Bill Champlin

Bill Champlin served as lead singer, primary songwriter, keyboard player, rhythm guitarist, and occasional saxophonist in the Bay Area band the Sons of Champlin from 1965 to 1977, shepherding the middle-level San Francisco rock group through seven modestly selling albums…

There has been a lot of hate and anger in the world recently, so L.A.-based singer/songwriter Bill Champlin wants to bring some love into the mix with his latest album, Livin’ For Love. Because of all the extra time at home this year, Champlin has been able to work on and finish this solo album after signing to Bob Winegard’s Imagen Records. “I’m real proud of the album, I think we did a good job,” adds Champlin. “I don’t even know if I would have had the album done if it weren’t for the lockdowns.” It has been about 10 years since he’s released a solo album and with this one, Champlin was able to dedicate a lot of time and energy into making it so great. It focuses on different events in his life that have somehow inspired or left a mark on him. “I put a little more heart and soul into this album,” Champlin shares. “I felt more like the artist than the producer, even though I was both.”

2020 release from the AOR supergroup. Champlin Williams Friestedt consists of renowned Toto singer Joseph Williams, composer of film and drama scores and can also be heard in Disney's animated feature film The Lion King as the singing voice of adult Simba. Teaming up with none other than Bill Champlin formerly of the legendary band Chicago and critically acclaimed guitarist, producer and recording artist Peter Friestedt, the album II also includes contributions from vocalist, Michael McDonald, drummer John JR Robinson (Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones), Randy Goodrum (Toto, Chicago), Tamara Champlin and Polar price 2020 winner Diane Warren among many others.

Bill Champlin, the former leader of the Sons of Champlin (1965-1977) and, for the previous 11 years, a singer/keyboardist with Chicago, was on tour promoting his third solo album, Burn Down the Night, when the then-46-year-old and his four-piece band appeared on the German television program Ohne Filter on October 6, 1993, a show reproduced 11 years later on this DVD. In a performance running 58 minutes, he performed 11 songs, five of them from Burn Down the Night. Champlin has a rangy, expressive voice that he uses in the manner of an R&B singer like Ray Charles or James Brown, and during the show he traded off between electric guitar and his Hammond organ, which he played in a style reminiscent of Jimmy Smith.