Terry Kath

Terry Kath
Background information
Birth name Terry Alan Kath
Born January 31, 1946
Chicago, Illinois
Died January 23, 1978 (aged 31)
Woodland Hills, California
Genres Rock, hard rock, blues rock, jazz rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals, bass guitar
Years active 1963–1978
Associated acts Chicago
Website Official website
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster
Fender Stratocaster
Gibson SG
Gibson Les Paul Professional

Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American musician and songwriter, best known as the original guitarist, co-lead singer and founding member of the rock band Chicago. He has been praised by the band for his guitar skills and Ray Charles-influenced vocal style.

Growing up in a musical family, Kath took up a variety of instruments in his teens, including the drums and banjo. He played bass in a number of bands in the mid-1960s, before settling on the guitar when forming the group that would become Chicago. His guitar playing was an important component of the group's sound from the start of their career, and he sang lead on several of the group's singles. He used a number of different guitars, but eventually became identified with the Fender Telecaster fitted with a humbucker pickup and decorated with numerous stickers.

Kath struggled with health issues and drug abuse toward the end of the 1970s. He died in January 1978 from an accidentally self-inflicted gunshot wound. The bereavement triggered Chicago to consider disbanding, but they ultimately decided to resume as is signified by their memorial song "Alive Again". To commemorate his musicianship, they later issued the 1997 album, The Innovative Guitar of Terry Kath.

Early life

Kath was born to Ray and Evelyn Kath on January 31, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois.[1] His brother played the drums and his mother played the banjo,[2] and he attempted to learn these instruments too.[3] He acquired a guitar and amplifier when he was in the ninth grade, and his early influences included the Ventures, Dick Dale[2] and Howard Roberts.[4] He later became influenced by George Benson, Mike Bloomfield, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.[5]

Unlike several other Chicago members who received formal music training, Kath was mostly self-taught and enjoyed jamming.[2] In a 1971 interview for Guitar Player, he said he had tried professional lessons but abandoned them, adding "all I wanted to do was play those rock and roll chords."[1] His father wanted him to have a steady career, but he decided he would prefer a career in music.[6]

Career

Early career

Kath joined his first semi-professional band, The Mystics, in 1963, moving to Jimmy Rice and the Gentlemen in 1965.[1][2] He then played bass in a road band called Jimmy Ford and the Executives. Considered to be the bandleader, Kath guided the band's musical direction.[7] Ford was the trumpeter, Walter Parazaider played saxophone and other wind instruments, and Danny Seraphine later became the drummer.[8] Kath became close friends with Seraphine as they formed the rhythm section, as well as with Parazaider. The three musicians regularly socialized outside of the band.[9] They were fired from the group, which wanted to merge with another band, Little Artie and the Pharaohs, while leader and guitarist Mike Sistack explained that "it's just business".[10]

In 1966, Kath joined a cover band called the Missing Links,[2] taking Parazaider and Seraphine with him, and started playing clubs and ballrooms in Chicago on a regular basis.[11] Parazaider's friend at De Paul University, trumpeter Lee Loughnane, also sat in with the band from time to time.[12] Kath's compatriot, James William Guercio (who later became Chicago's producer) was lead guitarist in one of two road bands performing on The Dick Clark Show with the Missing Links.[1][13] Kath received an offer from Guercio to play bass for the Illinois Speed Press and move to Los Angeles, but declined as he considered the guitar his main instrument, and wanted to sing lead. He stayed with Parazaider, Seraphine and Loughnane instead,[14] who quickly recruited trombonist James Pankow from De Paul, and vocalist/keyboardist Robert Lamm.[12] Kath sang the lower range of lead vocals in the group[12] in a style reminiscent of Ray Charles.[14] The group practiced at Parazaider's parents' basement and changed their name to The Big Thing. With the addition of singer and bassist Peter Cetera of The Exceptions, they moved to Los Angeles and signed with Columbia Records, renaming themselves Chicago Transit Authority. In mid-1969 the name was shortened to Chicago.[15]

Chicago

Main article: Chicago (band)

Kath was regarded as Chicago's bandleader[16] and best soloist;[5] and his vocal, jazz, and hard rock influences are regarded as integral to the band's early sound.[17] He has been praised for his guitar skills and described by rock author Corbin Reiff as "one of the most criminally underrated guitarists to have ever set finger to fretboard".[1][18]

