Meet the Beautiful Humans
Beautifully Human is an acoustic musical duo, sometimes trio, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Singer-songwriter, Rowan Desautels, performs lead vocals and piano, and her step-father, experienced musician John Brittingham, accompanies her on piano, guitar, and percussion. The duo often performs with the talented Richie Oliver, who joins the fun with killer vocals and guitar.
Rowan Desautels
Lead Vocals/Piano/Guitar
Rowan Desautels, is an up and coming singer-songwriter from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Rowan discovered her love for music at the age of 11 when her mother rekindled her high school romance with Rowan’s now step-father, John Brittingham. Rowan and John performed a song together at Rowan’s great-grandfather’s funeral, and the two have been playing music together as Beautifully Human ever since. Rather than spending her time behind a screen during quarantine, Rowan took it upon herself to learn piano, and she recently acquired her very own baby grand, which now occupies the entire living room of her family home. Rowan is a sophomore at Dartmouth High School, where she has starred as Sophie in the DHTC production of Mama Mia in May of 2023. She is currenty cast as Sandy in the upcoming May production of Grease. Rowan aspires to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston one day and currently plays music around the New Bedford area to earn money to apply towards tuition. She often says, “piano is my soul”, and she hopes to release her first album of original songs later this year. When not singing or playing piano (which is almost always), you can find Rowan drawing sketches, with her nose in a book, writing short stories, playing Dungeons & Dragons, or playing Cora Cartwright as a member of the cast at King Richard's Faire.
John Brittingham
Guitar/Piano/Percussion
John Brittingham began his musical journey in the 90's in Southern California, where his band The Easy Ryders gathered a steady following of like-minded, music-loving humans, and eventually became the de-facto opening act for many headlining reggae bands touring through the area. Originally a percussionist, John had the opportunity to share the stage with some of the legendary Reggae greats such as Steel Pulse, Rusted Root, Eek-a-mouse, Meshell Ndegeocello, Damien Marley, and the remaining members of the legendary group The Wailers. Given the opportunity to pass his love of music on to the next generation of performers, he has worked to rekindle his talents out from behind the drum set, in order to develop a new creative avenue for expression alongside his step-daughter Rowan. When not making music, John works as an engineer on satellite communications platforms and is the proud father of three boys and two step-daughters. He also works with businesses around New Bedford hosting weekly D&D game nights in order to encourage the world, or at least his local community, to make more time for fun in life!
Richie Oliver
Vocals/Guitar
Richie Oliver is a multi-talented singer, musician and artist based in Lakeville, Massachusetts and boasts a diverse catalog of original Folk music, poetry, and covers spanning various genres. When Richie is not playing with Beautifully Human, you may find him in his one-man, acoustic tribute to Cat Stevens.
Richie isn’t just a musician. A member of New Bedford Theater groups Your Theatre Inc. and The Collective, Richie’s past stage roles include Albert Einstein in Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Meg in Crimes of the Heart.
When not on a stage, Richie works as a Budtender and Marketer in the Cannabis Industry.