hypertension

ROGER CHAPMAN

Roger Chapman is the singer best-known in Britain for his work with Family and the 70s r’n’b band Streetwalkers. In the pre-punk era, Roger was an enormous cult figure on the British rock scene, famed for his spectacular showmanship and soaring vibrato. John Peel, the evergreen Radio 1 DJ, vowed that he’d travel colossal distances to catch a Chapman gig. But in the days when 60s musicians were being indiscriminately pensioned off in this country, upstaged by the Sex Pistols and New Wave Music, Roger poured his energies into performing abroad and thus becoming a rock exile. Through talent and resilience, he rebuilt his career in Germany during the 1980s, packing out venues, promoting a spate of successful albums and enjoying a huge European hit with his impassioned rendition of Mike Oldfield’s ‚Shadow on the Wall‘.

Up to 1993, Chapman only played an occasional clandestine gig in Britain but following his successful ‚Kick It Back‘ tour that year he has maintained more of a UK presence, which continues to develop to this day.

Never one to ever contemplate retirement Roger is back in 2009 with a new album and a busy touring schedule in the UK and the rest of Europe. HIDE GO SEEK contains a mammoth twenty-eight tracks of demos, lost gems and alternative versions of familiar titles. Some of the recordings are over twenty years old and have never been heard before, yet still sounding fresh and vibrant today.

HIDE GO SEEK is a superb collection of work by Roger Chapman; many genres of music are represented here from rock to soul and beyond. This superb release acts as a testament to one of the UK’s most prominent and unique vocalists and serves as both reminder and introduction to Roger Chapman, vocalist and songwriter.