RICKY Zen, the effervescent owner of the Flamingo Splash Lounge in Kata, was once a star in Las Vegas where he sang with some of the biggest names in showbusiness, including Tom Jones, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Ricky, who is part Seminole Indian gave up the ‘good life’ to make Phuket his permanent home, and he has no reservations about what he wants to do. Showbusiness has always been in his blood, and, even from an early age, he was destined to be a star.

His mother was a professional dancer who danced with Fred Astaire, and she was a great inspiration to the young Ricky. Although the family weren’t poor, there was little money to spare and Ricky was always looking for ways to ‘make a buck’.

When he was seven, he noticed his neighbour’s lawn was overgrown, and he offered to clear it for them … for a fee. “That was the start of my business life,” he said. “Since then, I have only ever worked for myself.”

Ricky’s family was always close.“We would always be together and sometimes we’d have sing-along’s, so when my parents split up, it was quite traumatic,” he said.

Ricky is a devout animal lover, and as a young boy, he developed an interest in
animals, especially the wild variety. “My father would take me fishing in the everglades, and we would watch how the ‘gators moved and he taught me how not to annoy poisonous snakes,” he said.

When he was 19, Ricky moved to The Wildlife Waystation, a 160-acre ranch in Angeles National Forest above the San Fernando Valley, where he spent two years living in a small trailer with a possum and a barn owl. In his waking hours, he looked after the park’s menagerie of exotic animals which included lions, tigers, wolves and even Michael Jackson’s giraffe.

“That was probably the best time of my life,” he said.

His love of animals still lingers and he is a fervent supporter of the Soi Dogs Foundation.

Ricky moved back to Florida to look after his father who had suffered a massive heart attack, but he continued his entrepreneurial ways, selling hand-made art objects at the local markets.

Then his father died.

“That knocked the bottom out of my world,” he said. “I went from being ‘Jack the Lad’ to a virtual recluse because I was depressed and lost without my dad.”

A friend took Ricky to a bar to cheer him up. They planned to play pool and get drunk, but Ricky was invited to get up with the band and sing Elvis Presley’s Teddy Bear. And he stole the show. “That was the first time I had ever been on stage, but the crowd loved me,” he said.

Ricky Zen, the singer, was born.

He started playing in bars and clubs, and pretty soon, he was in big demand. His fame spread and he was asked to join the Elvis Tour Bus travelling show. They ended up in Las Vegas and Ricky and the gang were asked to sing at a birthday party for Evil Knieval at Caesar’s Palace.

Ricky found himself sitting next to Tom Jones, who asked him to sing the Elvis song, Trouble, with him. The duet went down well, and before long, Ricky was being booked to appear all over Vegas.

He starred in the Legends of Concert show, singing Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis covers. But Ricky wanted more, and he started singing with stars like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Lou Diamond Philips and the Nelson Twins.

He toured Australia and New Zealand with a show called ‘Reflections of Rock and Roll’, but had to leave the tour when a close friend back home was diagnosed with scoliosis and needed major surgery.

Ricky and his friend, Frankie, had been close friends for many years, so Ricky moved into his house to look after him. He stayed for almost a year and went back to singing in casinos.

“Frankie was a legend. He sang with Johnny Cash and Debbie Reynolds and, despite his disability, he was always positive,” said Ricky. “He never complained about anything.”

Ricky toured Asia, and when the tour was over, he took time out for a holiday in Phuket.
“I wanted to see what Thailand was like,” he said.

One night, he called into the Safari Pub and Disco where he got up and sang a song with his now very good friend, Donny Pardel. “I was enjoying myself, and I really liked the whole feel about Thailand,” he said. “It felt like home.”

Ricky ripped up his return ticket and has been here ever since.

He started out singing in the old Marguerita Bar and then landed a residency at the Amari Hotel. He managed to get a work permit and he built up a solid following. But he was finding it restrictive being in one place all the time, and he wanted to expand his horizons.

He agreed to stay and perform at the Christmas concerts at the Evason Resort, and was there when the tsunami struck in 2004. Ricky helped Patong Beach Rotarians Larry Amsden and Brad Kenny look after the tsunami survivors. But that was not enough, and he asked his showbusiness friends in America to organise a series of Live Aid concerts to raise money for the tsunami victims. He was presented with an award for his services to the Tsunami victims.

He took time off to tour America and performed at a Live Aid concert in Las Vegas, urging people to do their bit for Thailand by coming back as tourists. While he was in Vegas, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and he was asked to raise money for the victims there too.

Another award followed.

Ricky loves his life in Phuket and he has turned down lucrative job offers in Japan and Las Vegas which would have meant leaving the island.

Ricky is still very much the consummate party animal, and most nights you will find him singing up a storm around the pool at his Flamingo Splash Lounge in Kata’s Night Bazaar, opposite Club Med.