roger chapman biography

Family Bandstand

unofficial online archive for UK rock group Family

Roger Chapman

Lead vocals on all seven albums.

Roger Chapman: A Melodic Journey Through Adversity and Artistry

Born Roger Maxwell Chapman on a spring Wednesday, April 8, 1942, in the historic city of Leicester, Leicestershire, England, his early life was marked by both challenges and creativity. Chapman’s educational journey began at All Saints Junior School, progressing to Ellis Intermediate Boys School, where he shared halls with future Family drummer Rob Townsend.

The landscape of Chapman’s early years was shaped by personal trials, including the departure of his father when he was just 18 months old. This left his mother to single-handedly nurture Roger and his older brother, Tony Chapman (born Anthony Chapman). Their childhood was a tapestry of separation and reunion, as the brothers navigated the complexities of being placed in care, only to be reunited and separated once more.

Despite these upheavals, Chapman’s path to music was serendipitous rather than premeditated. It all began in 1958, on the cobbled streets of Leicester, where he and his friends, then mere 16-year-olds, harmonized to the rhythm and blues of The Coasters, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis. It wasn’t just a pastime; it was the birth of a passion. Their talent shone through in local contests, where they initially performed under the name The Searchers.

Chapman’s musical voyage took a decisive turn when he joined The Rocking R’s, a local group renowned in Leicester for their Ray Charles renditions. It was a natural fit for Chapman, whose raw vocal talent found its true expression in the soulful strains of blues and rock ‘n’ roll.

Roger Chapman: Stepping Stones in Life and Art

In 1959, at the tender age of 17, Roger Chapman embarked on his journey into show business. That same year marked his inaugural public performance at The Palais De Dance in Leicester with The Rockin’ R’s, signaling the start of an extraordinary musical career. Having recently bid farewell to his school days, Chapman harbored aspirations for art college. Yet, life had other plans for him. Embracing his pragmatic side, he embarked on an apprenticeship in painting and decorating, a path that diverged from his artistic dreams but grounded him in real-world experiences.

Chapman’s foray into the workforce continued with a stint as a steel fixer, a role that proved to be short-lived. His tenure in the job came to an abrupt end after a few months, as he found the structured world of conventional work ill-suited to his free-spirited nature. In this period of exploration, he dabbled in various jobs, from factory work to odd jobs, searching for his place in the world.

At 19, in 1961, a year that proved to be pivotal, Chapman expressed his rebellious spirit through the permanent ink of ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed across his knuckles. In the same breath of youthful spontaneity, he married his 17-year-old girlfriend and embraced fatherhood a few months later. However, this chapter of his life was as fleeting as it was intense, with the marriage concluding in 1962, just a year after it began.

Roger Chapman: The Evolution of a Rock Maestro

Following his tenure with The Rocking R’s, Roger Chapman’s musical trajectory continued to ascend as he joined The Exciters (also known as X-Citers), alongside future Farinas bassist Ric Grech and lead guitarist Stuart Brown. During this period, Chapman also played a role in a lesser-known band, Denis and the Rockets, showcasing his versatility and eagerness to explore different musical avenues.

Chapman’s journey then led him to The Strollers, a band that provided backing for the emerging singer Danny Storm (born David Hurran in 1944, Leicester, Leicestershire, England). Danny Storm, with the support of The Strollers, achieved notable success with his April 1962 hit ‘Honest I Do.’ The original lineup of The Strollers included Geoff Chalk, Tony Burnett, and Colin Angel (born Colin Wilsher), who initially backed Danny Storm in Southampton, Hampshire. The group later saw the addition of drummer Barney Peacock. Chapman’s time with The Strollers was a pivotal experience, as it took him to Germany alongside Storm, further broadening his musical horizons.

Upon his return, a significant turning point in Chapman’s career unfolded. Charlie Whitney and Jim King, recognizing his burgeoning talent, approached Chapman directly at a building site. In a moment that would alter the course of his musical journey, they invited him to join The Farinas. This momentous invitation, extended in early 1966, marked the beginning of a new chapter in Chapman’s musical story.

It’s noteworthy that Whitney’s connection with Chapman dated back to an earlier encounter at The Palais De Dance in Leicester in the early 60s. Whitney, having been impressed by Chapman’s vocal prowess, sought him out for a gig. Although Chapman was unable to commit, he facilitated Whitney’s search by introducing him to another suitable singer. This act of camaraderie and Chapman’s evident talent laid the groundwork for their future collaboration in The Farinas.

From Roger’s Public Relations Dept.: “After a career spanning 30 years, Roger Chapman’s fiery stage presence remains undimmed. He still struts and frets, wringing every syllable from a multicoloured repertoire of rock, soul and ballads. His astounding voice rips through the lyrics, devastating the unsuspecting listener with raw emotion. The sheer power and commitment of his delivery is a revelation to audiences brought up on a diet of blandness and mediocrity. Chappo is both a legend of rock past and a pioneer of rock present, and the story is still very much unfolding…”

For more Chappo info, please visit Roger Chapman Appreciation Society

1979-2000 History by Andy Jago

On Thursday February 22nd, 1979 Roger Chapman walked onto the stage at the Oxford Student Union to the opening bars of Moth to a Flame dressed in a red boiler suit from the Otis Training School Montrose. He was to join Clem Clemson (guitar), Jerome Rimson (bass), Tim Hinkley (keyboards), Raf Ravenscroft (sax), Stretch (drums) and backing vocalists Helen Hardy and Kathy O’Donoghue. A fine assembly of musicians gathered together under the banner ‘The Shortlist’, a name taken from Mickey Jupp’s song of the same title from his 1978 album Juppanese. It was a song adopted by Chappo that soon became the band’s anthem. “I was down at the office listening to the tape and liked the stuff a lot – it was my type of music. We started playing Shortlist, then the agency wanted a name for the band so it seemed like a good idea”.

Oxford was the first of a twenty three-day British Tour to promote the 36 year olds long awaited solo album Chappo . The tour, consisting of sixteen concerts, a combination of clubs and universities throughout England and Scotland, ended on March 16th at Birmingham’s Barbarellas.

The band had been put together with the help of Chapman’s long time friend and keyboard player, Tim Hinkley, the pioneer of Hinkley’s Heroes. Together they pieced the band together. Clem Clemson of Humble Pie fame was asked after Mick Grabham of Procol Harum was unavailable. Jerome Rimson had played with Van Morrison and Detroit Emeralds as well as producing the debut album of the Real Thing. Raf Ravenscroft was with Gerry Rafferty and is best known for the sax solo on Baker Street. Stretch had been touring with Marvin Gaye. Helen Hardy and Kathy O’Donoghue were drafted in when Joy Yates and Vicky Brown, who both appeared on the Chappo album, were unavailable to tour. Chappo later said of this band “Raf and Clem live were tremendous; doubling lines on Midnite Child was a particular delight and the rest lived up to their professional reputations. I obviously wanted to do the gigs but there was nothing permanent as far as the band went”. It has remained that way ever since.

After the debut tour they performed at The Venue in Victoria, London twice at the end of April, the first being broadcast on the BBC Radio programme ‘John Peel Session’, and again at the end of June. Already the line-up of the band had changed with Geoff Whitehorn replacing Bobby Tench who had replaced Clem Clemson for the June dates, and Mel Collins replacing Raf Ravenscroft.

On August 28th and 29th the band played two concerts at The Markthalle in Hamburg. The first was recorded for the Live in Hamburg   album, the second, with Nick Pentelow replacing Mel Collins on tenor saxophone, was filmed by ‘Rockpalast’ and later screened on German TV. Chappo’s version of the Rolling Stones Let’s Spend The Night Together was then released as a single and received much air play in the UK and on the continent.

