Rik Emmett

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Rik Emmett
Born	July 10, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario Canada
Genre(s)	Hard rock Rock Classical Flamenco Jazz Blues
Affiliation(s)	Triumph
Years active	1975 - present
Official site	Official website

Rik Emmett (born July 10, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario) is a vocalist, guitarist, and founding member of the Canadian rock band Triumph. Emmett left Triumph in 1988 to pursue a solo career. His first solo album, Absolutely, was released in 1990 and became a massive hit across Canada thanks to the smash hits "When A Heart Breaks" and "Saved By Love". He is also a writer for Guitar Player magazine and teaches a music business course at Humber College.

For a time during the 1980s, Rik Emmett also contributed cartoons satirising the music industry to Hit Parader magazine.

Among his peers, Rik Emmett is widely considered to be one of the most proficient and versatile guitarists of his generation. Although he is best known as a premier rock guitarist, his playing style incorporates rock, blues, jazz, classical, and flamenco techniques. Similarly, his songwriting and discography demonstrate his ability to employ and blend multiple genres. In April 2005, Emmett was lauded with the Canadian Smooth Jazz Award for Guitarist of the Year.

He is also a skilled vocalist with a wide vocal range. He was the primary singer for most Triumph songs during his time with them, though drummer Gil Moore also wrote and sang many songs. However, most of the songs garnering radio play were Emmett's as he tended to write and sing in a more "commercial" style, whilst Moore's songwriting and singing were in more of a heavy metal style.

Since leaving Triumph, Emmett has had little to no contact with his former bandmates, Moore and bassist/keyboardist Mike Levine and he receives no royalties from Triumph's recorded output. A reunion has been mooted at various times, but Emmett has declined, saying he does not trust his former partners.