Chicago Biography, Photos and Posters

Chicago

Biography

Started: 1967
City and Country of Origin: Chicago, Illinois
Music Training:
Awards: Grammy 1976 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus, "If You Leave Me Now"
Top Recordings: "Make Me Smile," "25 or 6 to 4," "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?," "Beginnings," "Questions 67 and 68," "Saturday in the Park," "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," "Just You 'N' Me," "Call On Me," "Wishing You Were Here," "Old Days," "If You Leave Me Now," "Baby, What A Big Surprise," "Alive Again," "No Tell Lover," "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," "Hard Habit to Break," "You're the Inspiration," "Along Comes a Woman," "Will You Still Love Me?," "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," "Look Away," "You're Not Alone," "What Kind Of Man Would I Be?"
Chicago Biography: Chicago is a pop band that formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The band began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental rock band and later moved to a softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

The band was formed by a group of DePaul University music students who played a series of late-night jams at clubs on and off campus. They expanded their membership to seven players, and went professional as a cover band called The Big Thing. The band featured an unusual and unusually versatile line-up of instrumentalists, including saxophonist Walter Parazaider, trombonist James Pankow, and trumpet player Lee Loughnane, along with more traditional rock instruments — guitarist Terry Kath, keyboardist Robert Lamm, drummer Danny Seraphine, and bassist Peter Cetera (who was the last to join the original group). While gaining some success as a cover band, the group worked on original songs.

During the mid 1960s the Chicago based group The Buckinghams had a series of pop hits. After they had a parting of the ways with their manager James William Guercio, they faded into oblivion and Guercio moved on to a new group called The Big Thing. Under his guidance the group moved to Los Angeles, in 1968, and changed their name to Chicago Transit Authority.

The band's first album, also called The Chicago Transit Authority, was an audacious debut: a sprawling double album (unheard of for a rookie band) that included jazzy instrumentals, extended jams featuring Latin percussion, and experimental, feedback-laden guitar abstraction. The album began to receive heavy airplay on the newly popular FM radio band; it included a number of pop-rock gems — "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Beginnings", and "Questions 67 and 68" — which would later be edited to a radio-friendly length, released as singles, and eventually become rock radio staples.

Soon after the album's release, the band's name was shortened to simply Chicago, when the actual Chicago Transit Authority threatened legal action.

The band quite literally exploded onto the scene and began to produce a litany of hit albums and singles. Their second album bore their shortened name Chicago and contained hit singles "25 or 6 to 4," "Make Me Smile" and prom-ready ballad "Colour My World." After this success Chicago II and III and IV soon followed. The lone exception was live boxed set entitled Chicago at Carnegie Hall. This box set although heavily criticized went on to become the best selling box set of its time. The group bounced responded to the critique and soon was turning out albums V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and finally XI.

The year 1978 proved to be quite disasterous for the group as they first split with manager James William Guercio nd then in late January, guitarist/singer/songwriter/group co-founder Terry Kath died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. The group auditioned no fewer than 30 applicants to replace Kath and finally settled on Donnie Dacus who re-energized the group. This new blood marked a distinct change in the bands album titles. No longer would they use Roman numerals, they would now use Arabic numerals.

Dacus stayed with the band for the album Hot Streets and right on through Chicago 13. At this point percussionist Laudir DeOliveira also departed and they were replaced by keyboardist/guitarist/singer Bill Champlin and guitarist Chris Pinnick. Chicago 14, 15 16 and 17 soon followed until 1985 when lead singer Peter Cetera left to pursue a solo career.

Bassist/singer Jason Scheff replaced Cetera for Chicago 18, but this album was not as successful as some of the groups previous efforts. The group continued to tour and record and the hits kept coming until after 1991 when the groups commercial appeal began to wane. Today the group still tours and records, but has not had a charting single in over a decade.

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