Promoting the launch of his solo career had been hard work but a monumental success, with much praise and back slapping along the way. Not happy to sit back and soak up the plaudits, Chappo and the band were back on the road once again in the November. Starting at The Venue in London on November 10th the band went on to play fourteen universities up and down the country, including three in Scotland, finishing at Leicester University on December 4th. On January 5th, 1980 The Shortlist appeared at The Paris Studio’s in London to record ‘In Concert’ for BBC Radio. A feat they repeated later that year on December 19th when Helen Hardy and Kathy O’Donoghue made their last appearance together with the band. The following night Chappo appeared at The Venue with Hinkley’s Heroes and a ten piece backing band – Tim Hinkley (keyboards), Geoff Whitehorn (guitar), Steve Simpson (guitar and vocals), Henry McCullough (guitar and vocals), Jerome Rimson (bass guitar), Poli Palmer (vibes), Mel Collins (saxophone), Mitch Mitchell (drums), John Halsey (drums and vocals) and Duncan Kinnel (percussion). This mind-blowing assembly then played the Rock City in Nottingham on December 23rd. Merry Christmas!

But 1980 had not been a happy year for Chappo. After the initial euphoria things had started to turn a little sour. Chris Youle’s record label, Acrobat, which had released Chappo and Live in Hamburg , folded during the making of Mail Order Magic . It left Chappo high and dry as no record label in England showed willing to complete the album. He turned to Germany where he received support and backing from Line Records which enabled the album to be completed and released. The experience and circumstances understandably left Chappo hurt, disillusioned and bitter towards the music business back home. “I’d been battering my brains out for years in the UK but musicians like me get slagged to death and I didn’t need that. When I got the chance to have a go on the continent, where people actually admire what I do, I went over there to make my living”.

Mail Order Magic was released at the end of 1980 with a promotional tour of Germany organised for the first two months of 1981. He invited Steve Simpson, Boz Burrell and Poli Palmer, from Hinkley’s Heroes, to team up with Geoff Whitehorn, Tim Hinkley, Nick Pentelow and Stretch. On October 17th, 1981 this band also appeared at the Grughalle, Essen at 4.00am, a concert again screened by Germany’s top music show ‘Rockpalast’. The show was shown in fourteen countries to a viewing audience of over 25 million. Chappo, looking fit and slim, was at his very best. It was a memorable concert that was to launch him to the heights he had worked so long and hard for. If these guys had been together ten years earlier, instead of at a time when Britain was indulging itself in the aftermath of Punk and New Romanticism, they would unquestionably have generated a huge following in England.

To build on this new found success, the November / December tour of Germany was recorded and released in 1982 as a double live album He Was She Was You Was We Was which stands as being one of the best live albums of that period. For the first time in his life Roger Chapman was receiving the recognition and acclaim he justly deserved, confirmed when he was voted Germany’s overseas number one vocalist and the album Hyena’s Only Laugh For Fun International Album of the Year.

During 1982 and 1983 Roger Chapman and The Shortlist also performed under the pseudonym The Riffburglers, each member taking false names, Chappo being Sonny Spider. Primarily performing cover versions of artists from their musical roots the band recorded two albums. In 1981 The Legendary Funny Cider Sessions (or Riff Burgler) and in 1983 Swag . The former includes a Chapman / Seals penned country influenced number (Get Out Your) Big Roll Daddy which was later recorded in 1991 by Jerry Lee Lewis on his Honky Tonk Rock ‘n’ Roll Piano album. A deed Chappo regards as a highlight of his recording career.

The line-up of The Shortlist had changed by the time Mango Crazy was released in 1983. Tim Hinkley, Poli Palmer and Stretch had moved on, leaving Geoff Whitehorn, Steve Simpson, Boz Burrell, Nick Pentelow and Alan Coulter on drums. After the European tour to promote the album, which began on April 19th at the Regal Theatre, Hitchin and concluded on June 26th at Spuugh in Valls, Steve Simpson and Boz Burrell also went their separate ways. Chappo, meanwhile, strengthened his popularity further by recording Shadow On The Wall for Mike Oldfield’s Crisis album. The first single taken from the album, Moonlight Shadow, stayed in the German Top 20 charts for 19 weeks, peaking at number 2. The follow up, Shadow On The Wall, entered the charts in October 1983 and remained for 14 weeks, reaching number 3 in early December. “This was a good period for me, things were blossoming, even seriously booming away, especially in Germany” explained Chappo proudly.

Chapman had also earlier appeared on Mike Batts 1979 rock musical Tarot Suite , singing Imbecile and Run Like The Wind. Colin Blunstone also appeared as vocalist on Losing Your Way In The Rain. In 1986 Chappo also recorded with The Box Of Frogs, a band featuring several members of The Yardbirds, including Jimmy Page, on the Strange Land album. Chappo featured on the songs Strange Land and Heartful Of Soul.

By 1984 The Shortlist had a completely new look built around Geoff Whitehorn and Nick Pentelow. Tony Stevens (bass), ex-Streetwalker Brian Johnstone (keyboards) and Sam Kelly (drums) were drafted in and toured extensively throughout the year. In the July German television broadcast ‘Lieder im Park’ (Songs in the Park) which was filmed at the FSV Stadion in Frankfurt, with Chappo sporting a new bleached hairstyle. ‘The Busted Loose Tour’ of Germany, Austria and Denmark to promote The Shadow Knows album and the new single Leader Of Men began on the 12th October in Bremen and finished on 9th December in Berlin. The concerts at the Metropol, West Berlin on December 8th and the Metropol, East Berlin on December 9th were recorded and released five years later in 1989 as Live in Berlin .

The next time the band assembled was at the Glastonbury Festival on June 21st, 1985 when The Shortlist was made up of Geoff Whitehorn, Bobby Tench, Tony Stevens, Brian Johnstone, Nick Pentelow and John Lingwood (drums). This line-up appeared at various European festivals throughout the summer opening the set with Dancing In The Street.

The next few years saw a period of transition and experimentation in the studio as Chappo changed direction somewhat with the release of Zipper in 1985 and Techno-Prisoners in 1987. Zipper had been the third successive studio album co-produced by Chapman and Whitehorn, but as it happens the last. At his own admittance in an interview with Pete Feenstra in 1992 Chappo declared “I hate producing, I’ve not got the patience for it. I ended up leaving it to others when I’m supposed to be in charge. I’m not blaming Geoff for anything, but I’m more into the R&B, even Country end of things, but not the heavier side of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Techno-Prisoners was produced by the Dutch brothers, Rob and Ferdi Bolland of Rock Me Adameus fame with drum machines and the like. Although an album of many fine songs, Chappo confessed “The biz came to mistrust me, because I was a folk hero in a sense, playing real music etc, and I quickly came to realise that I’d shit on somebody’s doorstep seriously”.

Still he continued to play regularly in Germany to full houses maintaining his reputation as a fine live performer. At the Werner Festival, Hartenholm on September 3rd, 1988 the band performed in front of an estimated audience of 300,000. The Shortlist by now was Geoff Whitehorn, Steve Simpson, Peter Stroud (bass), Tim Hinkley, Poli Palmer, Nick Pentelow and John Lingwood. This concert was filmed for future video release but sadly, despite rave reviews, Summerhaze Music Ltd. didn’t pursue it. Within a couple of months, on November 10th, this line-up played together for the last time at the Melibokushalle, Zwingenberg when Geoff Whitehorn, Tim Hinkley and Poli Palmer split. Not so much Zwingenberg but sling your hook! It was the end of an era.

