Cheryl Richards began singing at age 11 when she joined the award-winning Seattle Girls’ Choir.  With the choir she toured Europe, the United States, and Canada and participated in numerous choral festivals and competitions.  In 1993, she earned her BFA in music from Cornish College of the Arts and for many years, she primarily sang classical music.  She is a co-founder of a Renaissance Vocal Quartet, Oriana (1993–1997), which performed at venues throughout the Pacific Northwest, recorded a CD of madrigals and Renaissance songs, and regularly participated in festivals including Bumbershoot and the Folklife Festival.  She created and performed original music for a number of choreographers and dance companies, including Jeff Bickford Dance, and performed regularly at venues including On the Boards, the New City Theater, the Nippon Kan Theatre, and the Broadway Performance Hall.  She is also a co-founder of the band Lionfish, which recorded a CD of original music and performed regularly throughout the Seattle area (1997–1999). She has self-produced a concerts and events including a staged revue of songs from the 1930s at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (1999) and an evening of Spanish and Portuguese songs at Faust Harrison Pianos in Manhattan (2002).  Cheryl moved to New York in 2000 and has been singing jazz and improvised music since 2002 when she began studying with Connie Crothers. She has performed at venues including the Stone in Manhattan as well as Galapagos Art Space, Cafe Orwell, Clover’s Café, and Abigail in Brooklyn. She has worked with musicians including Connie Crothers (piano), Nick Lyons (alto sax), Rob Israel (bass), Adam Caine (guitar), Adam Lane (bass), Bud Tristano (guitar), and Bill Payne (clarinet), among others.