The group's first album The Chicago Transit Authority, released in 1969, includes Kath's composition "Introduction" which was described as "Terry's masterpiece" by later Chicago guitarist Dawayne Bailey.[19] The song displays many varied musical styles, including jazz, blues, salsa, rock and roll, acid rock, and pop. The same debut album includes an instrumental guitar piece entitled "Free Form Guitar", which consisted largely of feedback and heavy use of the Stratocaster's tremolo arm.[20] The album liner notes indicate that the nearly seven-minute piece was recorded live in the studio in one take, using only a Fender Dual Showman amplifier pre-amped with a Bogen Challenger P.A. amp. The guitar's neck was held together with a radiator hose clamp.[5] The song "Beginnings" includes acoustic rhythm guitar by Kath.[21]

For the group's second album, Kath contributed an extended guitar solo on "25 or 6 to 4", which became a live favorite.[22] The same album saw Kath collaborate with orchestral arranger Peter Matz on the four-part suite "Memories of Love", singing the lead vocal.[23]

Kath wrote at least one song and contributed at least one lead vocal to every Chicago album released during his lifetime. While 1976's Chicago X is best known for Cetera's number one hit, "If You Leave Me Now", Kath's "Once or Twice" showed he was still writing and recording rock material.[24] He continued this style on the following year's Chicago XI, contributing the funky "Mississippi Delta City Blues" and the aggressive "Takin' It on Uptown", which counterbalanced some of the material other members were producing.[25]

After his death, to memorialize Kath and to commemorate the resumption of Chicago, the band composed and published the song "Alive Again" on their first album without him, Hot Streets. Also in Kath's honor, they would later publish the song "Feel the Spirit".[26]

Equipment

Kath used several guitars in his early career, but several were stolen while on the road. His first main instrument that he used when Chicago were still The Big Thing was a Register guitar that had cost $80. When the band started becoming successful, he traded up to a Fender Stratocaster.[20] He also used a Gibson SG, as pictured on Chicago Transit Authority's inner sleeve, and was one of the few well-known guitarists to make regular use of the unique 1969 Les Paul "Professional" model, which sported a pair of unconventional low-impedance pickups with a special impedance-matching transformer for use with a standard high impedance-input amplifier.[27] Kath tended to favor light strings, though for the top E string, he used one from a tenor guitar.[20]

He later became associated with a Fender Telecaster modified to include a Gibson humbucker.[28] He started the Pignose amplication company with other members of Chicago[29] and decorated his Telecaster with 25 Pignose stickers and a Chicago Blackhawks logo.[30] Kath experimented with a wide variety of amplification and distortion devices and used a wah-wah pedal frequently.[5] Fascinated by gadgets, Kath was interested in trying to play guitar without using a plectrum. Lamm recalled him attempting to make an auto-picking device using a modified electrical cocktail mixer.[31]

Vocals

Kath sang lead vocals on several of Chicago's early songs, including the singles "Colour My World" and "Make Me Smile" from Chicago.[5] His vocal delivery was later described by Lamm as "the white Ray Charles".[31] Pankow, who wrote "Make Me Smile", tried rehearsing the song with various members singing lead, but ultimately settled on Kath, saying "bingo – that was the voice."[32]

Kath also played bass and sang lead vocal on the closing song "Tell Me" in the 1973 drama movie Electra Glide in Blue. The song was used in the final episode of the television series Miami Vice.[33]

Personal life and death

Kath reportedly had a self-admitted history of drug abuse, including alcohol.[34] Seraphine knew that Kath had a high tolerance for drugs, but later recalled Kath telling him "I'm going to get things under control ... if I don't, this stuff is going to kill me".[13] Chicago bandmates have indicated that he was also increasingly unhappy.[35] However, Guercio has said that Kath was working on a solo album before he died,[36] and Pankow adamantly denies that Kath was suicidal.[35]

By 1978, Kath was regularly carrying guns around, and enjoyed playing with them.[34] Around 5 p.m., on January 23, after a party at roadie and band technician Don Johnson's home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, Kath took an unloaded .38 revolver and put it to his head, pulling the trigger several times on the empty chambers. Johnson had warned Kath several times to be careful. Kath then picked up a semiautomatic 9 mm pistol and, leaning back in a chair, said to Johnson, "Don't worry about it ... look, the clip's not even in it".[30] To satisfy Johnson's concerns, Kath showed the empty magazine to Johnson. Kath then replaced the magazine in the gun, put the gun to his temple, and pulled the trigger. However, there was a round in the chamber, and Kath died instantly.[30]

Kath left a widow, Camelia Emily Ortiz (whom he had married in 1974 and who would later marry actor Kiefer Sutherland), and a daughter, Michelle.[30] He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.[37]

The group were devastated over losing Kath and strongly considered disbanding, but were persuaded by Doc Severinsen, musical director of the Tonight Show band, that they should continue.[38] Kath's position as guitarist in Chicago was subsequently filled by Donnie Dacus.[39]

Legacy

"I don't think there's ever been a better rhythm player. And then, Terry's leads are, for that day especially, world class stuff."

