Formed
officially on February 15, 1967 in Chicago, Ill. |
|
Chicago is second only to the Beach Boys as the most successful
American rock band of all time. The band members intended
to launch a rock group with a fully integrated horn section
(a novel idea at the time), so the original lineup was a
sextet consisting of Walter Parazaider (b. Mar. 14, 1945)
on saxophone and woodwinds, Lee Loughnane (b. Oct. 21, 1946)
on trumpet, Terry Kath (b. Jan. 31, 1946 - d. Jan. 23, 1978)
on guitar and vocals, Danny Seraphine (b. Aug. 28, 1948)
on drums, James Pankow (b.Aug 20, 1947) on trombone, and
Robert Lamm (b. Oct 13, 1944) on organ and vocals. Initially,
the group did without a bass player. But in December 1967,
bassist/vocalist Peter Cetera (b. Sep. 13, 1944) joined
from rival band the Exceptions.
Under
the guidance of manager/producer James William Guercio,
who initially named them Chicago Transit Authority (the
name was shortened after the real C.T.A. objected), the
group moved to Los Angeles and signed to Columbia Records,
recording its debut album, Chicago
Transit Authority, in January 1969. It sold over
two million copies and spawned four chart singles, beginning
a string of massive hits that lasted to the end of the
decade, with each album cover sporting a variation on
the Chicago logo and a sequential title with a roman numeral:
Chicago II, Chicago III, etc. (Later, ordinary numbers
were used.)
Chicago's
music was a mixture of styles, from hard rock to light
pop, incorporating elements of jazz and classical, but
after Cetera's "If You Leave Me Now" became a gold-selling
#1 hit in 1976, the group became more identified with
romantic ballads than anything else.
Chicago
went into decline after a split with Guercio in 1977 and
the accidental death of Kath in 1978. But it rebounded
in 1982 with "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and the million-selling
Chicago 16, and was able
to sustain its renewed popularity despite Cetera's departure
for a solo career in 1985. After several years of hits,
Chicago's popularity began to decline in the early '90s,
as the group retired to the oldies circuit.
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