Written by: Cecilia Smith of Houston TREND

As the saying goes, “Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream.”

Yet the right amount of work while awake can help it come to fruition.
Business partners as well as label owners, duo Ricky Rich and Morgan “Bless” Riley have spent years meticulously turning their collective dream into a reality.

A cell phone kiosk in a Washington mall would serve as an unconventional meeting place for two men from different walks of life; one hailing from sunny California, the other from New Orleans.

Explains Bless, “I was looking for a phone that day when one of the other salesmen asked me what I did. I told him that I had a studio at the house and was working on putting some albums out.”

That salesman was Rick, who upon hearing about the studio essentially invited himself over in order to work on his own demo.

Says Bless, “Rick pops up, ‘Oh you got a studio?!’ he invited himself over and then we got to work. That’s how we got started.”

A buzz created by shows in both Texas and Louisiana would eventually reach the ears of the legendary Pimp C, leading him to consider signing him to his label.

Unfortunately tragedy would strike before this could transpire when Pimp C passed unexpectedly in the winter of 2009. Rumor holds that their music was some of the last that he listened to prior to his sudden death.

Faced with a series of missteps and the harsh reality of the industry, the two would shift focus from their own musical endeavors in favor of creating a niche.

Says Bless, “There was a lot of money wasted and a lot of bad investments. Every level we went up it seemed to get harder.” He adds, “We started seeing a lot of holes in the game, CDs were drying up as we went into the digital age.”

They would instead invest their energy into providing a venue essential for any artist, a studio; and Studio 713 was born.

 

 “You build a temple for people to come. This is our temple.” Says Ricky Rich.

A haven for any artist or producer; as their site states, “We often rent out the studio to producers and beat makers and can accommodate any of your programming and sound design needs. If you need a video shot and edited, we got that too.”

Yet their burgeoning success was not enough to quench their ambition, and the duo has already set their sights on the future, and after researching and meeting with great minds like the inventors of iTunes and the Sim Card, the two are now in the midst of developing their own musically inspired app.

With their humble beginnings still a reminder, failure is simply not an option.

“I grew up in New Orleans. I’m just scared of poverty bro. I’m scared of my children having to struggle. It’s a hard world out there,” admits Rich.

Until their dream is fully fulfilled the work never ceases.

“By nature businessmen are supposed to do business with each other. We’re not here to beat anyone in Houston, we’re here to work with the people in Houston,” says Bless.

713-640-5428 : Phone

713-640-5278 : Fax

info@713music.com

1310 Nance St. Suite E.

http://713Music.com