Richard Bishop, self-styled as Sir Richard Bishop, is an American composer, guitarist and singer based in Phoenix, Arizona, who is best known for co-founding (along with brother Alan Bishop) Sun City Girls. In the 1980s he was a member of the Paris 1942. From 2010 he has been a member of Rangda. Bishop’s first official solo record, Salvador Kali, was released by John Fahey’s Revenant Records label in 1998. He began performing as a solo artist in 2005, playing throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States. He has done extensive touring with Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy), Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Bill Callahan, and many others. His solo playing reflects the finger-picking influences of Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Page, and Ravi Shankar & the sounds of India, the Middle East and other points along the gypsy trails and the Silk Route. His debut solo recording was followed by two more releases from Locust: Elektronika Demonika, a recording of electronics, containing no guitar at all; and While My Guitar Violently Bleeds, which is made up of three extended compositions for acoustic and electric guitar. SInce hen he has released a long series of albums. From 2010 he has been a member of Rangda. By trade, Bishop is a dealer and antiquarian of rare occult books and fine paper ephemera.
