Roger & Zapp R Just Gettin Started

About Me

Layout powered by HOT FreeLayouts ''Roger & ZAPP" Were One of the last large ensemble funk bands, Zapp dominated the early 80s with "Dance Floor," "More Bounce to the Ounce," and "Computer Love." Leader Roger Troutman also had a highly successful solo career that lasted well into the 90s. Roger Troutman was Born November 29, 1951, in Hamilton, OH, Troutman developed his musical skills in the thriving Dayton, OH, R&B/soul/funk scene of the '70s along with the Ohio Players and others. As protÃ©gÃ© of Parliament-Funkadelic's George Clinton and with Troutman's vocoder-filtered vocals up front, Zapp had several hits for Warner Bros. Records during the '80s: "More Bounce to the Ounce" (number two R&B for two weeks, fall 1980), "Be Alright Pt.1" (number 26 R&B, late 1980), "Dance Floor (Part 1)" (number one R&B, summer 1982), "Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing)" (number ten R&B, fall 1982), "I Can Make You Dance (Pt.1)" (number four R&B, summer 1983), "Heartbreaker (Pt.1)" (number 15 R&B, fall 1983), the funk/pop music legends tribute "It Doesn't Really Matter" (number 41 R&B, fall 1985), the classic "Computer Love (Pt.1)" (number eight R&B, late 1986), "Ooh Baby Baby" (number 18 R&B, fall 1989), and Zapp & Roger's "Mega Medley" (number 30 R&B, summer 1993).Like his mentor Clinton, who recorded for several labels at the same time under different monikers, Troutman recorded simultaneously as Roger, releasing albums and hit singles on Warner Bros. and its subsidiary label Reprise: a cover of the Gladys Knight and the Pips/Marvin Gaye hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (number one R&B for two weeks, fall 1981), "Do It Roger" (number 24 R&B, late 1981), "In the Mix" (number ten R&B, spring 1984), a cover of Wilson Pickett's "Midnight Hour Pt.1" featuring the Mighty Clouds of Joy (number 34 R&B, spring 1984), "I Want to Be Your Man" (number one R&B, number three pop, fall 1987), "Thrill Seekers" (number 27 R&B, early 1988), "(Everybody) Get Up" (number 19 R&B, fall 1991), "Take Me Back" (number 37 R&B, early 1992), "Slow and Easy" (number 18 R&B, fall 1993), and the remix of "Computer Love" featuring Shirley Murdock and Charlie Wilson (number 65 R&B). Troutman also guested on "Boom! There She Was" by the group Scritti Politti (number 53 pop, summer 1988).In the mid-'80s, Troutman opened a state-of-the-art recording studio in Dayton called Troutman Sound Labs. Working with singer Shirley Murdock and the Ohio Players' Sugarfoot, Troutman recorded material whose resulting vinyl LP releases had pristine, almost CD-quality clarity before there were CDs. Murdock had hits with "No More" (number 24 R&B), "As We Lay" (number five R&B, fall 1986), "Go on Without You" (number five R&B, early 1987), "Husband" (number five R&B, summer 1988), "In Your Eyes" (number seven R&B, summer 1991), and "Stay With Me Tonight" (number 34 R&B, fall 1991). Sugarfoot's late-'80s Warner Bros. LP Kiss is a favorite of funk connoisseurs.As the hits waned, the Troutman brothers opened a housing business headed by their brother Larry that in the '90s, according to published reports, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, owing over three million dollars in debt and over $400,000 in delinquent taxes.During the late '90s, Troutman enjoyed a renaissance. Zapp & Roger's hits were sampled by a slew of rap and hip-hop artists including Hammer, 2Pac, Dru Hill, Dr. Dre, Kris Kross, Blackstreet, Janet Jackson, the Notorious B.I.G., H-Town, Ice Cube, Redman, EPMD, Ralph Tresvant, and Snoop Dogg. Troutman was spotlighted on Johnny Gill's 1997 single "It's Your Body." On the morning of April 25, 1999, Roger Troutman was found shot behind the alley of his Roger Tee Enterprises. Witnesses reported seeing a man in a black car leave the scene of the crime. His brother Larry, a former Zapp member, was found fatally shot in a Lincoln sedan crashed against a tree seven blocks from the studio. The county coroner ruled the shootings a murder/suicide. Roger Troutman died at age 47 on April 25, 1999, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, OH. Roger Troutman's last two tracks, "Party Time" and "Nuthin' but a Party," are on the compilation United We Funk from Major Label/Pyramid/Rhino. The set includes tracks by Rick James, the SOS Band, the Gap Band, ConFunkShun, and the System. The following year, Thump Records released Tribute to Roger Troutman, which featured hip-hop and R&B songs that sampled and showcased Troutman's work. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

