Elson Trinidad (elson@westworld.com)
Mon, 26 Apr 1999 22:27:28 -0700
At 12:34 AM 4/27/99 -0400, k wrote:
>it was reported that larry shot roger dead and then shot and killed
>himself.
>
>kevin k
From Addicted to Noise/Music News of the World website (www.addict.com):
Two Brothers In Zapp Dead In
Apparent Murder-Suicide
Police say Larry shot younger sibling Roger then turned
gun on himself.
Contributing Editor Brian Hiatt reports:
In an apparent murder-suicide that has baffled family,
friends and
investigators, Roger Troutman, leader of the funk band
Zapp, was shot
to death Sunday morning by his brother and bandmate Larry
Troutman,
who then ended his own life, according to police.
"Man, nobody really knows [why] -- all we know is that
two people that we
really love are now dead," said Zapp bandmate Bigg Robb.
The brothers were found two blocks apart Sunday in
Dayton, Ohio,
according to police spokesperson Det. Carol Thomas. Roger
was still
alive when police found him around 7:30 a.m. behind a
recording studio
he co-owned. He died later in surgery at Good Samaritan
Hospital and
Health Center. He was 47.
Larry, meanwhile, was found dead in a 1998
Lincoln
four-door sedan, with a gunshot wound to his head
that police believe was self-inflicted. He
was 54.
Police are investigating Roger's death as a
homicide, but they are still trying to
determine whether Larry's death was a
suicide, Thomas said.
"On initial investigation, though, it does
appear that Larry Troutman shot his brother,"
he said. Police are conducting tests to
confirm that the same gun was fired in both
shootings.
Zapp included Roger, Larry, their brothers
Terry and Lester Troutman, and the group's
M.C., Bigg Robb. The group was formed in 1978
and scored hits such as "Bounce to
the Ounce" (1980) (RealAudio excerpt) and
"Dance Floor" (1982) (RealAudio excerpt).
Roger later had a successful solo career,
leading the band to change its name to
Roger & Zapp.
Thomas, who called the deaths "baffling,"
said police are questioning family members
to help determine a possible motive in the case.
But Bigg Robb said Monday (April 26) that
friends and family were at a loss to explain
the tragedy.
Bigg Robb, who declined to give his birth
name, said the group had just performed last
week in Charlotte, N. C., and Roger had given
no indication of a dispute with his
brother Larry, who had retired from the band.
"This whole thing is such a shock; we couldn't imagine
this in a million years," he said.
Robb said Roger was proud when Zapp's music was embraced
by hip-hop artists, beginning with
EPMD's 1988 song "You Gots to Chill," which sampled
Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce."
In 1996 Roger contributed his trademark, vocoderlike
voicebox sound to rapper Dr. Dre's duet with Tupac
Shakur, "California Love," Robb said. It had originally
been intended as a Dr. Dre solo track, but when
Death Row Records head Marion "Suge" Knight heard it, he
suggested it be used for a planned duet with
Shakur, Robb said.
R&B legend Stevie Wonder originally inspired Troutman to
sing through the voicebox, a plastic device,
also known as a golden throat or talkbox, which creates a
robotlike vocal sound, Robb said. "Roger was
influenced by Stevie Wonder -- he saw Stevie Wonder years
ago playing the voicebox on television, and
he took the thing and modernized it. Roger was the
undisputed master of it," he explained.
Howie Klein, president of Reprise Records, which was
Roger's label both with Zapp and as a solo act,
said he considered the frontman "a friend and a really
great guy."
According to Klein, Roger Troutman had been working on a
new album, which he planned to call Zapp
and Friends, and had recently recorded a cover of the
'60s song "(I Am) Superman," made famous by
Athens, Ga., superstars R.E.M., for the soundtrack to the
now-aborted new "Superman" movie.
Roger "was a great human being with an incredibly
creative mind -- someone who always had ideas and
was willing to work with other artists on those ideas.
... I think his sound will really be what he's
remembered for; it was a totally unique sound that
influenced a lot of people," Klein said.
Bigg Robb described Roger Troutman as "a loveable
person," adding that "he never did anything to hurt
anybody."
"It's a bad ending to a great life," he said.
[ Mon., April 26, 1999 8:32 PM EDT ]
- 30 -
:. elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa
:. elson@westworld.com
:. www.westworld.com/~elson
"funny how frustration breeds desire" - meja
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