In the aftermath of this break up, Chappo reverted back to his more familiar R&B ground and recorded three fine albums over a two-year period. In 1989 he released the quite superb Walking The Cat , produced by Byron Byrd, and Live In Berlin , which had been recorded in 1984. Walking The Cat remained in the German album charts for three months. The following year Hybrid & Lowdown , produced by David Courtney, who had previously produced Chappo , was released together with a Best Of Roger Chapman CD entitled Strong Songs . 1991 saw the release of Under No Obligation , produced by Mike Vernon, and Kick It Back, a compilation of Walking The Cat and Hybrid & Lowdown for the UK market. Each CD was accompanied by extensive tours of Germany to rebuild his damaged reputation. For the 1989 ‘Walking The Cat Tour’ Chappo called on stalwarts Steve Simpson, Bobby Tench, Peter Stroud, Nick Pentelow and John Lingwood and introduced Ian Gibbons, the former Kinks keyboard player. This line-up remained until the ‘Hybrid & Lowdown Tour’, which began on October 11th,1990 in Oldenburg and lasted nearly two months until December 8th in Dortmund. The new line-up saw Micky Moody (guitar), of Whitesnake fame, Henry Spinetti (drums), and Mick Weaver (organ) teaming up with Peter Stroud and Ian Gibbons.

Under No Obligation saw the return of Geoff Whitehorn on Just A Child U.N.O. and Dance Hall Years and the CD cover carried the note ‘Nice to see Big George Heartburn, Suede Soupspoon and Sonny Spider together again, for Auld Lang Syne etc’ but the reunion was short lived. The 1992 ‘Under No Obligation Tour’, which coincided with Chappo’s fiftieth birthday, saw Laurie Wisefield, of Wishbone Ash, and John Lingwood replacing Micky Moody and Henry Spinetti respectively to team up with Peter Stroud, Mick Weaver and Ian Gibbons. Two fabulous female backing singers, Gina Brown and Debbie Sharp, were also introduced to the band.

Since 1979 Chappo had played very few dates in England, but in the November of 1992 Chappo undertook a six day tour of Wales and England – Swansea, London, Leeds, Cleethorpes and Derby – with Steve Simpson, Anthony Glynne (guitar), Gary Twigg (bass guitar), Ian Gibbons, Mick Weaver and John Lingwood. Encouraged by the reception he received he decided to tour Britain with this line-up extensively in 1993 to promote the Kick It Back compilation album, playing thirty concerts at various venues around the country, including a seven date pre-Christmas tour. Playing to packed audiences, Chappo was back on home territory, and how the fans enjoyed and appreciated it. The Riffburglers also played at The County Arms, Isleworth, London on 29th December to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Thankfully, Chappo continued to play selected venues in England after this.

In 1994 Polydor released the non-complimentary titled CHAPPO King Of The Shouters – The Best Of Roger Chapman 1979-1992 , the seventh CD to be marketed in five years. By the time Kiss My Soul , produced by Dieter Falk, was released in 1996 The Shortlist had a familiar and settled look about it. Steve Simpson and Laurie Wisefield on guitar, Gary Twigg bass guitar, Ian Gibbons keyboards, Pat Crumly sax, John Lingwood drums and Helen Hardy backing vocals. This CD stands as being one of Chappo’s finest and contains songs co-written by Chapman with Steve Simpson, Jim Cregan, John Wetton, Laurie Wisefield and Micky Moody.

This band played the Frankfurt Seile Set (Sound of Frankfurt) in July, 1997 and the Easter Blues Festival at the Bisquithalle, Bonn in April, 1998 which were both televised by German TV. Together with Anthony Glynne and Mick Weaver they also appear on the In My Own Time (Live) double CD. This was a CD released in 1999 that contained several tracks from the Tour De Force Live album which had originally been planned for release in 1993 but never saw the light of day.

This remained the stable line-up of The Shortlist throughout most of the second half of the decade and together they recorded A Turn Unstoned? in 1998. A double CD, Anthology 1979-1998 , containing 33 tracks, was also released later the same year. After the Gosport Summer Festival on August Bank Holiday Sunday, 2000 Chappo reduced the size of the band from seven to four as he moved away from the big band sound to a more acoustic, country feel combined with the Rock and R&B.

The four piece he assembled for the unplugged December 2000 tour, a fore runner of the Spring 2001 tour to promote the Rollin’ & Tumblin’ CD, was Steve Simpson, Gary Twigg, Ian Gibbons and Geoff Dunn on drums. At Christmas 2000 a CD, Un-Stuffed , was made available exclusively to members of The Appreciation Society to celebrate the Society’s 21st Year.

As The Shortlist moves into its twenty-third year one can look back on an array of fine musicians that have stood and shared the same stage with Roger Chapman. This in itself is testimony to his status and his music, and the high regard held by his musical contemporaries. On stage he is still as exuberant as ever and remains one of the finest live performers of his generation. Of those who saw him back in his early days with ‘Family’, how many would have predicted that he would have the talent and resilience to survive so long? For here was a singer who on stage, although visually stunning, portrayed an idiot dancing, tambourine trashing, mic-stand throwing wild man with a vibrato like a ewe in lamming season. But he is a perfectionist serious about his music and a character of strength that is confident of his own ability. A performer who strives always to give his best and a proven survivor. As a teenager in his hometown of Leicester he had a reputation of being a hard nut with his LOVE HATE finger tattoos and only changed his ways following a serious car accident at 18 when he suffered a broken neck. He still has a forceful and unpredictable personality but behind the image lies a good natured, friendly and modest individual. He has been his own man throughout the whole of his career, which is commendable, but such an insular attitude often closes doors rather than opens them. At his own confession his approach to the people in the music business has been, to say the least, circumspect and in the past he has, and rightly so, resisted pressure to change his image. His unique voice, which at times is harsh enough to cut and grate the senses like a cheese wire, is not instantly appealing to the impartial listener, but the sheer power and energy of his delivery engages the senses and emotions when you see him live on stage. You may not find Roger Chapman & The Shortlist listed in any rock encyclopaedia, although you may find a reference at the end of the entry for ‘Family’. This is simply because his music as a solo artist has never charted here in Britain despite recording 14 fine studio albums (including two with The Riffburglers), 5 live albums and 4 compilation albums. A remarkable feat. He may not be a mainstream artist or a household name in Britain but he is held in high esteem in the British R&B music scene where he is regarded as being one of this country’s finest vocalists and musical innovators. Over the years he has generated a loyal following that appreciates that he is one of the most conscientious and hard working people in the music business. This has earned him the title ‘Prolekunstler’ (the Working Class Artist) in his adopted Germany. However, it’s only the elite and the steadfast that earn sufficient money to spend the whole of their working life doing something they excel and enjoy. As a singer-songwriter and performer Roger Chapman has been doing that professionally for 35 years now, and he’s not finished yet – still drawing his admirers to concerts like a Moth to a Flame.

Group & Guest Discography

The Rockin’ R’s (pre-Family)

The Exciters (pre-Family)

Danny Storm and the Strollers (pre-Family)

Streetwalkers (1974-1977)

Solo career (1978-present)

Mike Batt & Friends Tarot Suite  (1979) – An orchestrated work (with the LSO) and based on the Tarot cards, also with Rory Gallagher, Jim Cregan, Chris Spedding, Tony McPhee (Groundhogs), B.J. Cole, Mel Collins, and others. Chappo sings on two cuts, “Run Like The Wind” and “Imbecile,” the latter being extremely good. [Thanks B.T. Hathaway]

Mike Oldfield  Crises (1983) – also w/ Jon Anderson

Box of Frogs Strange Land (1986) – The second album by former Yardbirds Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty and Paul Samwell-Smith. Other guests include Rory Gallagher, Steve Hackett, Jimmy Page, Graham Gouldman, Peter-John Vitesse (from Jethro Tull), and Max Middleton (former Streetwalker). Chapman sings “Heart Full of Soul” in a modern style. Unfortunately they drop the main riff, which to me is the big attraction. Rory does play it on electric sitar in the middle. Chapman also sings the title track.

