Roger Hodgson
Roger Hodgson ( born March 21, 1950 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson as ) is a British musician and songwriter, best known as co-founder, former frontman and singer of the progressive rock band Supertramp. He is the sole composer and lyricist of many famous hits of the band, including Dreamer, Take the Long Way Home, Give a Little Bit, The Logical Song, Breakfast in America and It's Raining Again.
Since Hodgson left the band in 1983, he pursued a solo career. He released several solo albums and regularly goes on a world tour. His high tenor voice is still his trademark. His songs often deal with spiritual and philosophical topics. He mainly plays guitar, keyboard and piano.
- 2.1 Albums with Supertramp
- 2.2 Solo albums
- 2.3 solo singles
- 2.4 Further compositions and investments
Biography
1950-1969 - Childhood and early years
Hodgson was in 1950 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, the son of Charles Hodgson and Jill Hodgson († June 2009) was born and grew up in Oxford. He first went to school in Woodcote House, after which he attended the boarding Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. His parents divorced when he was twelve years old and the father left the young Roger his guitar as a parting gift. These he took with him to boarding school, where a teacher taught him three chords. He began to compose and within a year he gave his first concert at school, where he played nine original compositions. Hodgson's first band at school consisted of him on guitar and his friend Roy Hoby on the drum. Because of the surname, the two H- bombs were called.
At the age of 19 years, Hodgson made his first as a studio musician in appearance, as the guitarist for the band People like Us. The group recorded a single (Duck Pond / Send Me No Answers ), but which was never published.
After People like Us disbanded, Hodgson took over the singer -Partenkirchen for the Flower Power pop band Argosy. The band recorded their only single in 1969 Mr. Boyd / Imagine on. Among the musicians in the studio was next to Caleb Quaye (guitar) and Nigel Olsson (drums), the young Reginald Dwight (piano), who later became famous as Elton John.
1969-1983 - Supertramp
About an ad in Melody Maker Hodgson learned the vocalist and keyboardist Rick Davies know and founded by him in 1969, the band Supertramp. Financially supported by the Dutch millionaire Stanley August splenetic Miesegaes, called Sam, two commercially unsuccessful albums the band produced. 1973 he has been a bassist and guitarist guest musicians, along with his acting on drums bandmate Rick Davies, in the recordings of four songs of the album You & Me by Chick Churchill ( Ten Years After ).
1974 succeeded Supertramp after the departure of their patron Miesegaes with the album Crime of the Century, the international breakthrough. After several best-selling albums (among the mega-seller Breakfast in America ) left the band in 1983 after Hodgson appearance of Supertramp album ... Famous Last Words ... and a long farewell tour and launched his solo career.
1984 to today - solo career
In 1984, published his first studio album In the Eye of the Storm with its radio-friendly, melodic pop songs and melancholic ballads showed how much Hodgson had characterized the style of Supertramp over the years and contains among other things the song Had a Dream ( Sleeping with the Enemy ) which developed as a single became a hit, and the single In Jeopardy. The album itself was with two million copies sold extremely successful.
In the week of the publication of his more experimental and less successful studio album Hai Hai (1987 ), on which, among others, David Paich and Jeff and Steve Porcaro participated by the band Toto, Hodgson's career was cut short by an accident: he fell in his California estate of an attic and broke both wrists. Although he had forecast doctors that he would never be able to properly play the guitar, he made it " with confidence and after a long period of self-healing and physiotherapy ," capable of moving his wrists to restore.
Beginning of the 1990s began Hodgson again to write songs, supported by former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin, with whom he planned a band project. Briefly, he was also as a replacement for Jon Anderson, the lead singer of Yes, talking. The projects of both musicians fizzled, with the written by Hodgson with Anderson and Rabin song Walls with revised text of Anderson and his singing on the Yes album Talk ( 1994) appeared. A sung by Hodgson and Rabin version is on Rabin's album 90124 (2003), which contains demos and rarities from the Yes - time.
