Roger Troutman Biography

Roger Troutman was an American singer, musician and record producer who was famously known for founding the funk band ‘Zapp’. He also composed songs apart from singing and playing multiple musical instruments, including the bass guitar, harmonica, vibraphone, and flute. He was known for using a device, called the “talk box,” that allowed him to modify the sound of a musical instrument. Troutman influenced the funk movement as well as West Coast hip hop throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He delivered a huge number of hit singles and albums over his career, making him one of the icons of funk rock in his heyday. Troutman’s first solo studio album, ‘The Many Facets of Roger’, was one of his biggest hits. He also delivered several hit singles like ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ and ‘I Want to Be Your Man’. In the mid-1990s, Troutman worked with the likes of Tupac Amaru Shakur and Dr Dre, two of the greatest American rappers in history. He also featured alongside other hip-hop artists after his career saw a resurgence in the late 1990s.