mikey Boo Richards in Kingston," United Reggae, December 8, 2017, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n2315/120817/interview-mikey-boo-richards-in-kingston, quoting him on his father: "I ran away! I wasn't interested." On the In Crowd and the Now Generation: Campbell, "Mikey Boo Passes."
- Angus Taylor, "Interview: Mikey Boo Richards in Kingston," United Reggae, December 8, 2017, https://unitedreggae.com/articles/n2315/120817/interview-mikey-boo-richards-in-kingston.
- Taylor, "Interview: Mikey Boo Richards," which calls Randy's, in his words, "the roots place."
- Taylor, "Interview: Mikey Boo Richards."
- Campbell, "Mikey Boo Passes."
- Campbell, "Mikey Boo Passes." On the tours with Cliff and Culture: Taylor, "Interview: Mikey Boo Richards."
- Campbell, "Mikey Boo Passes," quoting his niece Judith Richards on the dementia.
