Rodney Facts

Rodney Charles Sheppard was born in Trinidad on November 25, 1967 (the oldest member of Sugar Ray). He is now the guitar player for Sugar Ray. When he was still just a kid, his family decided to move to Newport Beach, California. His biggest early influences were The Beatles, KISS, Jimi Hendrix, and Ace Frehley. When Rodney was younger he was really into Bruce Lee things. There was a rumor that Rodney was 'Chaka' on the "Land of The Lost" but later he put a stop to the rumor because that was his nickname because everybody used to say that he had a hairdo like Chaka did on the show. When he was only a teenage, his father died. Before he was in Sugar Ray, Rodney was a Tele-marketer but his other previous jobs were making dentures and delivering flowers. In 1979, when Rodney was in 6th grade, his mom took him and his cousin, Sean (Sugar Ray's merchandise salesman) to the Forum to see KISS on their 'Dynasty' Tour. From then on, Rod decided that he wanted to be in a band. In Rodney's 2nd year of high school he met Stan so Rodney, Stan, and Nick Sopkovich decided to make a band and they called themselves The Tories. Nick could play many instruments, Stan played drums, and Rodney played the bass because he couldn't play any guitar solos yet. So then from there they met Murf, Mark, and DJ Homicide and Nick dropped. A psychic once told Rodney he would become a success overnight and save the money because it may not last too long. Rodney is the owner of the English Bulldog in all their videos except for "Someday." His name is Austin. He doesn't like to travel and the "Someday" video was filmed in Miami so they decided to keep him home. He also has another bulldog named Lucy. In the "Fly" video, Rodney's guitar cost him about $60 (an early 80's Fender Bullet) and he also has another magnificent guitar, the dimed guitar. It has 226 dimes on it in all and he says it's a lot heavier since he put them on. At their New Years Las Vegas Party in 1998, Rodney proposed to his girlfriend of 9 years (Gretchen Fyke) and on June 6, 1998, they got married in Newport Beach, California. Rodney was 28 when Lemonade & Brownies came out, 30 when Floored came out, and 32 when 14:59 came out. Rodney says that if the band ever breaks up he would start another band.

Hobbies: Watching movies, taking Austin and Lucy to dog shows, reading, and collecting guitars
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Rod's Tattoos:
Rolling Stones tongue logo: for opening for the band in 1999
Sugar Ray in Japanese: He likes Bruce Lee and going to Japan
Three Stooges: Fan of the Three Stooges
Favorite Bands: Love, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Jam, The Pretenders, Nirvana, Oasis, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Sex Pistols, Small Faces, and KISS
Guitars: Black '76 Les Paul, a red '59 Gretsch, '66 rickenbacker, 2 Ibanez Artists, 3 Music Man/Ernie Ball Axis guitars, an early 80's Fender Bullet, '66 Gibson SG, 2 Vaccaro Generator X guitars, a '63 Harmony acoustic, an Aria classical guitar Other Instruments: Bamboo flute (used on "Live & Direct"), an acoustic Hawaiian slide guitar, a Fernandez mini American flag guitar, a Junior pro synsonics guitar (bought from home shopping network), an Appalachian Dulcimar guitar, a polkalaly, a banjalaly and a harmonica (used on the end of "Aim for Me")
Status: Married