"Family came on in brilliant form. The lead singer, with his stoned, haunted, Trotskyite eyes, smashed his tambourine mid-way through the second number and then set upon the microphone, hurling it about the stage.”
This graphic description of Leicester band Family supporting The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park in July 1969 comes from Richard Neville’s book, Playpower. Published the following year, it explains how frontman Roger Chapman came to be the face of the band, even though they were at pains to operate as a democratic outfit. And we haven’t even mentioned his vibrato-soaked howl, a visceral sound that remains unique to this day.
“I suppose I was the sound of Family because I apparently had a weird voice!” he cackles. “That’s really what people put it down to: ‘Oh, yeah, that’s Family because it’s Roger Chapman.’ I never wanted to be the star: we were just a bunch of musicians trying to make good music.” As for the tambourine-bashing and mike-stand throwing, “I can’t stop myself doing what I do onstage, that’s what I am. I get led away by this feeling and off I go…”
Fast-forward half a century and both Chappo and the Stones are still at it. “I’m proud to be mentioned in the same breath as them,” he confesses from his south-west London home, “because they’ve turned into a fantastic band through all the years. I first met them in the early 60s, and I was pleased to work with Bill [Wyman] for a few shows [with his Rhythm Kings in 2004]. The Stones came along with Georgie Fame, and that, for me, was my first real intimation that I was interested in British music. Not jazz so much, but the R&B side.”
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