Champlin, Bill (21 May 1947-Present)

Multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer-songwriter from Oakland, California, who started out with The Opposite Six in 1961 and The Masterbeats in 1965. In 1967, The Masterbeats morphed into the Sons of Champlin. They released three albums in pretty short order Loosen Up Naturally, Minus Seeds and Stems and The Sons and broke up in March 1970. Bill did a brief stint with The Rhythm Dukes and then the Sons of Champlin reformed in November 1970. In April 1971, they issued another album, Follow Your Heart. They changed their name to Yogi Phlegm and performed under this moniker from June 1971 until January 1972. Then, they changed it back to the Sons of Champlin. From 1973 to 1976, they released three more albums–A Circle Filled With Love, Sons of Champlin, and Welcome to the Dance then broke up in August 1977.

Bill launched a career as a session musician and solo artist. In 1978, he issued his inaugural solo effort, Single, and sang background vocals and played keyboard and organ on Bob Weir’s LP, Heaven Help the Fool.

He and David Foster and Jay Graydon won a Grammy for “After the Love is Gone” a song they co-wrote that became a hit for Earth, Wind & Fire. In 1980, he won Most Valuable Player in the category of background vocalists from the National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences. He took home an additional Grammy award in 1981 for “Turn Your Love Around”, a song he co-wrote which was a hit for George Benson.

In 1981, he also contributed vocals to Lee Ritenour’s sort-of self-titled Rit and released another solo recording, Runaway. It spawned a hit entitled “Sara”, which was co-written with David Foster and Alan Thicke. “Sara” peaked at #19 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #61 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1982, he appeared on Glenn Frey’s album, No Fun Aloud, and joined the group Chicago in time for their recording of Chicago 16. His tenure with them would last almost three decades. He made the cut on their Starsound Collection in 1983.

In 1987, he sang “The Last Unbroken Heart” with Patti LaBelle and it was included on the soundtrack of the television program, Miami Vice.

He also sang the title song of the TV show, In the Heat of the Night, and pitched in vocals on Gary Herbig’s eponymous album, in 1988.

In 1989, he appeared on Richard Marx’s album, Repeat Offender.

He released another solo album, No Wasted Moments, and performed a couple of songs from it at the Tokyo Music Festival, where he was honoured as Songwriter of the Year, in 1990.

In 1991, he and Brenda Russell sang on the LP, Keep This Love Alive by Tom Scott.

This was followed by several more solo albums: Burn Down the Night, He Started to Sing, Mayday, and Through it All. In February 1995, he returned to Japan for a live concert that included “Lovers Tonight” and “Take it Uptown”. He sang lead vocals on Chicago’s song, “Here in My Heart”, and it shot to #1 on the AC chart in July 1997.

In 1997, Bill, along with Bobby Kimball, Jason Scheff and Joseph Williams, released an a capella CD entitled West Coast All Stars. Around this time, the Sons of Champlin got back together.

In 1998, they recorded Live at the Luther Burbank Center and Secret, and Bill sang vocals on Tom Saviano’s album, Making Up Lost Time. Before the decade was out, he had made the cut on another Chicago compilation, Overtime.

In 2002, the Sons of Champlin recorded another album, Hip Li’l Dreams, Bill sang background vocals on Bruce Gaitsch’s Nova CD.

A DVD, Bill Champlin: In Concert hit the shelves in 2004. From 2004 to 2005, Chicago toured with Earth, Wind & Fire, and Bill was often asked to perform lead vocals on “After the Love is Gone”.

He played the Hammond organ, piano and sang vocals on Chicago XXX, and B-3 organ and lead vocals on Mic Gillette’s Ear Candy, in 2005.

In 2008, he appeared on the Jay Graydon All Stars’ Live in Japan 1994.1.19 and Steve Lukather’s Ever Changing Times, and his own No Place Left to Fall. It was released in Europe and Japan in 2008 and the U.S. in 2009. He toured in support of the album in November 2009 and with the Sons of Champlin in March 2010.

In May 2010, he did a series of concerts with TOBB in Bergen, Larvik, Kristiansand and Sarpsborg, Norway. The Sons of Champlin were back on the road in July 2010.

On 7^th July 2011, he and his wife Tamara and son Will performed live at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. He appeared in concert at the Moore Family Winery in Kelseyville, California, on 30^th July 2011. On 27^th October 2011, he played the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Other recordings on which he appears include AOR’s Journey to LA, Fly Away: The Songs of David Foster, Peter Friestedt’s The LA Project, Don Johnson’s Heartbeat, Barry Manilow’s If I Should Love Again, Rocco Prestia’s everybody on the bus, and Joseph Williams’ I Am Alive.

Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
(LP: That’s What Friends Are For)

Sources:

Champlin, Bill (21 May 1947-Present)

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