Happy birthday to the late great one Roger Troutman (November 29, 1951 – April 25, 1999) an American composer, songwriter, producer and the founder of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the funk movement and heavily influenced west coast hip hop due to the scenes heavy sampling of his music over the years. Troutman was well known for his use of the vocoder or the talk box, a device that is connected to an instrument (frequently a keyboard) to create different vocal effects. Roger used a custom-made talkbox—the Electro Harmonix Golden Throat, as well as a Yamaha DX100 FM synthesizer. As both band leader of Zapp and in his subsequent solo releases, he scored a bevy of funk and R&B hits throughout the 1980s. In his later years, he was mostly known for singing the chorus to the hip-hop classic by Tupac Shakur, California Love and the Vice City Soundtrack, More Bounce to the Ounce. Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Roger was the fourth of ten children. He was a late-arriving member of Parliament-Funkadelic and played on the bands final Warner Brothers album The Electric Spanking of War Babies. The first band Roger was in was THE CRUSADERS. The band played in Cincinnati and recorded a 45 record Busted Surfboard and Seminole. The band members were Rick Schoeny, Roy Beck, Dave Spitzmiller, and Denny Niebold. Troutman had formed various other bands with his four brothers, including Little Roger and the Vels and Roger and the Human Body. In 1977, he and the Human Body issued their first single, Freedom. Within two years, Roger and his brothers were discovered by George Clinton, who signed the newly christened Zapp to his Uncle Jam Records label in 1979. The original line-up consisted of Roger Troutman, Larry Troutman, Lester Troutman, Terry Troutman and Gregory Jackson. Zapp made their professional television debut on the first and only Funk Music Awards show. A year later, as Uncle Jam Records was forced to close, Zapp signed to Warner Bros. Records and released their self-titled debut, which yielded the Bootsy Collins produced & Troutman-composed hit, More Bounce to the Ounce. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Soul Singles chart in the fall of 1980. The debut album reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and firmly launched Zapp and Roger into the national spotlight. Between 1980 and 1985, Zapp released the gold-selling albums Zapp, Zapp II, Zapp III and The New Zapp IV U and released top ten R&B hit singles such as Be Alright, Dance Floor, I Can Make You Dance, Heartbreaker, It Doesnt Really Matter - which was a tribute to black artists of the past and present, and the Charlie Wilson and Shirley Murdock-assisted funk ballad, Computer Love. Zapps hit making magic faded shortly after the release of their fifth album, Zapp Vibe, in 1989. Throughout Zapps tenure, the original lineup grew to around fifteen. In 1993, the group scored their biggest-selling album when a compilation album, Zapp & Roger: All the Greatest Hits, was released, featuring remixed cuts of Rogers solo singles and featuring the new single Slow and Easy as well as Mega Medley, which put together a collection of the groups hit singles in a remix. The album sold over two million copies giving the collective their most successful album to date. After the untimely death of Roger and Larry, the remaining brothers have stepped forward with the album, Zapp VI: Back By Popular Demand in 2002. On the morning of April 25, 1999, Roger Troutman was found shot and critically wounded outside his northwest Dayton recording studio around 7 a.m. According to doctors, the 47-year-old had been shot several times in the torso and was in critical condition; he died during surgery at the local hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center. Rogers brother Larry was found dead in a car a few blocks away with a single gunshot wound to the head. A pistol was found inside the vehicle, which matched the description of a car leaving the scene of Roger Troutmans shooting according to witnesses. The gun found with Larry Troutman also matched the one that fired the fatal shots into Roger, suggesting that Larry had shot Roger and then taken his own life. With both men dead, and with no known witnesses, the specific motive for the attack remains unknown. Friends and family could only speculate that the source of a dispute was a rising tension between the brothers over issues such as Larrys financial troubles and Rogers desire to dissolve their business partnership. Troutman, who lived 24 years in the Dayton area, is survived by 6 sons: Roger Lynch (January 31, 1970 – January 22, 2003), Larry Gates, Lester Gates, Brent Lynch, Ryan Stevens and Taji J. Troutman; 5 daughters, Daun Shazier, Hope Shazier, Summer Gates, Mia Paris Collins, Gene Nicole Anderson; and 4 grandchildren. In remembrance, Rogers nephew Clet Troutman sang Amazing Grace through a talkbox at his funeral.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 08:57:08 +0000
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