Rick graduated from the University of Southern Maine with degrees in Music Education and English. Elementary teachers across the country use his music in their classrooms to enhance and facilitate their language arts programs. He has been a featured speaker at the Northeast Whole Language Conference, a keynote speaker at the National Association for The Education of Young Children Conference in Washington, D.C. as well as other education conferences around the United States. Rick travels throughout the U.S. and Canada performing at schools and concert halls. For large concert events he performs with The Bubblegum Band and has appeared in venues such as Riverfest in Little Rock, Arkansas; Boston Citywide Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, and Imagination Parade - a live concert radio broadcast in New York City. His music has been featured on Peter Pan and Walt Disney Records and been cited in Entertainment Weekly and Billboard magazines. The television broadcast on NBC-TV affiliates in New England entitled "An Evening with Rick Charette" won the National IRIS Award for programming excellence. His music receives airplay on such radio networks as KTOO-FM, Juneau, Alaska which syndicates its program "We Like Kids" on 35 public radio stations around the US Concert excerpts of his songs are a regular feature on "The Learning Channel" (national cable). Rick is the author of I Love Mud and his next picture book is inspired by his song Where Do My Sneakers Go? A life-long resident of Maine, Rick and his wife have three grown children, and he continues to enjoy performing and creating music for young children & families.

Russ creates his art using digital software, primarily Clip Studio and other digital tools. He works in traditional mediums, often with a mixture of paper, pencil, pen & ink, gouache, and watercolor. 

Russ lives in Maine with his wife and three cats. To learn more about Russ visit www.smilingotis.com