{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Dal Richards | image = Dal Richards (March 2009).jpg | alt = Dal Richards in March 2009 | caption = Richards in March 2009 | birth_name = Dallas Murray Richards | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1918|1|5}} | birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|2015|12|31|1918|1|05|df=yes}} | death_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | genre = Swing | occupation = Conductor, bandleader, musician | instrument = Saxophone, clarinet | years_active = 1940–2015 }}
'''Dallas Murray Richards''',<ref>{{cite web | url=http://vancouverfoundation.ca/stories/dec-14-2008/dal-richards | title=Dal Richards | date=14 December 2008 | publisher=Vancouver Foundation | access-date=1 January 2016 }}</ref> CM, OBC (5 January 1918 – 31 December 2015) was a Canadian big band leader.<ref name=VSObit />
Richards and his band performed in the Lower Mainland, at PNE bandstand and the annual New Year celebration at the Bayshore Hotel. The band played 79 consecutive New Year's Eve concerts until his death<ref>{{cite news|url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/richards+vancouver+king+swing+dies/11625321/story.html|title=Dal Richards, Vancouver's King of Swing, dies at 97|first=John|last=Mackie|newspaper=Vancouver Sun|access-date=6 December 2017|archive-date=11 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011223508/http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/richards+vancouver+king+swing+dies/11625321/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> on 31 December 2015.<ref name=VSObit>{{cite news | url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/richards+vancouver+king+swing+dies/11625321/story.html | title=Dal Richards, Vancouver's King of Swing, dies at 97 | first=John | last=Mackie | newspaper=Vancouver Sun | date=1 January 2016 | access-date=1 January 2016 | archive-date=11 October 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011223508/http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/richards+vancouver+king+swing+dies/11625321/story.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Richards led his band for many years in a weekly CBC Radio show broadcast nationally from the Panorama Roof Ballroom of the Hotel Vancouver.<ref>{{cite book | title=Greater Vancouver Book | editor=Davis, Chuck | isbn=978-1-896846-00-2 | publisher=Linkman Press | year=1997 }}</ref> He hosted a weekly one-hour show on radio station CISL.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.am650radio.com/DalRichards.aspx |title=Dal Richards |publisher=CISL |access-date=31 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707121746/http://www.am650radio.com/DalRichards.aspx |archive-date=7 July 2011}}</ref>
Richards was commonly thought to be the lyricist of "Roar You Lions Roar", the fight song of the BC Lions football club set to the music of "I Love the Sunshine of Your Smile". However, Peggy Miller of CJCA, an Edmonton radio station, wrote the lyrics in 1953, and Richards arranged and popularized the song with his band's performance at games. His 1968 album ''CFL Songs'' popularized "Roar You Lions Roar", "Go Argos Go", "On Roughriders" and many other songs still heard to this day in CFL stadiums.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://nationalpost.com/m/.com/business/Football+Hall+Fame+welcomes+leader+band+with+video/7245623/story.html | title=B.C. Football Hall of Fame welcomes a new leader of the band | first=Mike | last=Beamish | date=14 September 2012 | newspaper=Vancouver Sun | access-date=1 January 2016 }}{{dead link|date=October 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
A documentary film on Dal was produced for Bravo and The National Film Board of Canada in 1997. BIG BAND BOOM! was produced and directed by Mark Glover Masterson and was nominated for a Hot Docs International Documentary Award in 1998 and ultimately won Best Arts Documentary at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival in Chicago in '98.
==Awards and honours== * 1994: Order of Canada, Member<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=3389&t=12 | title=Dal Murray Richards, C.M., O.B.C. | publisher=Governor General of Canada | access-date=31 October 2010 }}</ref> * 1994: First inductee into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame<ref>{{cite news | url=https://globalnews.ca/news/2429458/legendary-big-band-leader-dal-richards-dies/ | title=WATCH: Looking back at legendary big band leader Dal Richards | first=Paula | last=Baker | date=4 January 2016 | publisher=Global News | access-date=15 September 2018 }}</ref>
==References==
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==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070623055034/http://www.dalrichards.com/ Official site archived] * [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/article/dal-richards-emc Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca] * {{Discogs artist|Dal Richards}} * {{IMDb name|id=6960125}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Dal}} Category:1918 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Canadian jazz bandleaders Category:Members of the Order of British Columbia Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Musicians from Vancouver