Chicago keyboardist Robert Lamm[30]

Because Chicago considered themselves a team, some band members have subsequently claimed Kath's contributions to be generally overlooked. Parazaider later said, "if [Kath]was totally up front, he would have had a lot more recognition."[31]

In September 1997, Chicago released Chicago Presents The Innovative Guitar of Terry Kath, a CD remembrance of their late guitarist, on their own short-lived Chicago Records label.[17]

The band have since wondered if Kath would have stayed with Chicago had he lived, or started a solo career. In 2010, Parazaider said:

I'm not sure about that. [Terry] was a free spirit ... He was his own person when it came to different things. I would like to think he (would still be with Chicago), but he was very independent and I wonder what he would have thought about the 1980s. I'd have to say it's 50/50. It could have gone either way.[40]

In 2012, Kath's daughter Michelle announced that enough funds had been donated to complete production on a documentary of his life, titled, Searching for Terry: Discovering a Guitar Legend.[41] In 2014, she confirmed she had interviewed the entire band except for Cetera, and the project is planned for release in 2015.[42]

Discography with Chicago

Main article: Chicago discography

References

Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Reiff 2013, p. 1.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Stanton 2003, p. 144.
  3. ↑ Talevski 2010, p. 329.
  4. ↑ Millard, André (2004). The Electric Guitar: A History of an American Icon. JHU Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8018-7862-6.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Grees, Jesse (January 30, 2014). "Under Investigation : Terry Kath". Guitar Player. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  6. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 32.
  7. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 31.
  8. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 29.
  9. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 37.
  10. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 38.
  11. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 39.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Seraphine 2010, p. 49.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Seraphine 2010, p. 2.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Seraphine 2010, p. 48.
  15. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Chicago – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  16. ↑ Prato, Greg. "Terry Kath – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "The Innovative Guitar of Terry Kath". AllMusic. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  18. ↑ Live by Request: Chicago (DVD). Burbank, CA: Rhino Home Video. 2003. OCLC 53999840. Lay summary – Amazon.
  19. ↑ Bailey, Dawayne. "Terry Kath". Dawayne Bailey. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Reiff 2013, p. 2.
  21. ↑ Wild 2002, p. 10.
  22. ↑ Planer, Linsday. 25 or 6 to 4 at AllMusic. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  23. ↑ Perone 2012, p. 16.
  24. ↑ Planer, Lindsay. "Chicago X". AllMusic. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  25. ↑ Planer, Lindsay. "Chicago XI". AllMusic. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  26. ↑ LeRoy, Dan (2007). "Chapter 3: Chicago: Like a Rolling Stone". The greatest music never sold: Secrets of Legendary Lost Albums by David Bowie, Seal, Beastie Boys, Beck, Chicago, Mick Jagger & More! (Book). New York: Backbeat Books. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-0-87930-905-3. OCLC 145378229.
  27. ↑ Bacon, Tony. 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul. Backbeat Books. p. 60. ISBN 0-87930-711-0.
  28. ↑ A. R. Duchossoir, A R (1991). The Fender Telecaster: The Detailed Story of America's Senior Solid Body Electric Guitar. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7935-0860-0.
  29. ↑ "Pignose advertisement". Guitar Player 7. 1973.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 Reiff 2013, p. 3.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Wild 2002, p. 8.
  32. ↑ Wild, David (2002). Chicago (Media notes). Rhino. p. 11. R2 76172.
  33. ↑ Lyons, James (2009). Miami Vice. John Wiley & Sons. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-4443-1904-0.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Seraphine 2010, p. 164.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "Chicago Box Set, liner notes, page 8". Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Chapter IX ~ Tragedy". Official Site of Chicago. Archived from the original on June 15, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  37. ↑ "Terry Alan Kath". Find a Grave. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  38. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 169.
  39. ↑ Seraphine 2010, p. 171.
  40. ↑ Ougler, Jeffrey (May 20, 2010). "Hard Habit to Break". Sault Star. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  41. ↑ "Terry Kath's official web site". Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  42. ↑ Hermann, Andy (15 August 2014). "Never Heard of Guitarist Terry Kath From the Band Chicago? He's Ah-Mazing". LA Weekly. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
Sources
  • Perone, James (2012). The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-37906-2.
  • Reiff, Corbin (May 11, 2013). "Forgotten Heroes : Terry Kath". Premier Guitar. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  • Seraphine, Danny (2010). Street Player: My Chicago Story. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-62573-6.
  • Stanton, Scott (2003). The Tombstone Tourist: Musicians. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7434-6330-0.
  • Talevski, Nick (2010). Rock Obituaries – Knocking on Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-117-2.
  • Wild, David (2002). Chicago Transit Authority (Media notes). Rhino. 8122-76171-2.