Biography
Born in Durban, South Africa, in 1951, Blondie Chaplin entered rock & roll at age thirteen as a member of the Flames, a group that scored a regional hit in 1968 with its version of Jerry Butler and the Impressions' "For Your Precious Love." Carl Wilson caught the Flames onstage in London and placed the act on the Beach Boys' Brother Records imprint, where he also produced the self-titled 1970 album; to prevent mix-ups with James Brown's backing vocalists, the Famous Flames, the band shortened its name to the Flame. That sole non-Beach Boys release on the label proved to be the Flame's last, after which Chaplin and bandmate Ricky Fataar entered the Beach Boys lineup in 1972. Over the next two years Chaplin appeared on Carl and the Passions - "So Tough", The Beach Boys in Concert, and Holland, taking the lead vocal on "Sail on Sailor."
Once detached from the Beach Boys, Chaplin maintained steady involvement in the music business, issuing a self-titled solo album on Asylum Records in 1977 and contributing to sessions and performances throughout the 1980s and 1990s by Anton Fig, Rick Danko, Gene Clark's Byrds tribute project, David Johansen, Jennifer Warnes, and numerous others. Following a tour with Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Chaplin joined the Stones' circle around the 1997 release of Bridges to Babylon and remained an auxiliary member for roughly fifteen years. His second solo collection, Between Us, appeared on Big Karma Records in 2006.
During the subsequent two decades he continued supporting classic-rock figures, playing on albums by Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Brian Wilson. In 2016 he took part in Wilson's Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour and has remained on the road with Wilson into the 2020s.
Once detached from the Beach Boys, Chaplin maintained steady involvement in the music business, issuing a self-titled solo album on Asylum Records in 1977 and contributing to sessions and performances throughout the 1980s and 1990s by Anton Fig, Rick Danko, Gene Clark's Byrds tribute project, David Johansen, Jennifer Warnes, and numerous others. Following a tour with Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Chaplin joined the Stones' circle around the 1997 release of Bridges to Babylon and remained an auxiliary member for roughly fifteen years. His second solo collection, Between Us, appeared on Big Karma Records in 2006.
During the subsequent two decades he continued supporting classic-rock figures, playing on albums by Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Brian Wilson. In 2016 he took part in Wilson's Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour and has remained on the road with Wilson into the 2020s.
Albums