Solo Discography

• Chappo (1979)

• Live in Hamburg (1979)

• Mail Order Magic (1980)

• Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun (1981)

• The Riffburglar Album (aka Funny Cider Sessions) (1982)

• He Was, She Was (Double, Live) (1982)

• Swag (as the Riffburglars) (1983)

• Mango Crazy (1983)

• The Shadow Knows (1984)

• Zipper (1985)

• Techno Prisoners (1987)

• Live In Berlin – EP (1989)

• Walking The Cat (1989)

• Strong Songs – The Best Of… (1990)

• Hybrid and Lowdown (1990)

• Kick It Back (UK compilation) (1990)

• Under No Obligation (1992)

• CHAPPO King Of The Shouters (1994)

• Kiss My Soul (1996)

• A Turn Unstoned? (1998)

• Anthology 1979-98 (1998)

• In My Own Time (live) (1999)

• Rollin’ & Tumblin’ (live) (Mystic, 2001)

• Chappo-The Loft Tapes, Volume 1: Manchester University 10.3.1979 (2006)

• Chappo-The Loft Tapes, Volume 2: Rostock 1983 (2006)

• Chappo-The Loft Tapes, Volume 3: London Dingwalls 15.4.1996 (2006)

• Chappo-The Loft Tapes, Volume 4: Live At Unca Po’s Hamburg 5.3.1982 (2006)

• One More Time For Peace (2007)

• Hide Go Seek (2009)

• Live At Newcastle Opera House 2002 (2009)
• Live at the Y (2010)

• Maybe The Last Time…Live (2011)

• Midnite Child / Moth To A Flame (March 1979)
• Who Pulled The Nite Down / Shortlist (Live) (May 1979)
• Let’s Spend The Night Together / Shapes Of Things (Jul 1979)
• Speak For Yourself / Sweet Vanilla (1980)
• Mango Crazy / Shot In The Dark (1983)

• Mike Oldfield & Roger Chapman: Shadow On The Wall / Taurus 3 (Sep 1983)
• How How How (Mad Love) / Hold That Tide Back (March 1984)

• The Drum (12″ mix) / Red Moon & New Shoes (1987)

• Ball Of Confusion / Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed (Wild Blood)

• Song of Desire (People Want to Rock) / One More Whiskey / Outside Looking In (1996)

• Hell Of A Lullaby /  Devil Gotta Sun / Jerusalem (2006)
• Life In The Pond (Ruf, 2021)

• Roger Chapman (German LP, AMIGA ‎– 8 56 124)

6 responses to “Roger Chapman”

Did Family appear of a BBC programme about 1967 regarding DIY !!. When did Roger have his tonsils out. Was Roger a best man at a wedding for John Pel of the other way round !.

Some serious mistakes in this article. I;was recording an album with Love Affair singer, Steve Ellis. Ellis was incapacitated so Courtney decided to make the tracks without him and overdub the vocals later. I asked Courtney if we could get a substitute singer on and I called Chappo who said he was abo7t t9 pac’ up and return to Leicester. His two vocals Inspired Dave Courtney to make a solo album. I was not invited to play on that album. C’est la vie. Chappo came to me after he had recorded his album with Courtney and asked me to put a band together for him. “Only one problem, I‘Ve got no money” he said. Mel Collins was the original sax player. Raff Ravenscroft came after Mel And only played a few gigs including the Patto benefit at Mothers in Birmingham. In the beginning it was a band…eventually it became “him and us” Chappo lost the respect of the musicians and he ended up with a band of mediocre “ gigging“ players. A bunch of live recordings came out as “The Loft Tapes” on CD without any of the musicians getting notified or paid. His comments about managers being responsible for all his woes is bullshit. Chris Youle was a really good manager and helped make Chappo a relatively successful artist in Europe. Ungrateful is how I would describe him.

A big hello Tim! And thanks for your post and inside information – I’m sure some readers will appreciate it. The article by Andy Jago is something that has been floating around and found a home to fill up this page. Sorry to hear how things went down.

Yes Tim, i agree with you, Chris was a good manager & record company boss to Roger. He signed Roger and did a lot to help Roger and paid him properly too, not like his original manager. The main problem at the time was the Music press who would not write about Chappo and most good rock music, as the music press were all into punk music at the time, people Tony Parsons who was editor of NME told his staff he would fire them if they did write about the ‘old’ great rock music groups like Chappo unless he passed it. I actually got one of the NME journalists to come to the Venue to see Chappo. He loved the concert but told me what it like at the NME and the other music press at that time. He said he loved the band and would have loved to write about it but knew he would get fired if he even told Tony he came, even though Keith Moon, Rod Stewert and many other musicians of the day were there at the Venue to see Chappo & the shortlist (The Venue was started and owned by Richard Branston). That is why Chris sent Chappo to tour Germany so much, They loved him and it was not just the fans, but the music press did too. Arriving at one place, i remember someone showing us a German Newspaper that had a brilliant write-up on the front page of the local newspaper.Also Chris ran Acrobat Records, he did not own it. The owner who played no part in the running of it clossed it down as it was loosing money, and showed no sign of really doing well with Punk music ruling the music scene and not going away. But mostly the press ignoring most good rock music.

Tim Hinkley led me here. I recorded the in concert series (from fm radio) with the shortlist, and saw them at Manchester university. Here is the link for the recording I made in 1980. Its great! https://youtu.be/gvKDR8i4hSs

Here is another of my archive interviews with celebrities to mark their birthdays. Today is the birthday of Leicester born singer Roger Chapman. He is best known as a member of the band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1966. He was also in the rock, R&B band Streetwalkers formed in 1974. Since the 1980s he has spent much of his time in Germany where, he was awarded an Artist of the Year award in the 1980s and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

In this excerpt he begins by talking about his love of Leicester City Football Club and how he would wear a team shirt on stage given to him by a club legend.

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Roger Chapman obituary

My friend Roger Chapman, who has died aged 77 from heart failure, was a director and producer who made a huge impact on international theatre touring. In the 1980s, while based in Australia, Roger was one of the first to take work into and out of China. From 1988 until 2004, he was the National Theatre’s touring director, working under Richard Eyre and Trevor Nunn, and taking the very best of British theatre to the regions and around the globe.

Roger was born in Hull, east Yorkshire, the only son of Elsie (nee Thompson) and Arthur Chapman, an ambulance driver. From Mallet Lambert school, Hull, he went on to study drama at the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, London.

After graduating, he embarked on a career in the theatre in education movement of the 1960s, founding teams at Coventry Belgrade theatre, then Bolton Octagon, Leeds Playhouse – where he met the producer Isobel Hawson, whom he married in 1975 – and Newcastle Playhouse. At Nottingham Playhouse, he directed Christmas and children shows for Eyre, then its artistic director.

In 1976 Roger was invited to direct a show for the Adelaide international festival of arts. He was then appointed to an Australian government task force for arts in education, and set up the Magpie Theatre company for young people. As director of Youth Performing Arts, South Australia, from 1980, he created the Carclew Youth Performing Arts Centre, and was the driving force behind the Australian international puppet festival held in Adelaide in 1983.

He travelled to China in early 1982 to negotiate for the Hunan Puppet Troupe to be part of the festival programme. Then, on a visit to Hanoi, he saw a performance of the then unknown Vietnamese Water Puppets, and arranged for them to take part in the Adelaide festival in 1988. They were subsequently taken to London in 1993 by Lift – the London international festival of theatre.

In 1988, Eyre asked Roger to join the National, where he remained as touring director for 16 years. Roger was also an independent producer – with Playful Productions, Sir Peter Hall Productions and his own company, On Tour Ltd. He was European consultant for the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and the Isango ensemble in Cape Town, a member of the Council of Regional Theatres and one of the Arts Council drama panel regulars, as well as a founding member of the Standing Conference of Young People’s Theatre. An avid Hull City football fan, Roger was a lover of fine food and wine, and a great storyteller, whose friends and family were central to his life.

Roger is survived by Isobel, their children, Joe, Sam and Amy, and six grandchildren.

