Popa Chubby

Last updated
Popa Chubby
Popa Chubby at Zusterna 2012.jpg
Popa Chubby in 2012
Background information
Birth nameTheodore Joseph Horowitz
Born (1960-03-31) March 31, 1960 (age 64)
Origin The Bronx, New York City, United States
Genres
Instrument(s) Guitar, vocals, drums
Years active1987–present
LabelsCleopatra Blues, a division of Cleopatra Records, [1] Okeh, Prime, Lightyear, Shanachie, Blind Pig

Popa Chubby, (pronounced POP'-uh) stage name of Theodore Joseph "Ted" Horowitz (born March 31, 1960, in The Bronx, New York City, New York), is an American singer, composer, and guitarist.

Contents

Life and career

Popa Chubby live at Leverkusener Jazztage 2016 Popa Chubby - Leverkusener Jazztage 2016-AL4106.jpg
Popa Chubby live at Leverkusener Jazztage 2016
Blues Heaven Festival (2018 Denmark) Popa-chubby DSC02049.jpg
Blues Heaven Festival (2018 Denmark)

At age thirteen Horowitz began playing drums; shortly thereafter, he began listening to the music of the Rolling Stones and started playing guitar. Although he grew up in the 1970s, Horowitz was influenced by artists of the 1960s, including Jimi Hendrix and Cream, among others.

In his early twenties, although mainly playing blues music, he also worked as backing for punk rock poet Richard Hell. Horowitz first came to public attention after winning a national blues talent search sponsored by KLON, a public radio station in Long Beach, California, which is now known as KKJZ. In 1989, he appeared, as Ted Horowitz, as guitarist on Pierce Turner's Sky & the Ground. [2] He won the New Artist of the Year award and as a result was chosen as the opening act at the Long Beach Blues Festival in 1992. Horowitz played more than 200 club dates a year through the 1990s.

In 1994, Horowitz released several albums on his own Laughing Bear label, including It's Chubby Time and Gas Money, before he obtained a recording contract with Sony Music/Okeh Records. Booty and the Beast, his first major-label album, produced by Atlantic Records engineer/producer Tom Dowd, who worked on recordings for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Wilson Pickett, was released in 1995. In 1996, a live recording, Hit the High Hard One, was released on the Prime-CD label, along with re-releases of his first two albums. [3] Two years later, One Million Broken Guitars was released on Lightyear Records; Brooklyn Basement Blues followed in 1999.

In 2000, Horowitz signed with Blind Pig Records and released How'd a White Boy Get the Blues? in 2001. It turned out to be a slight departure from Horowitz's usual musical direction, incorporating elements of contemporary pop and hip-hop.[ citation needed ]The Good, the Bad and the Chubby, released in 2002, was an example of the development of Horowitz's songwriting skills and included the 9/11 commentary "Somebody Let the Devil Out". Blind Pig released a collection of early Horowitz recordings, The Hungry Years, in 2003. A year later, Horowitz released Peace, Love and Respect.

Two albums previously available only in France – Live at FIP and Wild – were compiled by the Blind Pig label and released as Big Man, Big Guitar in 2005, followed by Stealing the Devil's Guitar a year later. The Fight Is On, was Horowitz's first studio album after a two-year hiatus. It was released in February 2010 on the Provogue label in Europe, and Blind Pig in North America. A world tour followed.

In 2008, Horowitz and his ex-wife Galea, recorded Vicious Country, which was released on the Dixiefrog label. Vicious Country was chosen as 'Record of the Week' by the French Canal+ television station in March 2009. [4]

In 2015, he released Big Bad and Beautiful, a two disc live CD recorded in France with Dave Keyes on keyboards and Francesco and Andrea Beccaro playing bass and drums respectively. In 2016, he released The Catfish on the French Verycords label and on PCP Productions in North America. This record yielded both the 3D animated video of the title track by Laurent Mercier of Callicore, and the tribute Blues For Charlie. In 2017, he released Two Dogs, again on Verycords for Europe and PCP Productions in North America. In 2018, Eagletone Custom released the Popa Chubby Tribute Stratocaster a replica of his '66.

In 2019, Verycords released a limited edition two-CD anthology Prime Cuts, chosen by Popa Chubby. He made his Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival debut on 14 July 2019. His current band line up includes Stefano Giudici (drums), Max Barrett (bass), Dave Keyes (keyboards), as well as a recurring cast of musicians.

