Rik Fox

Richard Suligowski (born 1955 in Amityville, New York), better known as Rik Fox, is an American heavy metal bass guitar player.

Fox was born in Amityville, New York on Long Island, and raised in the Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. While in high school, Fox was interested in rock music and photography, choosing as his subjects the flashy personalities of the New York glam scene of the early 1970s. He photographed the New York Dolls and KISS among others performing on the N.Y.club scene at such famous locales as Max's Kansas City and C.B.G.B.'s, clubs he was later to perform in also with a group he joined during the height of the N.Y. club scene, The Martian Rock Band. During this period, he dated a younger sister of original KISS drummer Peter Criss. Fox and Criss became friends and Fox witnessed the formation of KISS from the very beginning, including the addition of lead guitarist Ace Frehley.

After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1982, Fox played bass-guitar in several bands, including STEELER, SIN and W.A.S.P. Although he was only briefly associated with W.A.S.P. for several months, and recorded a 'live' three-track cassette demo, he did, in fact, name the band which has been verified by the other former band members and in published several books on the subject of heavy metal rock bands of the 1980s Hollywood era. The idea occurred to him after he stepped on a wasp in the courtyard of the house where he lived with his fellow bandmember Blackie Lawless. The story of W.A.S.P. is retold in the book Bang Your Head : The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal by David Konow, where it is confirmed by W.A.S.P. guitarist Randy Piper, and in online interviews with guitarist Piper. Blackie Lawless reportedly denies Rik Fox's participation in W.A.S.P., but he's clearly shown in photographs taken by Don Adkins Jr. during the band's first photo session, and has played on the bands' first demo which circulates among collectors. All of which now, clearly indicates that Lawless was attempting to bear false witness and take credit for the band's name in an attempt to cover-up the fact that Fox was indeed, a member of the original line-up.

Fox's music career ended, after he abandoned his last band, Thunderball, in the early 1990s. After that, he worked in the film industry as an assistant Property Master, and weapons handler, working on direct-to-video lower budget films and on the Television series Air America, featuring Lorenzo Lamas, and the late Scott Plank, with whom Fox became close friends. Fox also dabbled in acting and took several film roles. He appeared in films with Rob Lowe, James Spader, Chad McQueen, Melanie Shatner, and Michael Madsen. Fox worked briefly on the famed Television Soap Opera General Hospital working (acting) directly with series anchor, Anthony Geary.

Through acting, he eventually became involved with the Renaissance Faire scene, where he actively sought to bring the noticeably absent Polish history into the forefront. Fox has been referred to as a 'pioneer', (or, a "Johnny Appleseed"), in this venture, by many Polish media correspondents. Apart from being a 'rock star' musician, he is the First Polish-American of noble ancestry, who represents the Polish Winged Hussar cavalry in U.S. History. More recently Fox has been nominated as the Vice-President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Nationally known organization of the Polish American Congress. He is also involved in co-promotion of the European and Japanese market release of The Steeler Anthology with former band mate Ron Keel. Plans for concert tours to promote the album release have been scrapped due to lack of public and promoter interest. In the meantime, Fox has taken to learning the field of Natural Horsemanship, through his fiancee, and they train horses while he continues to work on his pursuit of raising Polish Historical Awareness and Culture. For more recent information, please see the links.

External links

• [1]
• [2]
• History of Rik Fox (Part I)(2 and 3)
• Rik Fox