Roger Chapman & The Shortlist
CAREER SUMMARY
Roger Chapman is the singer best-known in Britain for his work with Family and the 70s r'n'b band Streetwalkers. In the pre-punk era, Roger was an enormous cult figure on the British rock scene, famed for his spectacular showmanship and soaring vibrato. John Peel, the evergreen Radio 1 DJ, vowed that he'd travel colossal distances to catch a Chapman gig. But in the days when 60s musicians were being indiscriminately pensioned off in this country, upstaged by the Sex Pistols and New Wave Music, Roger poured his energies into performing abroad and thus becoming a rock exile. Through talent and resilience, he rebuilt his career in Germany during the 1980s, packing out venues, promoting a spate of successful albums and enjoying a huge European hit with his impassioned rendition of Mike Oldfield's 'Shadow on the Wall'.
Up to 1993, Chapman only played an occasional clandestine gig in Britain but following his successful 'Kick It Back' tour that year he has maintained more of a UK presence, which continues to develop to this day.
ROGER CHAPMAN IN "FAMILY"
The first phase of Roger's remarkable career was inextricably bound up with Family, whose strange eclectic music was largeley composed by him and guitarist Charlie Whitney. According to the Penguin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music, it was the band's inventiveness (plus a degree of ill-luck) that kept them from mega-status. Family's concerts were archtypal Sixties 'happenings', shattering musical events vividly remembered still by those who experienced them. It is said that even the Jimi Hendrix Experience hesitated to follow a Family set. Yet other bands of their time, though hardly superior to Family in talent, ultimately knew greater success.
Family were essentially a Leicester band that developed from 'The Farinas' with an original line up of Roger Chapman, Charlie Whitney, Ric Grech (of future Blind Faith fame), Jim King and Rob Townsend. The band moved to London and rapidly established themselves as darlings of the 'Underground' circuit. They won a recording contract with the Liberty label in 1967 and, in the autumn of 1967 released their first single 'Scene Thru The Eye Of A Lens'. This record is now a much sought after collectors item and brought the band to the notice of a wider public. John Peel, then emerging as broker-in-chief of rock reputations with his BBC Radio 1 programme Top Gear, took up the band's cause, enabling them to promote songs like 'Hey Mr Policeman' that featured on their first album.
Family started recording their first album early in 1968 with celebrated producer Jimmy Miller. However, Miller became involved in producing Beggars Banquet for the Rolling Stones so much of the production was done by Traffic's Dave Mason. Released in July 1968, 'Music In A Dolls House' was an audacious musical melange: blues, folk, jazz, pop and classical influence, not to mention what was becoming know as 'psychedelia'.
After a British tour with Jethro Tull and Ten Years After, during which they gained many new fans, Family returned to the studio to work on their second album, 'Family Entertainment'. Although the band were disappointed with the result - producer Glyn Johns mixed the tracks in the band's absence - the album rose to No. 6 in the charts and drew considerable critical acclaim.
Family were becoming a hot rock property but things started to go wrong when they embarked on their maiden US tour in early 1969. Ric Grech quit the band to join Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood in Blind Faith, although the band were fortunate enough to find a more than adequate replacement on bass and violin in John Weider. However, at Fillmore West, San Francisco's prestigious rock venue, audience reaction was poor and a mike stand flew out of the furious Chapman's grasp and nearly decapitated the late Bill Graham - who at the time was America's top rock impresario. The band was instantly blacklisted.
Family had a happier time in America in 1973, touring with Elton John, who was a big fan. Despite good critical reviews Family's music - often moody and saturnine, always brilliantly crafted - meant a lot more to European ears, and the much sought after US breakthrough went on eluding them.
In November 1969, Family had their first hit single with 'No Mules Fool'. This was the last Family record to feature Jim King, who had brought a certain classical influence to bear on the group's music. Their third album, 'A Song For Me', introduced Poli Palmer on flute and vibes, and progressed to No. 4 in the charts.
The bands following was growing apace - and nowhere, curiously enough, were they more popular than in Scotland where a Glasgow evening newspaper twice gave over its front page to them. In August 1970 they released a three track maxi-single with 'Strange Band' as the title track although it was a re-mixed version of Chapman's song 'The Weavers Answer' that began to receive extensive airplay and ultimately reached No. 11 in the British charts.
Their fourth album, a half live/half studio affair entitled 'Anyway', which includes vintage Chapman/Whitney compositions like 'Holding The Compass' and 'Lives And Ladies' reached No. 7 in the charts.
