Rick & Deb Sheridan - N-X Change

Rick & Deb Sheridan met about twenty-one years ago in Birmingham, Alabama when she auditioned for vocals in his band, The Hardtimes Band. Needless to say, she got the job. The band traveled up and down the East Coast for quite sometime. Later their agent would send them to Tybee to do a show at the DeSoto. After the first year of playing together, the duo got married twenty years ago on May 24th.

During their travels as a band, they have been a front band for Alice Cooper, Mel McDaniels, The Coasters, The Drifters and The Tams. The band also managed to play on a Norwegian cruise line for a year. All this before settling here on Tybee.

After coming to Tybee to play their first gig here, they found it quite peaceful and decided to make it their home. So they packed it up, and moved here ten years ago. Even though the band wasn't together anymore, Rick & Deb decided to keep going with their music and started playing on Tybee.

They have played everywhere there is to play on Tybee. They have played at Rascals, DeSoto and Fannies. They have also played at benefits and charities at the Pier and the Tybee Parks. They were the first band to play at Fannies and at one time they played with Charlie Sherrill and the three of them were the first band to play at Doc's Bar.

It was easy for Rick to get into music. His dad was a musician and played bass guitar for Boots Randolph. Earlier in Rick's career he had the honor of following in his father's footsteps and playing bass guitar for big names such as Percy Sledge and Johnny Lee.

Throughout the years of entertaining Tybee, they've seen a lot of crazy things. The couple said that their strangest encounter while playing was during a talent show at the DeSoto. The Army was doing some type of practicing maneuvers. Helicopters were flying over with their lights shining and beaming over two thousand people and landing at the Park next to the Library.

They played at the DeSoto's talent shows so often that it became the thing they liked to do best. They say it was some of their favorite times they have had playing on Tybee and they miss it, just like most of us do.

What do they like best about Tybee? "The people, the atmosphere, beautiful weather and we have become great friends with a lot of people here," replied Deb.

So, what's it like being a couple and playing in a band together? They obviously work well together, and when asked if they have ever had a fight before playing, Deb responded playfully, "Oh yeah! We just have to ignore each other until we get over it. You can't let it bother you or else you go crazy."

When they aren't playing gigs, Rick works on Wilmington Island as a Maintenance Supervisor and Deb paints furniture and does art work. She is also a writer of songs and has a small studio at home where she works on her material, mostly R&B and Country tunes.

"My inspiration would have to be my son, Chris, because he has always believed in me even when sometimes I had doubts about myself," said Deb.

When it comes to music, Rick's inspiration has been Stevie Ray Vaughn. Rick said, "Though he's gone, he made some great music, like telling a story that you had to hear from the beginning to understand where it's going."

During their twenty years of marriage, they managed to have three children, two boys and one girl. Not only did they celebrate twenty years of being married this year, but they have celebrated becoming grandparents as well!

What is their favorite thing about each other?

Deb said, "He's spontaneous, he gets things done and he's always there in a pinch. He is always around and lets me go for the ride."

For Rick, his favorite thing about her, is their companionship, friendship and the things that they do have in common outweigh the ones they don't, by far.
-Bry