Jason Scheff | |
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 Scheff in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jason Randolph Scheff |
| Born | April 16, 1962 San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1976–present |
| Website | jasonscheff |
Jason Randolph Scheff (born April 16, 1962) is an American bassist, singer, and songwriter who was a frontman for the American rock band Chicago from 1985 to 2016. [1] Replacing former lead vocalist Peter Cetera, Scheff was the longest-serving bassist/vocalist of Chicago. [2]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(August 2022) |
In mid-1985, 23-year-old Scheff joined the multiplatinum band Chicago, after Peter Cetera had departed the band to continue his solo career.
His lead vocals were debuted on the 1986 single "25 or 6 to 4", a remake of their 1970 hit, then followed up with "Will You Still Love Me?"
In addition to performing the band's classic material, Scheff had composed several original songs for the band, including their 1989 top-5 single "What Kind of Man Would I Be?" Scheff also co-wrote the song "Heart of Mine" with Bobby Caldwell and Dennis Matkosky. The song became a big hit for Boz Scaggs in 1988 and was included on the 1988 Boz Scaggs album Other Roads and the collection Hits! . Scheff performed "Heart of Mine" several years later in 2007 for a theater-in-the-round setting at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.
Scheff, along with co-writers Peter Wolf and Ina Wolf, wrote the song "Bigger Than Elvis" in 1993 for what was intended to be Chicago's 22nd album. This song is about his father, Jerry Scheff, describing Jason's childhood memories of watching his father play on television. The album, however, was rejected by Warner Bros. in 1993, and remained unreleased until 2008, when Rhino released it as Chicago XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus .
In 2005, Scheff and Chicago founding member Robert Lamm convinced the band to record Chicago XXX , their first collection of new material since 1991's Twenty 1 .[ citation needed ] Scheff also enlisted Rascal Flatts vocalist and bassist Jay DeMarcus to serve as producer for the new album, which was released on March 21, 2006. Scheff co-wrote seven of the 12 songs on the CD.
He was part of two a cappella releases by West Coast All Stars. The first in 1997, called "California Dreamin'", included vocals by Joseph Williams, Bill Champlin, Bobby Kimball, and Scheff; the second in 1998, "Naturally", again featured Williams, Kimball, and Scheff, adding this time Tommy Funderburk as the fourth vocal.
In the 2000s, he was part of Robert Lamm's solo band for performances and three albums. [3] [4]
In 2005, Scheff (credited as Jason Chefe) [5] appeared on the Pink Floyd tribute album Back Against the Wall , performing lead vocals and bass on the track "Run Like Hell", together with Dweezil Zappa (lead guitar), Tony Kaye (keyboard solo), Aynsley Dunbar (drums), Bob Kulick (electric guitar), and Billy Sherwood (keyboards).
Scheff and Lamm also collaborated as the executive producers of Zosia Karbowiak's first international solo release in 2009 S.I.N.G. [6] [7]
A few weeks after performing with Chicago for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in April 2016, Scheff took a leave of absence from the band. [8] Singer/bassist Jeff Coffey filled in for him on the summer tour. In October of that year, Scheff left Chicago permanently, with Coffey initially as his successor before the latter was replaced by Canadian tenor vocalist Neil Donell and bassist Brett Simons in late 2018. [9] [10] He remains the longest-serving bassist/vocalist in the band's history.
Scheff appeared in January 2017 in the CNN feature film by Peter Pardini Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago, which began filming before his departure from the band.[ citation needed ]
After leaving Chicago in 2016, Scheff participated as a judge for American Super Group. [11] He has worked with new artists trying to break into the music business by conducting songwriting workshops and music lessons.[ citation needed ]
Scheff has participated in a number of fundraisers for charities. [12] [13] [14] [15]
In 2019, Scheff toured with Todd Rundgren, Denny Laine, Christopher Cross, and Joey Molland in celebration of the Beatles' White Album on the It Was Fifty Years Ago Today – A Tribute to the Beatles’ White Album. Scheff performed the Chicago songs "25 or 6 to 4" and "Hard to Say I'm Sorry". [16]
Chicago is an American rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1967. The group began calling themselves the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, then shortened the name to its current one in 1969. Self-described as a "rock and roll band with horns," their songs often also combine elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music.
Straight Up is the fourth studio album by the Welsh rock band Badfinger, released in December 1971 in the United States and February 1972 in Britain. Issued on the Beatles' Apple record label, it includes the hit singles "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue", and the similarly popular "Name of the Game", all of which were written by singer and guitarist Pete Ham. The album marked a departure from the more rock-oriented sound of Badfinger's previous releases, partly as a result of intervention by Apple Records regarding the band's musical direction.
David Frank Paich is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the band's three most popular songs: "Hold the Line", "Rosanna", and "Africa". With Toto, Paich has contributed to 17 albums and sold over 40 million records. He and guitarist and singer Steve Lukather are the only members to appear on every studio album.
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 1968.
Peter Paul Cetera Jr. is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist encompasses 17 studio albums with Chicago and eight solo studio albums.
Chicago 18 is the fifteenth studio album by the American rock band Chicago, released on September 29, 1986. This album is the first without original vocalist Peter Cetera, and the first to feature Jason Scheff on bass and vocals.
Greatest Hits 1982–1989 is the third greatest hits album by the American band Chicago, released by Full Moon/Reprise Records on November 21, 1989. It became one of Chicago's biggest selling albums, having been certified five times platinum in the United States.
The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning is a double greatest hits album by the American band Chicago, their twenty-seventh album overall. Released in 2002, this collection marked the beginning of a long-term partnership with Rhino Entertainment which, between 2002 and 2005, would remaster and re-release Chicago's 1969–1980 Columbia Records catalog.
Ronald Douglas Montrose was an American musician and guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock, Beaver & Krause, Boz Scaggs, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, The Beau Brummels, Dan Hartman, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Marc Bonilla and Sammy Hagar.
William Bradford Champlin is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago from 1981 to 2009. He performed lead vocals on three of Chicago's biggest hits of the 1980s, 1984's "Hard Habit to Break" and 1988's "Look Away" and "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love". During live shows, he sang the lower, baritone, vocal parts originally performed by founding guitarist Terry Kath, who had died in 1978. He has won multiple Grammy Awards for songwriting.
Robert Troy Kimball is an American retired singer and songwriter best known as longtime frontman of the rock band Toto from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1998 to 2008. Kimball has also performed as a solo artist and session singer.
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"25 or 6 to 4" is a song written by American musician Robert Lamm, one of the founding members of the band Chicago. It was recorded in August 1969 for their second album, Chicago, with Peter Cetera on lead vocals, and released as a single in June 1970.
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Jeff Coffey is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the bassist and background vocalist for Don Felder. From 2016–18 he was bassist and co-lead vocalist for the band Chicago.
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