In the Summer of 1971 John Weider left and was replaced by the excellent bassist/singer John Wetton. Wetton played and sang on the band's next album 'Fearless' which appeared in October 1971 and from the same sessions (but not on the album) came the highly commercial single 'In My Own Time', which gave the band their biggest British hit by reachimg No. 4 in the charts. Family were now at the peak of their powers.
Their penultimate album, 'Bandstand', was released in the autumn of 1972 and featured the raunchy 'Burlesque' that reached No. 13 in the singles chart and virtually became Roger Chapman's personal anthem. Around this time, perhaps disappointed by the band's persistent failure to cross the line that seperates a highly regarded group from superstardom, Poli Palmer and John Wetton decided to leave.
With Jim Cregan as a makeshift bass player and Tony Ashton on keyboards, Family recorded their final album, 'Its Only A Movie', in the summer of 1973. While the album contained excellent songs the band decided to call it a day and bowed out with a hugely successful farewell tour in the autumn. The tour finished back in their hometown of Leicester on October 13th with an emotion ridden finale at the Polytechnic.
ROGER CHAPMAN IN "THE STREETWALKERS"
After the split of Family in 1973 Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney continued their highly productive song-writing partnership into the band 'Streetwalkers'. Purveyors of rock that was as hard as it was raw, Streetwalkers incited fervour all over Europe, and in the mid-70s Roger's perennially inspired performances recruited fans who were a little too young to recall his days with Family. Made with a host of musicians, including some ex-Family members, their first album, Chapman/Whitney Streetwalkers (1974) while containing several strong songs, was uneven and lacked the strength of a co-ordinated 'band'. But later, with a settled line-up incorporating the talented singer/guitarist Bobby Tench, Streetwalkers' music progressed rapidly, and their subsequent studio albums 'Downtown Flyers' (1975), 'Red Card' (1976) and 'Vicious But Fair' (1977) evinced craft, verve and much harmonic subtlety.
Family's music had always been marked by extremes of ferocity and tenderness, violence and control; and Streetwalkers, too, could be a band of extremes. Among their numbers were rabid numbers like 'Burn It Down' on 'Downtown Flyers' but also mellifluous ballads like the same album's 'Gypsy Moon', one of Chapman and Whitney's finest compositions in that particular vein. 'Red Card' and 'Vicious But Fair' contained fine powerful rock music. The group returned to London's Roundhouse for a phenomenal show: Chappo, moving about and whirling like a dervish, was so completely lost in his (and the audiences) enjoyment of the music that, whilst stomping around the stage, he damaged his foot near the end of the set and sang the last couple of songs, visibly in agony, crawling around on the floor !
If Streetwalkers never measured up to Family, they became a highly distinctive band whose compulsive syncopated funk so pervasively shaped the rock music of the period. The bands fiery career climaxed with a live double album called simply 'Streetwalkers Live' - of indifferent recording quality but including a torrid rendering of their creepy show piece 'Dice Man' (from 'Vicious But Fair') - not to mention an exultant version of the old Family favorite 'My Friend The Sun'.
Yet once again, despite a not unsuccessful tour of the United States, transatlantic acclaim proved elusive. In an atmosphere clouded by management difficulties and feeling they had 'run each other dry', Chapman and Whitney decided to separate. Despite being a remarkable collaboration, the partnership never received the credit it deserved.
ROGER CHAPMAN SOLO
In the late 70s Roger recorded his first solo album, 'Chappo', appearing on the cover in the guise of an OTIS lift engineer clad in a red boiler suit - as ever declining to look remotely like a pop star. 'Chappo' was a collaboration with David Courtney and featured songs that were to become live favorites like 'Moth To A Flame', 'Who Pulled The Night Down' and paying homage to Tim Hardin with a superb cover version of his 'Hang On To A Dream'. When he toured Britain in 1979, Chapman's stark, tuneful r&b was enthusiastically received by both rock fans and reviewers. Yet it quickly became plain that from the point of view of the fashion-conscious British music business, he was swimming against the tide: this was an era when the pop business was lavishing resources on the Sex Pistols and their protégés, and nobody appeared much interested in sustaining the career of a veteran rock singer from the 60s - especially one with a stubborn indifference to matters of marketing or image.