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An audience with Roger Chapman: “I could sing my arse off when I was a kid”

Chapeau to Chappo! The former Family frontman looks back on a long career spent dodging spivs, scallywags and hypnocrats to hobnob with Jimi, Elton and the Stones

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“I’m just moving inside,” says Roger Chapman , as a sudden thunderstorm batters the conservatory of his home in Southwest London. “I don’t wanna get sparked out, I’m too young!”

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Chappo may be 80 now, but he still has plenty to give. Last year’s invigorating Life In The Pond  set, created with the help of his old Family bandmate John ‘Poli’ Palmer , found him snarling colourful warnings about “ two-faced hypnocrats ”, “ loudmouths craving limelight ” and a “ devil on your shoulder ”. He’d love to play the album live but needs to overcome a couple of health issues first. “Since the album was released I’ve had two or three operations,” he reveals. “I had Covid twice! And I need another op before I can think about going out on stage. Things need to be tidied up, so to speak. Spinal problems, neuro stuff, so it gets to be quite difficult at times. But I’d love to go on stage again, for sure. I can still sing!”

Indeed, he got together with Poli just last week to workshop some new material. Despite not having any kind of set songwriting routine – “I never have,” he admits – the lyrics are still flowing, with the hypnocrats certainly giving him plenty to rail against. “Sometimes it gets too stroppy, so I have to be careful!”

Your new album sounds pretty fired up, especially on “Green As Guacamole”. Is that kind of anger at ‘the state of things’ a good spur for making music?

Malcolm Taylor, Kettering

Yeah. If I sit down and think about these arseholes on the news, I do get pretty fucking twisted. To be honest I’ve never really written songs like this, not for many years anyway. And I’m really pleased I did, because it gets it out your system. And maybe it’ll pull somebody else around to seeing what a phoney bunch we’ve got. There can’t be many left out there believing in ’em, can there? Jesus Christ. I’m off already, you see! I don’t want to preach too much, but basically they’re my thoughts. A lot of the delivery [of the songs] depends on how angry I am. Or how not  angry I am. If I want to, I can make any kind of melody sound aggressive, but I hope I’ve also got the know-how to make a track sound gentle.

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Roger Chapman

UK blues-influence rock singer with an astonishing voice, best known as the frontman for Family.

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Roger Chapman - Interview

  by adrian janes, published: 7 / 10 / 2021.

Legendary singer and songwriter and former Family frontman Roger Chapman talks to Adrian Janes about his long career and his first album in seven years ,'Life in the Pond'

Roger Chapman was the singer in several bands in the Leicester area in the early to mid-sixties before coming to front The Farinas, who in turn evolved into Family. In Britain he probably remains best known for his work in the latter, one of the outstanding bands of the late sixties and early seventies, with Chapman himself possessed of a voice by turns fearsomely passionate and wistfully tender. Their adventurous music mixed rock, soul, R&B, folk and jazz elements. It was a blend that, coupled with Chapman’s stage presence, made them both a live draw and also commercially successful in both the album and singles charts, the hits ‘In My Own Time’ and ‘Burlesque’ encapsulating Chapman’s uniquely intense delivery. After Family split, he formed Streetwalkers with his songwriting partner Charlie Whitney, and they too enjoyed some success over several albums. When Streetwalkers in turn broke up, Chapman launched his solo career with ‘Chappo’ (1979). Finding the scene in the UK - then dominated by punk and post-punk - unresponsive to his new work, he discovered that Germany now offered him a receptive audience and a foundation to continue making music, with a shifting line-up of musicians known as The Shortlist. His lasting live appeal has resulted in several in concert releases over the years, while his most recent studio album was 2014’s ‘Peaceology’, an expanded version of 2007’s ‘One More Time for Peace’. Now 79, he has returned this year with the impressive new album ‘Life in the Pond’, recorded with Family and Shortlist stalwart John “Poli” Palmer. Roger spoke to Pennyblackmusic about his new album and also reflected on the twists and turns of the life in music that have led up to it. Pennyblackmusic: What was the thinking behind calling your new album ‘Life in the Pond’? Roger Chapman: It’s where and what we the people have to put up with, and where despots, politicians, royalty, the rich, etc. try to keep us. PB: Your last studio album was ‘Peaceology’ in 2014, and in the past you have hinted at retirement. What has driven you to record an album of new original songs now? RC: I wasn’t driven, I’m a writer-musician by trade and thankfully that’s something that never leaves me as I compose all the time. I’m also known as a singer who occasionally retires when occasionally bored with life. PB: How and where was ‘Life in the Pond’ recorded? Presumably you and the band had lockdown conditions to contend with? RC: There was no band, it’s just Poli Palmer and myself recording in his home studio, with outside guitar overdubs by Geoff Whitehorn. English law says in a lockdown one household is allowed one workman for maintenance, and I maintained Pol’s studio. PB: Let’s switch focus to your earliest days. Who were the first artists who enthused you? RC: Lots of them, all Americans. Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Ray Charles, Eddie Cochran, rock and rockabilly stuff. PB: What qualities did you find in them? RC: Excitement. PB: Your voice is one of the most distinctive in rock. Was the Chapman voice an immediate discovery, or did it come about through a gradual increase in confidence? RC: I always had the confidence that I could sing. Never asked anyone, just jumped on any stage and went for it. PB: Did you surprise yourself with the power you were able to summon? RC: I never knew I had power until others talked about it. As I said, I never gave it another thought, just did it. PB: When you started out in Leicester in the Sixties was there a strong local scene to belong to, or did you feel you inevitably had to make the move to London? RC: I wasn’t part of any scene, though I’m sure Leicester had one. I never thought of moving to London until I joined the Farinas, who had a London management. It was they who said we should move. PB: You clearly forged a strong songwriting partnership with Charlie Whitney, not just in Family but also in Streetwalkers. How did the partnership work practically? For example, did you write all the lyrics? RC: Mostly Charlie would compose the music and myself the lyrics, but we crossed over roles also. PB: The big turn in your subsequent solo career was provoked by the inhospitable musical climate in late Seventies Britain. RC: The big turn in my career was going solo, not Germany, that came after. But I was grateful for the way they took myself and my music, and shall never forget them. PB: How did it come about that you were then able to build a career in Germany? RC: Because I suppose they liked the way I presented it, the freedom. As I said, I was ready for it and thankfully they were also. PB: You have continued to flourish in Germany to this day. What do you think your German audience responds to? RC: I’d like to think the realism of my live band: the inventiveness, the great playing and performances. PB: Are there other countries where you’ve broken through to a similar level? RC: Various Euro countries and I don’t think much outside, but still hope to be proved wrong (Laughs). PB: From Charlie Whitney to Geoff Whitehorn, and now Poli Palmer, many of your songs have been collaborations. You’ve also written songs alone. Can you pinpoint how you decide that you can push a song to its conclusion by yourself, and when it needs a writing partner? RC: No. PB: Family first reformed in 2013, and then continued until 2016. What was the experience like second time around? RC: Great and moderate. Should have left it after the first two shows but didn’t do it, so it was my fault. PB: Did the level of public interest in this period feel like some sort of vindication? RC: Public interest was strong. It was the boring bit of copying and repeating everything again that’s never sat right with me, so it finished for the same reasons that the first Family band finished. PB: Although you have spoken at times of retirement, some of your contemporaries, like Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Van Morrison, keep on keeping on. Do you draw strength from such examples? RC: No! Watch this space! PB: Thank you.