My Interests

This Page is Dedicated to Roger Troutman R.I.P. - 1st Question: We don't see anymore of these talk boxes, So is there someone who's taking special care of yours, cos' it must be hard to keep it in playing condition?ROGER TROUTMAN : Good question! Great question! Lester & I studied how the first company made one. We studied what the parts where, & we built our own. So there's nobody to maintain it but us & it is very very difficult to maintain. It's a constant headache! That's why I have two on stage so that I can switch if one breaks down. And there's two mechanisms within each one. So it's definitely a problem.

I'd like to meet:

"Ooh Baby Baby" (number 18 on the R&B chartz in the fall of 1989) Music Video Codes By VideoCodeZone.com "C:..Documents and Settings..MARCOS..My Documents..My Pictures..Many facets of Roger T..jpg"

Music:

Roger Troutman: What's odd is that lately (1996), in the past couple of years, specially right now, a lot of hip-hop artists have been sampling my music. But quite a few have come to the realization that what they would want me to do is for me to do some songs for them. For instance there's a rapper called E-40 in the Bay Area who approached me to start a record from scratch. They had me produce a song for them called 'Scandalous' which is a take off from ' Computer love'. And it seems to be doing pretty good in the US. And that's something I really expect to get back into. I just looked up & I was back into producing rap groups, instead of them sampling me. And the money comes directly to me (laughs). And Dr DrÃ© & Tupac Shakur approached me a couple of months ago about doing a song with them. And it's exploding right now, doing phenomenal in the US, No 1 video on MTV, & I certainly didn't expect that.

Movies:

Question: You mentioned your brother Larry, what about your other brothers? Isn't there another one named Rufus? And do you have any sisters?ROGER TROUTMAN : In the beginning in our minds it seemed like we all should try to be stars. Solo albums & stuff. After a while we started to realize that what we needed to do was concentrate on me. We all thought that I could be like an enterprise, & we could make money & do the records. We aimed our focus at one thing. And it worked out so much better. Lester now does all the booking, & takes care in making sure everything goes from one point to the other in terms of geography, Terry is in charge of road managing, Larry is making sure that everything stays intact legally & financially. Then Rufus, well, he takes care of our construction company back in Ohio. That's all his baby. And I have just one sister. Her name is Loretta. She works under Rufus. She's a licensed electrician She never cared about singing. She always wanted to be in electronics. Like a tom boy so to speak.

Television:

Characterized by Roger Troutman's(R.I.P.) use of the 1 of a kind Vocoder Talk Box, Zapp and Roger's music scored big in the '80s with hits such as More Bounce to the Ounce, Computer Love, I Want To Be Your Man Or the remakes of great soul classics Heard It Through the Grapevine, Midnight Hour, So Ruff So Tuff, Superman, Heartbreaker (Part1&2), Dance Floor, Dosn't Really Matter, Doo Wa Ditty (blow that thing), Ooh Baba Baba, I Play The Talk Box, Stop That, In The Mix, Fire, Do It Roger, Brand New Player, A Touch Of Jazz(Playin' Kinda Ruff Part 1&2), I Can Make You Dance, I Only Have eyes For You, Play Your Guitar Brother Roger & Radio People.They played a mixture of the band's hits and Roger's solo material, said Roger Troutman, who wouldl alternate between guitar, harmonica, bass and keyboards while on stage.Zapp was formed in the late '70s in Hamilton, Ohio, by Mr. Troutman and his brothers. They were influenced by hometown heroes the Ohio Players and George Clinton's hard-core funk band Parliament.Two of the Troutman brothers still perform with Zapp while the other two handle the business side of the family's careers.After tailing off in the early '90s when hip hop and gangsta rap took over the R&B charts, Mr. Troutman's career has been revived by his collaboration with Dr. Dre and 2 Pac on the 1996 hit California Love and the resurgence of ``old school'' '80s funk.``Old school is back and I'm the superintendent of old school,'' said the musician/entertainer/producer. He attributes the genre's revival to higher powers. ``It's God at work,'' Mr. Troutman said repeatedly.

Heroes:

''Honey''