A rock workaholic bereft of work, Roger endured a period of purgatory. However, chance landed him in Hamburg with a bunch of hired hands and he wound up on the top German TV rock show, Rockpalast, which went out to 14 countries with something like 25 million people looking in. In Germany he was reborn. A rousing and very vocal version of the Stones' 'Let's Spend The Night Together' was released as a single, reached the German charts, and with it came public interest and acclaim. The album 'Live In Hamburg' was released in both England and Germany and included a version of Micky Jupp's song 'Shortlist', which was to become both a stage favorite and the longstanding name of Chappo's backing band. This was the first of a torrent of albums released in Germany and other parts of Europe during the 1980s. Roger proved there was still a big market there for plain old fashioned rock, executed with passion, panache and professionalism. The German record industry judged him outstanding in the field of international rock, honouring him with its top accolade.
'Mail Order Magic' was released in 1980. For this and many subsequent albums, and the live shows, Chappo called on a nucleus of musicians- many of whom he had played with in the ad hoc line-ups of Hinkley's Heroes. In Germany they took 'Unknown Soldier' from it for the single, while other gems on the album include 'Barman' and 'Higher Ground'.
'Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun', which followed in 1981 gave more of the same kind of music, including more great rock songs like 'Prisoner', 'Jukebox Mama' and the title track. The double live album 'He Was, She Was' was released in 1982 and featured crack British musicians like saxophonist Nick Pentelow, keyboard player Tim Hinkley and guitarists Geoff Whitehorn and Steve Simpson. It is worth listening to this prodigious album, among the most vibrant live rock albums of its kind ever recorded, and remembering that here is an artist who was viewed by record companies in Britain as a has been.
The more polished 'Mango Crazy' followed in 1983 and, like the previous two albums, was successful in Germany. However, by the mid-1980s Roger was showing signs of stagnating. 'The Shadow Knows' (1984) and 'Zipper' were not his best; the former contained a few highlights including 'Sweet Vanilla' which also appeared on a BBC single as the flip side of 'Speak For Yourself', a BBC themetune. 'Zipper' was a heavy riffs album with Geoff Whitehorn and the use of drum machines to the fore.
His brief collaboration with the Dutch Bolland Brothers which yielded the album 'Techno Prisoners' in 1987 was perhaps somewhat ill-advised, though the inclusion of a re-recording of 'Prisoner' and the single from it 'Drum', make it well worth a hearing.
Before the decade was out, Roger confounded the critics, releasing one of his finest albums. Bursting with strength and melody, 'Walking The Cat' is a classic rock album, which stayed in the German charts for some 3 months in 1989. It reverted to a more live feel, away from the previous techno stuff. 'Son Of Red Moon', 'Come the Dark Night' and 'Hands Off' are the highlights on a recording which features musicians Bobby Tench, Alvin Lee and Micky Moody. His 1990 album 'Hybrid And Lowdown' also featured Bobby Tench, who co-wrote one song; 'Cops in Shades' while 'Under No Obligation', released in 1992 , is only available as an import.
The period that followed saw the release in the UK by Castle Communications of 'Kick It Back', a compilation of songs from 'Walking The Cat' and 'Hybrid And Lowdown' while several of Chappo's other solo recordings have also been released by Castle. Apart from maintaining his presence on the German tour circuit, Roger has recently been more active in the UK, completing a 14 date tour in March 1993 and several mini tours since. He has become quite a regular performer at the Robin RnB club in Dudley, Birmingham where his performances always go down a storm to a packed audience.
Following the conclusion of a recording contract with the release in Germany of the compilation album 'King Of The Shouters' in 1994, Roger released a new album 'Kiss My Soul' in 1996 with song writing collaborations with the likes of John Wetton, Jim Cregan, Steve Simpson and Micky Moody - without a doubt a storming comeback album which included the now classic songs 'Into The Bright', 'Kiss My Soul' & 'Habits Of A Lifetime'.
Another fine studio album, 'A Turn Unstoned', was released in 1998. Instead of the wide range of guest musicians brought together to record previous albums, 'A Turn Unstoned' featured the nucleus of 'The Shortlist', including Steve Simpson, Ian Gibbons & Laurie Wisefield. The year also saw a welcome re-appearance on the Easter 'Rockpalast' show broadcast around Europe from Germany.
Fans eagerly awaiting another 'live' Chappo album were rewarded in 1999 with the release of the double CD 'In My Own Time - Live'.
The third millenium continues to see Roger actively pursuing his career. For him rock music is a vocation, a life long commitment. Mention retirement and he gapes at you with stark disbelief. 'Retire?' he snaps. Long may that attitude remain. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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