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Roger Maxwell Chapman, known as 'Chappo' by his legions of fans was born and brought up in the East Midlands city of Leicester, a hot bed of musical talent in the UK during the mid to late 1960's. The early days of Roger's musical career started when he joined The Farinas in 1966, a band started at Leicester Art College in 1962. The original line up of the band consisted of John 'Charlie' Whitney, Tim Kirchin, Harry Ovenall and Jim King. Ric Grech replaced Kirchin on bass in 1965 and Roger Chapman joined the following year on vocals. They briefly changed their name to The Roaring Sixties and when seeing the band live American record producer Kim Fowley suggested that because of their love of wearing double-breasted suits when on stage had given them a Mafia style appearance, they ought to be called The Family. After this comment the band soon decided to abandon this look in favour of a more casual appearance and to shorten the band name to Family and so the legend was born. With Roger`s characteristic vibrato and dynamic on-stage presence Family could do no wrong. A move to London heralded the release of the single Scene Through An Eye Of A Lens, released on the Liberty label in 1967 and now a collector`s item, this being a pre curser for their seminal debut album MUSIC IN A DOLLS HOUSE. Released in 1968 the album was an intoxicating mix of musical styles; blues, folk, jazz and what was soon to be labelled 'psychedelia'. The bands heady mix of soul and funk mixed with a healthy dose of rock soon won them fans world wide including legendary BBC radio presenter the late John Peel who had championed their cause from the very start. Until 1973 Family and most prominently the unique vocal delivery of Roger Chapman had an illustrious career, albums such as FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT, A SONG FOR ME and the classic release BANDSTAND would all find success, the later spawning the hit single Burlesque, the song getting to number 13 in the UK singles chart. The band recorded their last album IT`S ONLY A MOVIE in 1973, an album that contained excellent songs but as various band members wanted to take different musical paths they decided to call it a day, an autumn farewell tour climaxing in Leicester on October 13th at the famed Leicester Polytechnic, an emotional finale in their hometown. Not being one to sit on his laurels Roger Chapman decided to carry on song writing with ex Family band mate Charlie Whitney and their productive partnership grew into the rock driven collective known as Streetwalkers. Throughout the mid to late seventies Streetwalkers had a run of successful albums including DOWNTOWN FLYERS, RED CARD and VICIOUS BUT FAIR. In the early days the band had several former Family members appearing at different times and by the time DOWNTOWN FLYERS was recorded the hugely talented singer and guitarist Bobby Tench had joined the ranks bringing a much needed stability to the Streetwalkers line up. The band became highly distinctive, mixing syncopated funk with a hard rock edge, their career climaxing with the live double album, simply entitled STREETWALKERS LIVE, their raw live sound captured perfectly including renditions of their signature song Dice Man, taken from VICIOUS BUT FAIR and an exultant version of the Family favourite My Friend The Sun. Sadly once again, despite a hugely successful tour of the United States, Streetwalkers never received the transatlantic acclaim that they deserved, management difficulties ensued and Chapman and Whitney decided that the end of their creative partnership was in sight and made the decision to go their separate ways. It was now 1978 and Roger then decided to embark on a solo career, a career that would prove extremely successful and indeed still is today. His first solo offering was CHAPPO, released in 1979 to critical acclaim. Never one to follow fashion or to look like a rock star, Roger appeared on the front cover wearing a red boiler suit under the guise of an Otis lift engineer. The album was a collaboration with David Courtney and featured several songs that would become and indeed still are firm crowd pleasers such as Moth To A Flame and the glorious Who Pulled The Night Down. Roger also paying homage to legendary American songwriter the late Tim Hardin with a superb cover of Hang On To A Dream. Touring the UK in 1979, both the fans and press enthusiastically received Roger`s brand of rock infused R&B, Roger Chapman was back and performing better than ever. At this time in the UK the punk movement was at its height and the British music establishment would rather spend their resources on the latest fad or fashion that support a veteran rock singer from the sixties who had never been one to follow the crowd or indeed the latest musical trend and quality material from established artists gave way to a plethora of new young acts that would grace the pages of the UK music press. The rest of Europe on the other hand was a different matter, a chance meeting in Hamburg with a group of like minded musicians led him to appear on the renowned German TV rock show Rockpalast, a show that went out to over fourteen countries with a combined audience of over twenty five million, Roger was reborn and the fire reignited. A top flight backing band helped Roger release the single Let`s Spend The Night Together and soon his version of the Rolling Stones classic hit was also a hit for Roger Chapman, rising high in the German charts and once more the name of Roger Chapman was to stir interest and acclaim in the music press. The album LIVE IN HAMBURG followed in 1979 and was released both in Germany and England and featured such notable guest musicians as Tim Hinckley and Mel Collins. Included on the album was a cover of the Micky Jupp penned Shortlist which was soon to become a live favourite with fans and was also to become the name of Roger`s backing band. This was the album that would launch an extremely successful solo career, a string of releases followed including MAIL ORDER MAGIC, HYENAS ONLY LAUGH FOR FUN (an album that was to see ex Family band mate John Wetton return to the fold) and HE WAS, SHE WAS, a double live album that once again featured keyboard maestro Tim Hinckley and other famed British musicians such as saxophonist Nick Pentelow and guitarists Geoff Whitehorn and Steve Simpson, Steve & Geoff still appearing live with Roger today. These musicians all helping to produce what has become one of the most vibrant live albums of its kind ever recorded. At the 1981 German music awards Chapman was voted Best Singer, HYENAS ONLY LAUGH FOR FUN also winning an award. Two years later a lead vocal on Mike Oldfield`s 1983 hit Shadow On The Wall also adding to Chapman`s diverse repertoire. Before the decade was out Roger released one of his finest albums ever. WALKING THE CAT is an album steeped in that great British rock tradition of making a studio recording sound live. Released in 1989 the release staying in the German charts for three months and with Alvin Lee, Micky Moody and Bobby Tench some of the finest musicians in the world as guests, Roger Chapman was back where he belonged, at the top. Songs such as Son Of Red Moon, Come The Dark Night and Hands Off all showing a songwriter and performer at the top of his game. Released in 1990 HYBRID AND LOWDOWN featured three current members of the Shortlist line up namely Steve Simpson, Ian Gibbons and John Lingwood along with musicians such as once again Bobby Tench, Henry Spinetti, Micky Moody and Tim Hinckley, Tench co writing Cops In Shades with Chapman for the album. The early nineties would see the release of two compilation albums KICK IT BACK and KING OF THE SHOUTERS and then in 1996 an album of new material entitled KISS MY SOUL was released and showed a return to form for a performer who had never really been away. A vibrant, exciting release that returned to the winning formula of mixing rock, soul, funk and R&B and when combined with that signature barbed wire and wine 'Chappo' vocal delivery sounding better than ever, the album receiving acclaim both in the UK and all over the rest of Europe. Now enjoying a very successful solo career, 1998 saw the release of another fine studio album. A TURN UNSTONED featured not only the usual array of guest musicians but also centred on the nucleus of the then current Shortlist line up of Steve Simpson, Ian Gibbons and Laurie Wisefield. That would also be the year that Roger Chapman and the Shortlist made a welcome return to appearing on the Easter Rockpalast show broadcast all over Europe from Germany. Fans were now eagerly awaiting a live recording and in 1999 their patience was rewarded with the release of the double live album IN MY OWN TIME-LIVE. This was the album fans had been longing for, live versions of favourite tracks such as In My Own Time, The Weavers Answer, Son Of Red Moon and Stand Up all sounding fresh and vibrant, Roger Chapman could now only go from strength to strength. At the turn of the new millennium Roger was soon back in action performing live with the Shortlist of which two shows formed the basis of ROLLIN` AND TUMBLIN`, released in 2001 this was a collection of twelve live tracks recorded both at the Borderline in London and the charmingly named venue Hell in Norway. Renditions of classic cuts such as Kiss My Soul, A Stone Unturned and the all time Family favourite Burlesque all showed that with a career now spanning over thirty years Roger Chapman showed no sign of slowing down, his voice sounding better than ever. In 2007 Roger returned to the studio with old pals and associates such as Steve Simpson, Micky Moody, Bobby Tench and Max Middleton to record ONE MORE TIME FOR PEACE. With Jim Cregan in the producers chair and ten original songs plus an outstanding rendition of Jerusalem on offer, this was a truly outstanding release, an album that would introduce the name of Roger Chapman to a whole new generation of fans yet the same time keeping the old guard happy. In 2009 we had HIDE GO SEEK a superb double CD of twenty-eight tracks. At close on two hours long the album is a vast collection of lost gems, demo`s and alternative versions of tracks already featured on previous releases, some of which are over twenty years old and have never been heard before, yet still sounding as fresh now as they did when first recorded. This is a fine body of work from a truly original singer, songwriter and performer who today is still regarded as an icon of British contemporary rock music. With Hide Go Seek championed by fans and press alike ("A true lionheart still roars,"wrote The Mirror), Chappo could have chosen that release as the swansong to astellar career. In 2011, the singer told the Rock Legacy website that "I've tried retiring over the past ten years or so", and dropped a few hints he was considering steppingback from the spotlight - most notably with a 2012 live album pointedly titled Maybe The Last Time. But the music wasn't done with Chappo. By February 2013, he was back on the stage, at the peak of his powers and more passionate than ever, at the heart of a reunited Family lineup who performed together that month for the first time in over 40 years at London's O2 Shepherds Bush Empire. As the historic show approached, Chapman admitted to nerves at the sense of occasion. "I just hope we don't blow it,"he told Uncut magazine. "I don't think we will, but in the back of your mind you go, 'I hope we don't let them down and let ourselves down'." In the event, the demand for tickets was so high that an extra night had to be added, while the band's onstage telepathy and transcendent performances felt as though no time had passed at all. As Family went on to steal the show at that August's Rockin' The Park festival in Nottinghamshire, the only disappointment, Chapman noted, was that while John 'Poli' Palmer, Rob Townsend and Jim Cregan had readily stepped back aboard, Whitney was reluctant to leave his paradise home in the Greek Islands. "He said, 'It just sounds like a lot of hard work for a couple of gigs. But have a good time'." Throughout 2013, Family were a towering presence on the British scene. Alongside the shows, fans welcomed the release of Once Upon A Time: a definitive Family compilation, gathering the band's entire catalogue - including outtakes, alternative versions and rarities found in Chappo's loft - on a 14-disc boxset whose mouthwatering presentation scored the Grand Design award at the 2013 Progressive Music Awards. "Obviously, if it looks good," said the singer, "then it's a nice thing to be recognised like that." Reignited and freshly relevant, with endorsements coming from younger bands like Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno, Family spent the next three years embracing the road, playing sell-out dates across the UK in 2014 and 2015, and lighting up the European festival season in 2016. That December, Family signed off with shows in London and Leicester, at which the lineup was expanded to a seven-piece format that let them explore the most ambitious corners of the catalogue. "On the off-chancethat this is Family's last hurrah," wrote Pete Feenstra on Get Ready To Rock, "the band plays with discipline, craft, nuanced restraint, humour, and plenty of conviction." Even with Family on hiatus - for now - Chapman's creative wheels continued to turn. Released in 2021 on Ruf Records and Chappo Music, his long-awaited new solo album, Life In The Pond, draws a line under a period in which the 79-year-old has been absent from the studio but privately prolific. "I've never stopped writing," he reflects, "and with Life In The Pond, I felt the need to hear what I'd put down in music." Life In The Pond reunites Chappo with faces from his past - including Poli Palmer as co-writer/producer and guest guitar from Geoff Whitehorn - while joining the dots between his early influences and taking the pulse of modern life. "There's nostalgia for the different musical styles that influenced my life," he says. "American rock from the '50s to now. British R'n'B from the '60s, like Georgie Fame, the Stones, Zoot Money. Folk. Blues. Motown. Stax. Blue Note jazz. Classical. Americana. Country. A whole mess of influences. Mostly it's anger at politicians that's kept me fired up. But I'm also influenced by daily happenings, world news, people, acquaintances. It's all in the lyrics." This latest album finds Chapman's voice in vintage form and his musical radar more receptive than ever. Opening with the rootsy groove, vocal grit and brass licks of Dark Side Of The Stairs, the album's mood roams from hypnotic seven-minute epic Nightmare #5 to Rabbit Got The Gun's dystopian soul-funk. Having Us A Honeymoon opens with a snatch of Mendelssohn's Wedding March, before honky-tonk piano leads a lusty East End singalong. At the other emotional extreme, On Lavender Heights is a hushed stunner, Chapman using little more than his voice - with a dash of keys and strings - to carry a flash of true tenderness. And while the lyrics can be biting, there's a wistfulness to the closing Naughty Child that suggests that, even at 79, Chapman's wide-eyed idealism remains intact ('When the world was young and foolish," he sings. 'When the world was running wild…'). The world has turned a few times since '66, but Roger Chapman still has something to say - and with Life In The Pond, his voice as an artist is more vital than ever. "I'm very pleased and grateful that Poli gave me the opportunity," he says, "because I think we really came up with the goods on this album."

