Biography

Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and New York City's Harlem neighborhood. He attended Florida A&M and, while visiting Atlanta, Georgia, worked his way into the music industry through connections with singer Usher, who would become one of Butler's frequent collaborators.

Butler first wrote the song "Throwback", which was performed by Usher on his Grammy Award-winning album Confessions (2004). Butler has since contributed to works which have received Grammy Awards, including Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce, Usher's Raymond v. Raymond (2009), and the albums single, "There Goes My Baby". He also co-wrote "Heart Attack" for Trey Songz, which received a nomination for the award. Throughout the decade, he would continue to write or produce other commercially successful R&B singles including Usher's "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)", Nelly's "Just a Dream" and "Gone", and Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams". He's also been credited on material for artists including Kelly Rowland, Mario, Chris Brown, Alexandra Burke, Keri Hilson, Fergie, and Fantasia.As a recording artist, Butler released two studio albums: TTLO (2015) and Even Kings Die (2018). The former album contained the single "They Don't Know". He is also the CEO of Division1, a record label which ran as a short-lived imprint of Interscope Records in 2013. As a singer, he's co-performed on records for T.I., Jermaine Dupri, Jamie Foxx, Rich Boy, and Fat Joe.