On stage and on Labels they call him Stophira. But his real name is Ricky Willie Yanick Stophira. He is from the island of Tongoa an island in the Shepherds Group in Vanuatu. Stophira comes from a village panita. Ricky was born on the 21st of August 1992. Stophira began his journey in pursuing a music career back in 2004 when he was in grade 6 in primary school. He first started to listen to Pop music and ‘string band’ which is a local music combined with island style beats and instruments made from local material. He learned how to play string band by memorizing the cords and then moved on to guitar. Around that same year 2004 to 2005 Stophira developed the skills of playing local string band and playing guitar too. By playing those cords it enabled him to differentiate between local music and pop music. String band represented the foundation of which his skills expanded from.

At that particular age Stophira had developed an interest in music and hanged on to it ever since. Stophira teamed up with a band called Ruff House who played mostly roots reggae music back in 2013. The band consisted of mostly his older cousins. During that year around the band had been performing live shows for the very last time before they got dissolved. He pursued a Solo career from that moment. They composed their songs and the band would play for them. When Stophira joined the band Ruff House the group already existed and were in top shape. He started making some singles by singing on tracks given to him by local producers around the capital of Port Vila. In 2014 Stophira released a single with Dj Downside (Rim Selekta) featuring Metoxide and Kras Roots Star in the local dialect of the country Bislama called ‘Ren Hemi Blessing’. They composed the song right after Cylone Pam had struck the small archipelago of Vanuatu back in 2015.

He also featured in a song from the Album of Kras Ruts Star entitled ‘Enternal Life’. In 2016 most of his shows associated with Dj’s. Stophira had also appeared on other major live festivals during those premium years performing live with his group called Plan B at Fan Rebel, Pacific Mini Games 2017 Fest Napuan and other shows. Stophira had been experiencing a successful career in a short period for quite some time now. His view in the local music industry sees him struggling from a band that was falling to someone successful in his solo career. Even though the music industry was not really supported at large he likes to do music for pleasure. With this NEW label of Ezzenne Production called ‘Ignite The Spirit Riddim’ he released a song entitled ‘It’s Alright’. He tells another story of life in Port Vila the capital of Vanuatu from corruption, foreign aid impacts, life in society especially among youths, governance, and the struggle.