CHICAGO MEMBER
BILL CHAMPLIN STILL FINDS TIME FOR HIS OLD GROUP, THE SONS
By Mark Whittington
Mercury News
Posted on
Tue, Jan. 13, 2004
A man for
two bands:
one for the money,
one for the soul
Bill Champlin has hit the musical gold mine, playing with Chicago for
22 years and winning Grammys for writing hits by Earth, Wind & Fire
and George Benson.
But he still has a
soft spot in his heart for his old Marin County band, the Sons of Champlin,
which never had a hit record and couldn't pay the rent.
"It's a weird
little spot,'' says Champlin, 56. "It's hard to have a band that
good -- and people have never heard of it. The band has the goods. It's
just a matter of finding the time.
"Something about
the band has kept it alive. Musically, it's always been there.''
The Sons -- a mainstay
of the Bay Area scene in the '60s and '70s -- rise again today with the
release of "Secret,'' a DVD and CD recorded during a concert last
year at Emeryville's Ex'pression Center for New Media. Such band mainstays
as "Hold On,'' "Rooftop'' and "Get High'' will warm the
hearts of longtime fans and leave newcomers wondering, "How come
I've never heard of these guys?'' The DVD extras include interviews with
band members reminiscing about the band's history.
Fans will have to
wait a little longer to hear the Sons' first new studio album in 25 years.
That album, recorded over the past 2 1/2 years and mixed by Champlin when
he's not busy with Chicago, sounds great. Champlin has just begun looking
for a distributor.
"The music speaks
for itself,'' he says. "It's still just as good as it was.''
Anyone who heard the
band knows how good that was -- Champlin's soulful voice mixed with funky
horns, deep grooves, incendiary solos and great ensemble playing.
But it never quite
worked out. The Sons were the horn band at the center of psychedelia.
Champlin was a white guy who sounded black. They smoked too much dope.
They ran into bad luck and made bad decisions.
"We made more
bad career moves than Suzanne Somers,'' says Champlin, who's now sober,
and philosophical about the good old days. "We were probably quite
stupid in a lot of ways. Every time opportunity knocked, we answered the
phone.''
How bad did it get?
At one point, the band jammed under the name Yogi Phlegm. It was too expensive
to take a horn band on the road, so the band was playing the same West
Coast clubs over and over. In order to get hired back, they had to get
the crowd to dance and drink.
"We were playing
more Commodores songs than Sons songs,'' Champlin recalls. After a 12-year
run, the Sons disbanded in 1977, and Champlin moved -- shudder -- to Los
Angeles.
"I just couldn't
raise my kids,'' he says. "Marin County rents had gone through the
roofs.''
Champlin fit right
into the thriving L.A. scene. He can play keyboards, guitar, sax, even
drums. And he could always sing. He found he had talent as a vocal arranger.
Those skills landed him in the studio with everyone -- Al Jarreau, Tom
Scott, Herbie Hancock, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Elton John, Eric Clapton.
He also made solo
albums, including "Runaway'' with its hits "Sara'' and "Tonight
Tonight.'' And he co-wrote those Grammy winners -- "Turn Your Love
Around'' for Benson and "After the Love Has Gone'' for Earth, Wind
& Fire.
In 1981, he got the
call asking him to join rock's best-known horn band, Chicago.
For some Bay Area
fans, it was as if Willie Mays had joined the Dodgers.
Champlin shrugs it
off. "Anybody who's raising kids knows exactly why I did what I did.''
After 22 years, Chicago
still pays the bills. Champlin has been with the band since "Chicago
16'' (it's currently at "Chicago XXVI''). The band tours constantly.
Next week, it's Las Vegas; after that, New Zealand and Australia.
During a break, Champlin
is home in L.A., trying to figure out how to hook up an Xbox for his grandson.
But he takes an hour or so to chat on the phone.
On Chicago: "For
guys like us, the Doobies, Hall and Oates, we just keep working steady.
You hit the stage with nothing but hits. Audiences go there to remember
songs.
"It's a wine-and-cheese
crowd. I have no problem with that. But it doesn't feel like the Fillmore
in 1968.''
On success: "The
industry is all about tattoos and body piercings right now. It's not youth.
It's about `edgy.' Edgy is not a human adjective; it's a marketing term.
If you look at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they are giving people
prizes for great marketing performances now.''
On the music industry:
"When you really get down to it, we're in the same business as Pia
Zadora.''
On L.A.: "Musicians
are still second-class citizens of the entertainment world. `He may be
rich, but he's still a musician. He's not in movies.' Music is sort of
used as a stepping stone to the big time, which is movies. If you want
fame, there's nothing like being 50 feet tall in front of a room full
of people.''
On switching careers:
"I've got a great face for radio. It's never been my desire to do
anything other than music.''
On videos: "Video
has made it real hard for real music to get heard.''
On being big in Japan:
"I look at Japan as an American patron of the arts.''
On his influences:
"Lou Rawls, first. Donny Hathaway. Stevie Wonder.
"I listen to
Ella Fitzgerald, but I listen to the Beatles, too. I listen to James Brown
and Duke Ellington.''
On younger musicians
he likes: "D'Angelo -- watch out for that guy; he knows his way around
a studio. Brian McKnight -- really an educated musician. Norah Jones.
The Dave Matthews Band, the new generation's Grateful Dead. . . . When
Take 6 came out, it really changed my life. . . . Look at John Mayer;
he's a great musician.''
On old bands who can
still play: "Toto -- it's just awesome what they are doing now. Earth,
Wind & Fire -- still better than anything else that's going on tonight.
Steely Dan back on the road is a great thing.''
On the new studio
album: "It's going to tear people's heads off, if they hear it.''