In 1991, Hodgson joined for the first time after his accident in 1987 again live on: He is a guest musician at the Nokia Night of the Proms and plays The Logical Song, Give a Little Bit and Fool's Overture with orchestra. In 1995, he acted there for the second time and presented Dreamer, Logical Song, Fool's Overture and Give a Little Bit with orchestra.
A live album, Rites of Passage, followed in 1997. Thereupon the resurgent Hodgson presents beside old Supertramp material many new songs. On admission, he was supported by a band in which, among other things, his son Andrew played along ( drums, piano, vocals) and Supertramp saxophonist John Helliwell.
In April 1998, Hodgson met the French musician and producer Alan Simon, who was working on a concept album about the legendary sword Excalibur and asked him for his cooperation. Hodgson contributed the song The Elements and The Will of God for the album Excalibur, La legende des Celtes; the CD went gold within a short time.
From Excalibur ... inspired by Hodgson went back into the studio to record new songs. In the spring of 2000 appeared to Open the Door, his first studio album in 13 years. He was supported by the Prague Symphony Orchestra and a number of senior French folk musicians he had met in part while working on Excalibur. The musicians ensured sound for a slight re-orientation towards folk and world music.
In 2000, Hodgson produced parts of the album Restless Soul of the songwriter Lisa Nemzo and worked with the Galician Celtic folk musician Carlos Núñez Mayo Longo on his album, on which he contributed the vocals for the song The Moon Says Hello.
In summer 2001, Hodgson acted in addition to a number of prominent supporters as a guest musician Ringo Starr in ( The Beatles ) All- Starr Band. In this case, the live album Ringo and His All- Starr was taken New band during some concerts in Canada and the United States, published in 2002. In the band, he acted as the electric guitar, while during the performance of his classic Supertramp Give a Little Bit, Take the Long Way Home and The Logical Song on keyboards, on a 12-string guitar and vocals.
Since 2002, Hodgson appears regularly either as a solo artist, together with saxophonist Aaron MacDonald, or with orchestra and plays a mix of Supertramp hits and songs from his solo albums. 2004, when he gave numerous concerts, he appeared for the third time at the Night of the Proms and presented together with an orchestra old Supertramp Classics: Dreamer, Fool 's Overture and Give a Little Bit. In 2005 he received an award for his song Give A Little Bit being one of the most frequently performed works in the repertoire of ASCAP (American Association of Composers, Authors and Editors ). Hodgson had the song Supertramp commercial breakthrough in the U.S. allowed, 35 years previously written for the Supertramp album Even in the Quietest Moments.
2006, when Hodgson gave many concerts again, was in Montreal, Canada with Take the Long Way Home - Live in Montreal recorded his first DVD. For the present, published in this year only in Canada DVD got due to the huge resonance in just seven weeks, a platinum award and was also released worldwide in 2007 at the urging of fans. In 2007, Hodgson toured and played at the Concert for Diana, a medley of his classic Supertramp Dreamer, The Logical Song, Breakfast in America and Give a Little Bit.
In 2008 graduated from Hodgson gave numerous concerts and New Year's Eve a celebrated appearance at the New - Year's -Eve party at the Canadian Queen Victoria Park, a park in Niagara Falls. Again on tour he was in 2009 and 2010. At Pur & Friends 2010 he played, supported by saxophonist MacDonald and the band Pur, a medley of his Supertramp classic, The Logical Song, Breakfast in America, Dreamer, Take the Long Way Home, It's Raining again, School and Give a Little bit and sang with Pur song Princess, which was presented in the alternation of Hodgson and Hartmut Engler with German and English vocals.
In 2010, the live recording Live Classics, whose ten songs can be downloaded from Hodgson's homepage appeared.
Discography
Albums with Supertramp
Solo albums
Solo singles
Other compositions and investments
- 2006 - Take the Long Way Home - Live in Montreal ( live)