James Soars

At The Barrier

Live music, reviews and opinion / est. 2018, roger chapman – turn it up loud: the recordings 1981-1985: boxset review.

The Family man’s solo adventures continue: Installment 2 in the Cherry Red/Esoteric Roger Chapman reissue programme

Release Date :  28 th October 2022

Label : Esoteric Records

Formats : 5CD boxset

It seems like yesterday, but it was, in fact, back in April, when Moth To A Flame , Esoteric’s first re-evaluation of Roger Chapman’s solo back catalogue hit the racks.  That set focused upon the erstwhile Family man’s first three solo adventures: Chappo (1979), Live in Hamb urg (1979) and Mail Order Magic (1980) and packaged them alongside an eclectic mix of live recordings, studio out-takes and demos.  Well – Esoteric have decided that now is the time to continue with the Roger Chapman story and Turn It Up Loud collates the next phase of Roger’s career; Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun (1981), the double live album He Was… She Was… You Was… We Was (1982), Mango Crazy (1983) and The Shadow Knows (1984).  This time, the remastered albums are complemented by a collection of live tracks culled from Roger’s 1985 Live In Berlin EP as well as a couple of singles and, as we’ve now all come to expect, the whole shebang is lovingly packaged in the signature Cherry Red clamshell box and is accompanied by a wonderfully informative glossy booklet which, like its Moth To A Flame predecessor, includes an all-you-need-to-know essay by music journalist and author Mike Barnes.

By 1981, Roger’s Family past was well and truly behind him.  His star had faded somewhat in his UK homeland but, sur le continent and, particularly in Germany, he had established himself as a bona-fide rock star and, with his band, The Shortlist, was attracting ever-increasing interest in both his studio output and his live appearances (Roger has always attributed his continuing success in Germany to the willingness of German radio stations to include challenging and creative music on their playlists, rather than seeking the safe-but-boring safe ground of the pop charts.)

Disc One of this collection features a remaster of the Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun album.  Chronologically, Hyenas… followed the fine but problematic Mail Order Magic , and it’s an altogether more solid piece of work than its predecessor.  Roger’s band – including Tim Hinkley on keyboards, Nick Pentelow on saxes and ex-Family members John Wetton (bass) and Poli Palmer (synths) – was pretty well consolidated and Terry Barham and Paul Smykle, drafted in to look after the production duties, did a great job.  Hyenas… is packed with fine tunes too; I’ve never really been a lover of the title track, but Killing Time, Hearts On The Floor and, particularly, the choppy The Long Goodbye and the lyric-laden Blood and Sand are all up there with the best of Chappo’s many great songs.

