Bill Champlin

Origin: Oakland, California (USA)

BILL CHAMPLIN

Bill Champlin

Discography:

No wasted moments - 1990 (with lyrics)

Notes:

- In 1981 he won another Grammy for co-writing Turn Your Love Around for George Benson, and released his second solo album that year, RUNAWAY. In 1982 he joined Chicago to record Chicago 16. “Bill’s exactly what we’ve been looking for, ”said Chicago’s Robert Lamm . His very distinctive and expressive vocals can be heard on Chicago's hits, "Hard Habit to Break" and "Stay the Night." In 1988 Bill’s recording of the song, “In the Heat of the Night”, was picked up as a show opener by the television show of the same name. The following year Chicago released the song of the year, “Look Away”, featuring Champlin on lead vocals. In 1990 Bill released the critically acclaimed NO WASTED MOMENTS.
That same year he was asked to perform two songs from NO WASTED MOMENTS at the Tokyo Music Festival, and was presented with their songwriter of the year award. Next came four solo albums, BURN DOWN THE NIGHT (1992), THROUGH IT ALL (1994), HE STARTED TO SING (1995) and MAYDAY (1996)... -

(http://westcoast-aor.ning.com/group/billchamplin)



- The career peaking 'Runaway' solo offering from CHICAGO's Bill Champlin, regarded by many as a classic of the West Coast genre, features STEVE LUKATHER and Jeff Porcaro from TOTO, Leland Sklar on bass and the likes of Tom Kelly, MR. MISTER's Richard Page and JAY GRAYDON on backing vocals. By the time of its release Champlin had spent nearly two decades in the music scene, starting out with the San Francisco based SONS OF CHAMPLIN. On the solo front he debuted in 1978 with the 'Single' album, these recordings pulling in the TOTO heavyweight session veterans STEVE LUKATHER, BOBBY KIMBALL, David Hungate, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro and David Paich. Also featured would be JAY GRAYDON. He joined up with CHICAGO in 1981.

Amongst his credits as an in demand session vocalist Champlin cites appearances on records such as LISA DAL BELLO's 'Pretty Girls', REO SPEEDWAGON's 'Nine Lives', PRISM's 'Beat Street', DAKOTA's 'Runaway', NIGHTRANGER's 'Big Life', DENNIS DE YOUNG's 'Boomchild', ERIC CLAPTON's 'Rush'. The man also makes his presence felt on numerous Pop records by the likes of GEORGE BENSON, AMY GRANT, AL JARREAU, ELTON JOHN, BETTE MIDLER and even BARRY MANILOW.

The 'Runaway' album landed Champlin a brace of hit singles with 'Tonight, Tonight' and 'Sara'. STEVE LUKATHER, MR. MISTER's Richard Page, JAY GRAYDON, TAMARA CHAMPLIN and KENNY LOGGINS all donated their services. Champlin also scored on the charts in 1987 with the song 'The Last Unbroken Heart', a duet with PATTI LABELLE used for the hit TV series 'Miami Vice'.

Champlin made a return in 1990 with the mini album 'No Wasted Moments'. Familiar faces for this effort numbered STEVE LUKATHER, TAMARA CHAMPLIN and CHICAGO's Jason Scheff. For his 1996 live album 'Mayday' Champlin employed the services of guitarist Jerry Lopez, keyboard player Tom Saviano and drummer Eddie Garcia.

Champlin united with TOTO veterans BOBBY KIMBALL and JOSEPH WILLIAMS and CHICAGO colleague to form up the a capella WEST COAST ALL STARS covers band, this unit issuing a 1997 album 'California Dreamin'. -

(http://www.rockdetector.com/artist/usa/bill+champlin)



- “He’s known the world over as the soulful singer/keyboardist of the iconic jazz-pop band Chicago. His featured spots on the hits “Look Away” and “Hard Habit to Break” are among his mainstream highlights. But Bill Champlin’s defining work with the Sons of Champlin and as a songwriter put him on the musical map long before he arrived in Chicago. Bill and the Sons were blowing the doors off venues back in the ’70s – and they returned to doing the same in the late ’90s and into the present.”
— Greg Rule, Keyboard Magazine

Bill Champlin was born in Oakland, California on May 21, 1947 to a musical family. His grandparents, mother and sisters have all been singers. Bill is married to Tamara Champlin (a singer/songwriter in her own right) and is the father of three children. His youngest, Will Champlin, is building a name for himself as a prolific songwriter with a distinct sound.

