Richard Manitoba

Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba (born Richard Blum, January 29, 1954) is an American punk rock singer and radio personality, best known as the lead singer of the New York City band The Dictators.

Manitoba is Jewish, and was born in The Bronx, New York, in 1954. He started out his singing career as a roadie for The Dictators. He made his "official stage debut" with The Dictators at Popeye's Spinach Factory in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in 1975.

The band's first major-label album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (Epic Records, 1975), featured his picture on the cover and he was listed as the "Secret Weapon". While he sang some lead and some background, he was still considered a "mascot" of the band. He sang more lead on The Dictators' second offering, Manifest Destiny, a 1977 release on the Asylum label. On Bloodbrothers, the third and final Dictators studio recording from the 1970s (also on Asylum, 1978), Manitoba sang lead vocals on almost all the tracks. The Dictators disbanded in late 1981.

In 1986 Manitoba along with former Dictators formed Wild Kingdom. In 1989, the band changed the name to Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and, in 1990, released an album ...And You? on MCA Records.

The Dictators reformed in 1991 from the ashes of Manitoba's Wild Kingdom.

Manitoba appeared in the 2004 documentary Kiss Loves You.

In 2004, Manitoba began hosting "The Handsome Dick Manitoba Radio Program" in Little Steven Van Zandt's Underground Garage channel, on Sirius XM Radio. In 2005 the Village Voice awarded him "Best Satellite Radio DJ". The show continues to this day.

In 2005, Manitoba joined the reformed MC5 on vocals, replacing original singer Rob Tyner, who died in 1991. The band broke up with the death of bassist Michael Davis in 2012.

In 2007, Manitoba co-authored, with Amy Wallace, The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists (Backstreet Books).

A re-formed Manitoba's Wild Kingdom played at the 2008 Joey Ramone Birthday Bash.

In January 2012 for Anything Anything with Rich Russo's radio show as part of the Light of Day festival in Asbury Park Manitoba, along with Ross the Boss, J.P. Patterson, Daniel Rey, and Dean Rispler, formed a new group, Manitoba. In May 2013 the group was renamed The Dictators NYC.

Manitoba, along with his wife and bartender Zoe Hansen, currently owns and operates his own punk rock bar "Manitoba's" in New York City.