Hyenas… performed well in its target German market (it was voted ‘Album of the Year’ by German pundits) but undeservedly sank without much of a trace in the UK, partly as a result of distribution problems but mainly due to the apathy that had crept into British minds in relation to many of the fine musicians who were around before the new wave broke – Roger Chapman amongst them.  Roger summarized this erosion to his status and credibility, saying “…I just kind of accepted it.  Family had gone – and Streetwalkers – but they kind of liked my first solo album, Chappo, over here.  I got some good reviews and I was doing some good gigs for the first year or so.  But then, all of a sudden, you get small-minded reviews, like: ‘What are you still doing here?  There’s a lot of other people recording; why are you still wasting our time?’  And my music and the way we played had a lot of respect in Europe.  But – they thought they could take you to pieces, then just walk away and leave it like that and it hurt.  Yeah – I did get the arse.  I thought, ‘Well – f*ck you.’  And, unfortunately, I cut my own throat because by stopping coming over to the UK I did start to vanish.” 

From the viewpoint of 2022, it now seems incredible that we, in the UK, allowed all that to happen.  As Hyenas… demonstrates, Roger was producing top-class music (as, indeed, he continues to do right up to this present day) and our failure to accommodate his talents was certainly our loss.  At least we do now recognize Roger Chapman as the national treasure he surely is.  But I digress…

There is a school of opinion, and I count myself within it, that believes that Roger Chapman is at his absolute best when performs live.  Indeed, that’s an assertion with which Roger himself agrees: “[Live work and studio work] are two completely different things for me.  When you’re on stage, it’s all excitement and playing and getting the groove and making it happen.  It’s a lot of fun.  In the studio, unless the band is playing live, there’s no real excitement.  It’s a bit colder and I always had quite a bit of trouble trying to do both, you know?  I couldn’t be the same person in the studio as I was on stage.”  And, recorded during Roger’s Chappo Live tour of Germany during November and December 1981, the live He Was… She Was… You Was… We Was… album demonstrates the sheer power of the live Roger Chapman to a ‘T.’

Released as a double album in October 1982, it was, in fact, Roger’s second live album in just three years – 1979’s Live in Hamburg was the other – perhaps illustrating as clearly as possible Roger’s self-belief in his powers as a live performer.  This time around, the album occupies the lion’s share of Discs Two and Three of the boxset.  The band’s lineup is stellar indeed – Poli Palmer on vibes and synth, the magnificent Geoff Whitehorn on guitar, Nick Pentelow on sax, Leonard “Stretch” Stretching on drums, Steve Simpson on guitar, mandolin, violin and viola, Tim Hinkley on keyboards and no less a personage than King Crimson/Bad Company refugee Boz Burrell on bass.  And, by heck, do they cook…

The material chosen for the live set is a mix of tracks from the contemporaneous Hyenas… album, a selection of songs from earlier in Roger’s solo career and an inspired pick of stunning cover versions.  So, alongside cuts like Blood and Sand, Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun, Prisoner and Common Touch from Hyenas… we’re also able to enjoy exhilarating versions of Chappo classics like Higher Ground, Unknown Soldier, Night Down (No.2: A la ZZ) and ( a personal favourite of mine) Ducking Down, PLUS sublime takes on blues standards such as Slim Harpo’s King Bee and Muddy’s The Same Thing and, best of all, an amazing medley of Hendrix’s Stone Free and Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew.

By 1983, Roger’s profile in the UK was beginning to rise again, thanks mainly to the guest vocal he delivered on the hit Mike Oldfield single, Shadow On The Wall and expectations for Mango Crazy , the next Chapman album were high, both in Europe and in the UK.  It is, indeed, another excellent album (Disc Four in this collection) although Roger remains critical of the production standard achieved by Geoff Whitehorn and himself: “…I’d already told the management two albums before that I didn’t want to produce as I wasn’t very good at production.  But the idea was to let me and Geoff come in and I assume, in retrospect, they did that because they didn’t want to pay anybody else when they could get away with not paying me and Geoff.  It’s kind of amateurish and I let it happen.  I just listened to others when I should have followed my own head and I didn’t.  It took me a couple a couple of albums to get back to doing it properly.” 

Well – they do say that we’re always most critical of our own efforts and that minor flaws, invisible to outside observers can often be massively exaggerated by their creator.  And, to be honest, I believe that’s what Roger is doing here.  Mango Crazy is an excellent album, full of genuine highlights.  Toys: Do You? Is Chapman at his funky, sleazy best, The Latin rhythms of Los Dos Bailadores are delightful and Turn It Up Loud harks right back to the classic Chappo in his Burlesque and In My Own Time pomp.

Boz Burrell had hung around for Mango Crazy and his solid bass playing is a real feature of the album.  Poli Palmer and Tim Hinkley, both stalwart presences in Roger’s band for a number of previous years had, however, decided to move on, and they were replaced by Ronnie Leahy – formerly of Stone The Crows – and ex-Cockney Rebel and Kate Bush accompanist Duncan Mackay.  By the time of 1984’s The Shadow Knows album, however, it was all change once again.  Geoff Whitehorn and Nick Pentelow remained, but Tony Stevens stepped in to replace Boz, Brian Johnston assumed keyboard duties and the drum stool was shared between Sam (Mango) Kelly and John Lingwood.

Of all the albums included in the Turn It Up Loud boxset, The Shadow Knows is probably the collection with the most typically “eighties” sound.  Keyboards, slapped bass and electronic percussion are a dominant feature – not normally to my taste, but The Shadow Knows is not without its endearing moments, notably the poppy How How How and the soulful I Think of You Now.  The Shadow Knows forms the first half of Disc Five to this set, with the second half mainly occupied by the four tracks of the Live in Berlin EP.  Originally released in early 1985, the EP is yet further proof, should we require it, of the sheer power of a Roger Chapman live performance.  The version of Shadow on the Wall knocks the Mike Oldfield single into a cocked hat and the eleven-and-then-some minutes of Mango Crazy are a sheer delight, with Geoff Whitehorn showing us just what he’s capable of when he’s let loose.

Turn It Up Loud is an excellent compilation indeed.  It’s a comprehensive re-evaluation of an often-overlooked period in the career of one of our most original and durable performers.  Roger Chapman is not now, nor never has he been, a musician with universal appeal but, to the converted, his work is invaluable.  These albums, and particularly the live He Was… She Was… You Was… We Was… and the tracks from the Live in Berlin EP show him at his best.

Watch Roger and his band perform Prisoner, the opening track to his 1981 Album, Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun, here:

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Tagged as: Album Review , Cherry Red , Esoteric , Family , Featured , roger chapman

Published by John Barlass

John has been a music obsessive since he first heard 'Love Me Do' seeping out of the family radio in 1962. he spent a career in the rail industry before turning back to his first love of music. He plays bass guitar and melodeon, loves folk/rock and lives in Warwick. View all posts by John Barlass

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Roger Chapman - Life In The Pond review

Roger chapman is reunited with old family chum poli palmer on his new solo album.

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

On his first album in 12 years, Roger Chapman delivers a set of songs that reference his entire career, melding together rock’n’roll, soul and blues influences. Multi-instrumentalist (and longtime Family member) Poli Palmer doubles up as producer and co-writer here. His imaginative keyboards add texture and colour, while Procol Harum’s Geoff Whitehorn shines on lead guitar.

Chappo’s near-namesake Michael Chapman welcomed advancing age saying that he’d always wanted to sound like an old blues singer anyway and the same might apply here: his voice sounds nicely weathered now, with less of the exaggerated tremolo that divided opinion back in the day. The funky Rabbit Got The Gun is the most intricately arranged song; by contrast, the spartan, drumless On Lavender Heights has the elegiac feel of a Tom Waits ballad. Chapman looks back with wry nostalgia at the high times that were had in the 60s on Naughty Child , but claims that his anger at politicians – “two faced hypocrites” – is what fans his creative fire.

At the age of 79 he clearly still has work left to do and plenty of raw material from which to draw. 

Mike Barnes is the author of  Captain Beefheart - The Biography  (Omnibus Press, 2011) and A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & the 1970s (2020). He was a regular contributor to Select magazine and his work regularly appears in  Prog , Mojo  and  Wire . He also plays the drums.

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