Discography

DVDs

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Castro</span> American guitarist

Tommy Castro is an American blues, R&B, and rock guitarist and singer. He has been recording since the mid-1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and international touring. His popularity was marked by his winning the 2008 Blues Music Award for Entertainer of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Foley</span> Musical artist

Sue Foley is a Canadian blues guitarist and singer. She has released 15 albums since her debut with Young Girl Blues (1992). In May 2020, Foley won her first Blues Music Award, in the 'Koko Taylor Award ' category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanna Connor</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1962)

Joanna Connor is an American Chicago-based blues singer, songwriter and guitarist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magic Slim</span> American blues singer and guitarist

Morris Holt, known as Magic Slim, was an American blues singer and guitarist. Born at Torrance, near Grenada, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers, he followed blues greats such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to Chicago, developing his own place in the Chicago blues scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carey Bell</span> American blues musician

Carey Bell Harrington was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s before embarking on a solo career. Besides his own albums, he recorded as an accompanist or duo artist with Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Lowell Fulson, Eddie Taylor, Louisiana Red and Jimmy Dawkins and was a frequent partner with his son, the guitarist Lurrie Bell. Blues Revue called Bell "one of Chicago's finest harpists." The Chicago Tribune said Bell was "a terrific talent in the tradition of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter." In 2023, he was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleopatra Records</span> American independent record label

Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, Deadline Music Records, X-Ray Records, and Goldenlane Records, encompassing a variety of genres with emphasis on unique and experimental artists.

Johnny Nicholas is an American blues musician. He is most noted for being a member of the Grammy Award winning group, Asleep at the Wheel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JW-Jones</span> Musical artist

JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He is a Juno Award nominee (2015), Billboard magazine Top 10 Selling artist, and winner of the International Blues Challenge for "Best Self-Produced CD Award" for his release 'High Temperature' in 2017 and Best Guitarist in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mooney (musician)</span> American singer-songwriter

John Mooney is an American blues guitarist and singer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has developed a unique music style by combining Delta blues with the funky second line beat of New Orleans. He is especially known for his slide guitar work.

<i>Electric Chubbyland: Popa Chubby Plays Jimi Hendrix</i> 2006 studio album by Popa Chubby

Electric Chubbyland: Popa Chubby Plays Jimi Hendrix is a live and studio album by Popa Chubby recorded in tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The concert part was recorded in Middletown, New York at the Corner Stage, February 10–11, 2006. The studio part, recorded in 2006 at the Serpentine Studio in Central Valley, includes "San Catri", an instrumental piece written by Popa Chubby in the style of Jimi Hendrix. The album was re-released in 2007 by Blind Pig Records. It includes "Fire" in place of "Hey Joe". The cover was drawn by the French artist Frédéric Loumagne who plays in Evil Country Jack a surfin'trashmetal band.

Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puppetmastaz</span> German hip hop group

Puppetmastaz is a German hip hop group founded in Berlin with members from Germany, United States and Canada, like Max Turner, Chilly Gonzales, Paul PM, Mocky and Alex Tiller, who left the band in 2003. Formed in 1996, the group perform their shows with hand puppets and meet music styles of rap, funk and electronica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Rogers (guitarist)</span> Musical artist

Roy Rogers is an American blues rock slide guitarist and record producer. He was named after the singing cowboy. Rogers plays a variety of guitar styles related to the Delta blues, but is most often recognized for his virtuoso slide work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Adams (singer)</span> American blues guitarist

Arthur Adams is an American blues guitarist from Medon, Tennessee. Inspired by B.B. King and other 1950s artists, he played gospel music before attending college. He moved to Los Angeles, and during the 1960s and 1970s he released solo albums and worked as a session musician. In 1985 he was tapped to tour on bass guitar with Nina Simone, and he staged a comeback in the 1990s when he released Back on Track, and became a respected Chicago blues player and bandleader in B.B. King's clubs.

Robert Lee "Smokey" Wilson was an American West Coast blues guitarist. He spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and juke joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He recorded a number of albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records. His career got off to a late start, with international recognition eluding him until the 1990s.

John Ginty is an American organist, keyboard player, and session musician. He was a founding member of Robert Randolph's "Family Band", and is often seen guesting with such jamband luminaries as the Allman Brothers, Santana, Govt. Mule, Bob Weir and Ratdog, Widespread Panic. In 2001 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, Ginty was the recipient of the Jammy Award for best new band alongside his Family Bandmates. Ginty has spent a large portion of his career working with many top artist as a session musician.

Peter Karp is an American roots-based folk and blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. He resides in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee, United States.

Shawn Holt & the Teardrops are an American blues band, which formed in 2013 following the death of the outfit's former leader, Magic Slim. Holt being Magic Slim's son.

The Cash Box Kings is an American blues band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, specializing in Chicago-style blues from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as Delta blues style music from the 1920s and 1930s.

<i>Howd a White Boy Get the Blues?</i> 2001 studio album by Popa Chubby

How'd a White Boy Get the Blues? is an album by the American musician Popa Chubby, released in 2001. It was his first album for Blind Pig Records. Popa Chubby supported the album with a North American tour. The title track was a minor hit in Europe.

References

  1. 1 2 "Popa Chubby Albums and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  2. "Sky & the Ground - Pierce Turner | Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  3. "1-800-Prime-CD Label | Releases". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  4. "Programme tv: L'album de la semaine (CANAL +) - Popa Chubby (03/03/2009 - 18:05)". 19 October 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-10-19. Retrieved 25 August 2022.