1966–1980: Early career and major record deal Born on November 29, 1951, in Hamilton, Ohio, Roger Troutman began recording music in the mid to late 1960s, issuing his first solo recording efforts "Jolly Roger" and "Night Time" on the obscure and now defunct Ohio label, Teen Records in 1966 under the band name 'Lil' Roger and His Fabulous Vels. Although neither song received recognition due to its very limited release, Troutman and brothers pursued their music career throughout the 1970s, forming Roger & The Human Body in 1976, on their privately owned label Troutman Bros. Records. Their own label allowed Troutman and the band to give a slightly wider and more high-profile release of their own music, issuing their first (and only) album
Introducing Roger in 1976. In the late 1970s Roger Troutman continued to record with his brothers, losing the name Roger & The Human Body and adopting the Zapp nickname from his brother Terry in 1977. The group searching for recognition, began playing at various small venues locally around Ohio. The Troutman family had long-standing friendships with Ohio natives
Phelps "Catfish" Collins and
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins, Roger Troutman subsequently wrote and recorded the demo for "
More Bounce to the Ounce" in 1978. for two weeks during the autumn of 1980. By November 18, 1980,
Zapp had been certified gold by the
RIAA.
1980–1981: Split with George Clinton, Uncle Jam and CBS After the 1980 release of Zapp's debut album, tensions rose between Roger Troutman and George Clinton. Troutman's solo album
The Many Facets of Roger was primarily funded by Clinton, through CBS, and was slated to be released on his own
Uncle Jam Records label. Around the time that Troutman's debut was due to be released, Warner Bros. Records dropped Clinton from their label. Funkadelic's final recording with Warner Bros., on which Troutman had worked briefly, was
The Electric Spanking of War Babies. In Clinton's biography
George Clinton: For the Record, Troutman was quoted as off-handedly commenting, "... Heck gee-willickers, Warner Bros. offered me mo' money". Zapp spawned several more albums in close succession, retaining the slick electronic style that
Zapp II had adopted, but with diminishing success.
Zapp III was released in 1983, and managed to gain a gold certification,
Zapp III's poorer commercial performance became a sign that the band's popularity and impact were beginning to decline toward the mid-1980s, with post-disco music falling out of trend. By the release of
The New Zapp IV U in October 1985, the downward trajectory was evident. The album did not attain gold status until 1994, almost a decade after its initial release.
1998–present: Deaths of Roger and Larry Troutman, disbandment, and current activity On Sunday morning, April 25, 1999, Roger Troutman was fatally shot several times in the torso by his older brother, Larry, as he exited a recording studio in Dayton, Ohio; he was taken to
Good Samaritan Hospital, but died shortly after of his wounds. Larry's body was found in a car a short distance away from the murder scene. There were no witnesses at the time, and Larry's motive for orchestrating the apparent murder-suicide of Roger and himself remains unclear. Larry had been experiencing increasingly severe financial problems managing the family-run housing company, Troutman Enterprises, which eventually filed for
chapter 11 bankruptcy owing $400,000 in tax. After Troutman's death,
Ice Cube said that "More Bounce To The Ounce" introduced him to hip-hop. "I was in the sixth grade, we'd stayed after school. We had this dude named Mr. Lock, and he used to bring in his radio with these pop-lockers. He used to teach [the dance group] the L.A. Lockers, and he would do community service in after-school programs. He knew a lot of kids and introduced them to all the new dances, he put on that song 'More Bounce', and they started pop-locking. And I think from that visual, from seeing that, it was my first introduction into hip-hop. Period. I didn't know nothing about nothing. I hadn't heard '
Rapper's Delight' yet. It was the first thing that was really fly to me. They started dancing, and since 'More Bounce' goes on forever, they just got down. I just think that was a rush of adrenaline for me, like a chemical reaction in my brain." The resulting impact of Roger and Larry's deaths left the band stranded, halting production. Without Roger serving as the creative source, they effectively disbanded, and quietly left the music industry altogether. Warner Bros. Records eventually dropped the band from their label, bringing the professional recording career of Zapp to a close. A few years later, Zapp resurfaced for a short period after the establishment of its own independent label, Zapp Town Records, managed by the Troutman family. The label released its only album,
Zapp VI: Back by Popular Demand, in 2003. Zapp returned to performing only in live concert, touring across the U.S. at various venues. ==Personnel==