Roger

Roger Troutman, recognized primarily for founding and steering the early-1980s funk outfit Zapp as its chief songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist, also built a thriving solo career under the streamlined name Roger. The fourth of nine children, he entered the world on November 29, 1951, in Hamilton, Ohio, and turned to music almost immediately, receiving his first guitar at the age of five. Local bands soon claimed his attention, among them the Crusaders, which he joined at eleven and which later added his brother Lester on drums. After that ensemble dissolved in the early 1960s, Roger and Lester remained a unit while Roger absorbed the sounds of R&B forebears B.B. King, Jimmy Reed, Chuck Jackson, and Junior Walker alongside the era’s hitmakers the Temptations, Wilson Pickett, and the Beatles. By the close of the decade he had mastered the Hammond organ as well; brothers Tony on bass and Larry on percussion completed the lineup, and the quartet began performing as Roger & the Human Body.

Exposure to Jimi Hendrix, the Isley Brothers, Stevie Wonder, and Funkadelic soon reshaped their approach, infusing the brothers’ music with a pronounced funk and rock edge. After playing extensively across the United States and Canada, the group welcomed a fifth Troutman—Terry, nicknamed “Zapp”—in 1977 and adopted that moniker as its own. Phelps “Catfish” Collins, brother of Bootsy Collins, caught one of their shows and introduced the band to Bootsy, who in turn alerted George Clinton. Clinton signed Zapp to his Uncle Jam imprint, a Columbia subsidiary, and arranged for Roger to perform at the inaugural Funk Awards in December 1979, presenting him as the most gifted musician he had ever encountered. The galvanizing set generated immediate interest in the band’s self-titled debut, released in 1980 on Warner Bros. after contractual complications prevented its appearance on Uncle Jam.

Zapp, also billed as Zapp & Roger, quickly ranked among funk’s elite acts, releasing Zapp II in 1982, Zapp III in 1983, The New Zapp IV U in 1984, and Zapp V in 1989. The catalog yielded such signature singles as “More Bounce to the Ounce,” “Be Alright,” “Dance Floor (Part I),” “Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing),” “I Can Make You Dance (Part I),” and “Computer Love.” Concurrently, Roger issued solo albums that blended covers of R&B standards with original material—The Many Facets of Roger in 1981, The Saga Continues in 1984, Unlimited! in 1987, and Bridging the Gap in 1991—while scoring hits with his version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Part I)” and the single “I Want to Be Your Man.”

Public attention nevertheless faded by the late 1980s. Just as the act seemed to recede in the early 1990s, a new wave of rap and R&B artists began mining the group’s catalog; MC Hammer, Kris Kross, Blackstreet, Michael and Janet Jackson, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, and Snoop Dogg all drew from Zapp recordings. Renewed demand followed, capped by strong sales of the 17-track anthology All the Greatest Hits, which earned platinum certification in 1996. Tragedy struck on April 25, 1999, when Roger was fatally shot by his brother Larry, who then took his own life. In 2002 Rhino Records reissued The Many Facets of Roger, appending several previously unreleased bonus tracks.