Champlin’s musical career began in 1961 when he formed a band called the Opposite Six. A year later he began writing music. After forming the Sons of Champlin in 1967, he focused his songwriting talents on producing material for the Sons. “They were breathing fire. They were the most talented of all the San Francisco bands”, said Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. The Sons’ first album, “Loosen Up Naturally”, was released in 1969, followed by six more albums before they broke up in 1977. Many of these have been re-released as CD’s and are currently available for purchase.

After the breakup of the Sons, Bill moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session lead and background vocalist on numerous recordings from 1977-1985. Some of the artists that he has worked with include Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, Elton John, Boz Scaggs, Donna Summer, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Amy Grant, Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers. In 1978 he released “Single”, his first solo album. In 1979 he won his first Grammy award for co-writing “After the Love is Gone”, which was later recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire. During the recent Chicago/EWF tours in 2004 and 2005, Champlin was asked to perform this song with them, as lead singer.

The National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) awarded Bill the Most Valuable Player peer award for male background vocalists in 1980. In 1981 he won another Grammy for co-writing Turn Your Love Around for George Benson, and released his second solo album that year, “Runaway”. In 1982 he joined Chicago to record Chicago 16. “Bill’s exactly what we’ve been looking for,” said Chicago’s Robert Lamm. His very distinctive and expressive vocals can be heard on Chicago’s hit, “Hard Habit to Break”.

In 1988 Bill’s recording of the song, “In the Heat of the Night”, was picked up as a show opener by the television show of the same name. The following year Chicago released the song of the year, “Look Away”, featuring Champlin on lead vocals. In 1990 Bill released the critically acclaimed “No Wasted Moments”. That same year he was asked to perform two songs from “No Wasted Moments” at the Tokyo Music Festival, and was presented with their songwriter of the year award.

Next came four solo albums, “Burn Down The Night” (1992), “Through It All” (1994), “He Started To Sing” (1995) and “Mayday” (1996). In July, 1997, “Here in my Heart” topped the adult contemporary charts for Chicago, featuring Champlin on lead vocals. 1997 also saw an a capella release of “West Coast All Stars”, a project he did with Jason Scheff of Chicago, and Toto’s Bobby Kimball and Joseph Williams.
The Sons of Champlin reunited in 1997, with a loyal group of enthusiastic fans traveling great distances to see them perform. They recorded “Live At The Luther Burbank Center” in 1998, as well as “Secret” (CD and DVD) and “Hip Lil’ Dreams’ in 2002.

Bill’s newest release is the solo CD / DVD “No Place Left To Fall”. It was recorded at the Barber Shop Studios in Hopatcong, New Jersey for the DreamMakers Music label. It was first released by JVC Japan on September 24, 2008, as well as being released for digital downloading, and later released in Europe by Zink Music on December 10, 2008. The U.S. release by DreamMakers was on August 4, 2009.

With “No Place Left to Fall”, Bill Champlin made the album he was born to make, a career-defining record with an honesty and immediacy that reflect his old-school approach to music – and his complete disregard for the old-model music industry.

After 28 years with Chicago, Bili parted ways with the classic jazz/rock band to focus once again on his solo career. The announcement came on the heels of the August 4th release of “No Place Left to Fall”. “This music is callin’ me,” said Champlin.

The two-time GRAMMY® award winner then launched a successful West Coast tour beginning in November of 2009, with the Bill Champlin Band promoting “No Place Left To Fall”, followed by a Sons of Champlin tour in March, 2010. He was also invited to Norway earlier that year by the Norwegian Kringkastings Orchestra to perform with his wife, Tamara Champlin, in Oslo.

In the words of drummer, Billy Ward, “I became a Bill Champlin fan in the early seventies when he led, what was to me, a ground-breaking band, The Sons Of Champlin. He’s written and sang on probably over 400 hit songs, the later ones with the band Chicago. His organ playing has him ranked on most peoples “A” list and he plays the heck out of the guitar as well! He is one of the finest musicians I’ve ever gotten the privilege to play with.” Dennis Cook, in Jambase and Relix Magazine adds, “Age has done nothing to diminish his powers, and in fact, brings nuances to the material that a young cat just can’t muster.” -

(http://www.billchamplin.net/)