Roger Chapman – The Best off Music

Roger Maxwell Chapman (born 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Familie, which he joined along with CharlyWhitney , in 1966 and also the rock, R&B band streetwalkers formed in 1974. His idiosyncratic brand of showmanship when performing and vocal vibrato led him to become a cult figure on the British rock scene. Chapman is claimed to have said that he was trying to sing like both Little Richard and his idol Ray Charles. Since the early 1980s he has spent much of his time in Germany and has made occasional appearances there and elsewhere.

In Germany, he was awarded an Artist of the Year award during the 1980s, followed by a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Chapman was originally the vocalist for Farinas, who released the single “You’d Better Stop” b/w “I Like It Like That” in August 1964. (However, lead vocals on that single were performed by Jim King.) He moved on to join The Roaring Sixties who were renamed Family in 1966. In 1967 Family released their first single “Scene Through The Eye of a Lens”, which became a psychedelic favorite. Chapman wrote most of Family’s songs with Charlie Whitney and their debut album Music in a Doll’s House was released in 1968. Their bluesy, experimental rock music gained them a reputation as a progressive underground band. The release of Family Entertainment (1969), A Song for Me (1970) and Anyway (1970) established Family as a fast and loud rock band also capable of producing the most intense acoustic music, in the British underground music scene, at that time. Their single “The Weaver’s Answer” from the Family Entertainment album was a hit in 1969. On 28 August 1970 they appeared at the third Isle of Wight Festival. Although the band was popular in U.K and Europe, success in the U.S. eluded them and in 1973 the band broke up.
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