Richard J Oliver

Oliver and the band remotely knew each other, as they were part of the same music scene. Oliver used to play bass guitar in small local bands in his late teens, and was offered a position as the lead vocalist in Ian Watkins and Lee Gaze's first band, Fleshbind. He declined the offer as he had to go to university. Before joining the band, he was a painter. "I grew up in the valleys painting the villages, painting the people, painting the mountains," Oliver told Wales Online in April 2012. "That was all I knew, just the colours of the valleys. Having travelled round the world and living somewhere else now, those colours are unique to Wales," he added. ==Career==

Music career Lostprophets stated that Oliver was only added to the band so he could go on tour with them as a photographer, for they were impressed by his work. Oliver was also the keyboard and synthesiser player and founding member of the Welsh/American alternative rock band No Devotion, whose debut album was released in September 2015 and won the Kerrang! Award for Best Album. He departed the band in 2017 to focus on his art career. Subsequent work Oliver is also an artist and had made quite a successful career before joining Lostprophets. Some of his works have been known to sell for up to £5,000 each. As an adolescent he used to take photos of small-town life in his Welsh village of Cilfynydd, in the community of Pontypridd, and painted them back on canvas. From 2009, he started to paint again, stating that his new works allowed him to express himself much better as an artist than his older works did. His newer works mostly represent children finding themselves alone in landscapes of war or desolation. Oliver attributes this recurring theme to the fears brought by fatherhood in our current world state. He also mentioned the study of Taoism and meditation helped him develop the new expression technique. Oliver's first showing in America opened in Los Angeles at the Known Gallery, in January 2013, displaying most of his newer works. Oliver also collaborated with the association skate4cancer, painting the piece "Dream, Love, Cure" and selling prints for the charity. Oliver started to take up walking up mountains to improve his mental and physical health, and as an escapism from all of the difficulties and challenges he was facing. From the end of his career as a musician, to both of his sons being diagnosed with learning disabilities, Oliver eventually received professional help. Since October 2017 he has started working with fitness coaching and eventual training at 24 Hour Fitness, and he became a BodyPump and GX24 instructor. He has made it his mission and goal to aim, help, motivate and inspire others to improve and overcome their physical and mental health problems and become the best version of themselves. ==Personal life==

Oliver resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Michelle. ==Discography==

;Lostprophets • The Fake Sound of Progress (2001, remaster) • Start Something (2004) • Liberation Transmission (2006) • The Betrayed (2010) • Weapons (2012) ;No Devotion • Permanence (2015) ==References==