Zapp was a funk band formed in 1978 by brothers Roger Troutman, Larry Troutman, Lester Troutman, Tony Troutman and Terry “Zapp” Troutman. They drove us to the dancefloor with their hts like “More Bounce to the Ounce“, “Dance Floor, Part 1” and “Computer Love“.

West Coast hip-hop and G-funk,were inspired by the group. Roger was one of the pioneers of the talk box. The name change to Zapp came courtesy of Terry, whose nickname was  “Zapp”. Discovered by  P-Funk in 1979, George Clinton signed them to his Uncle Jam Records.and the following year, the group signed withWarner Bros. Records, In 1980, Zapp’s debut album became a platinum success peaking at the top twenty of the Billboard Top 200. The single “More Bounce to the Ounce“, reached number two on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Roger was  producer, chief writer, arranger, and composer for the group. He and older brother Larry, often collaborated on songs together. Roger and Zapp worked on both group albums and albums Roger released on his own. Zapp scored top ten R&B hits with “Doo Wa Ditty”, “I Can Make You Dance”, “Heartbreaker”, and ballads such as “Computer Love (R&B #8)” and a cover of The Miracles‘ “Ooo Baby Baby“. Only “Dance Floor, Part 1” – managed to hit number-one on the R&B chart.

1985’s New Zapp IV U, the group had scored over four gold records and had become a top concert draw all around the world. By the release of Roger’s solo album, 1991’s Bridging the Gap, success had mostly dwindled for the group.  Roger was the fourth of nine children. He was a late-arriving member of Parliament-Funkadelic and played on the band’s final Warner Brothers’ album The Electric Spanking of War Babies.

Roger had formed various different bands with his four brothers, including Little Roger and the Vels and Roger and the Human Body. In 1977, he and the Human Body issued their first single “Freedom”.  Zapp made their professional television debut on the first and only Funk Music Awards show.

Between 1980 and 1985, Zapp released gold-selling albums such as Zapp, Zapp II, Zapp III and New Zapp IV Uand released top ten R&B hit singles such as “Be Alright”, “Dance Floor”, “I Can Make You Dance”, “Heartbreaker”, “It Doesn’t Really Matter” – which was a tribute to black artists of the past and present, and the Charlie Wilson and Shirley Murdock-assisted funk ballad, “Computer Love”. Zapp’s hit making magic faded shortly after the release of their fifth album, Vibe, in 1989.

The album would become the group’s final studio album .Throughout Zapp’s tenure, the original five-member lineup grew to around fifteen.

In 1981, upon the fast-paced success of Zapp’s first album, Roger cut his first solo album, The Many Facets of Roger. Featuring his frenetic funk cover of Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine“, the song exploded to number one on the R&B singles chart helping the album sell over a million copies. The album also featured the hit, “So Ruff, So Tuff”.  In 1984, Troutman issued his second solo album, The Saga Continues, which featured the singles “Girl Cut It Out”, “It’s in the Mix” – which was dedicated to Soul Train and its host Don Cornelius and a cover of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour“, which featured gospel group The Mighty Clouds of Joy.

In 1987, Roger scored his most successful solo album with Unlimited!, which featured the massive hit, “I Want To Be Your Man”, which rose to number one R&B and number three on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1988, Troutman worked with Scritti Politti providing talk boxvocals on the hit “Boom There She Was”. Three years later, Troutman released his final solo album with Bridging the Gap, featuring the hit “Everybody (Get Up)”. Alongside his successful careers as Zapp member and solo star, Roger also became a hands-on producer and writer for other artists including Shirley Murdock, whose 1986 platinum debut featured the Roger-produced hit, “As We Lay”. He also produced for Zapp member Dale DeGroat on his solo efforts. After the release of All the Greatest Hits, Roger and Zapp were basically existing as a touring group only recording sporadically. Roger was  featured on hip-hop songs including Snoop Dogg’s 1993 debut, Doggystyle and on 2Pac and Dr. Dre’s single, “California Love“, which became Roger’s  most successful single; reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100^[1] ,selling over two million copies and giving Roger a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

On a Sunday morning, April 25, 1999, Roger Troutman was found shot and critically wounded outside his northwest Dayton recording studio around 7 a.m. According to doctors, the 47-year-old had been shot several times in the torso and was in critical condition; he died during surgery at the local hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center. Roger’s brother Larry was discovered dead in a car a few blocks away with a single gunshot wound to the head.

A pistol was found inside the vehicle, which matched the description of a car leaving the scene of Roger Troutman’s shooting according to witnesses^[3]. The shooting was due to a personal dispute that had developed between the two brothers; Larry shot Roger, and then Larry shot himself ^[3]. To this day, family members can give no clear motive as to why the murder-suicidecommitted by Larry on his younger brother happened though they agreed that the two brothers must have had a business dispute, and sources say that Larry had not slept in several days and was not in his normal state of mind at the time. It is also rumored that Roger had informed Larry that he had selected a new manager, and Larry found this information hard to take after so many years successfully carrying out this role. Roger  left five sons: Roger Lynch (now deceased), Larry Gates, Lester Gates, Ryan Stevens and Taji J. Troutman; five daughters Daun Shazier, Hope Shazier, Summer Gates, Mia Paris Collins, Gene Nicole Patterson; and a grandson.

In remembrance, Roger’s nephew Clet Troutman sang “Amazing Grace” through a talkbox at his funeral. Despite the murder of band-leader Roger Troutman, Zapp still continues to tour and record to this day with Terry Troutman taking over the role as the band’s frontman.

The main list of members of Zapp are featured here including those who joined the band either as additional members or touring members:

Roger Troutman: vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, harmonica, vibraphone, percussion, talk box

• Larry Troutman: percussion
• Lester Troutman: drums
• Terry “Zapp” Troutman: keyboards, bass, background vocals
• Bobby Glover
• Eddie Barber
• Jannetta Boyce
• Robert Jones
• Jerome Derrickson
• Sherman Fleetwood
• Robane Shavon Shormane
• Gregory Jackson
• Michael Warren
• Shirley Murdock
• Nicole Cottom
• Dale DeGroat
• Bart Thomas
• Ricardo Bray
• Bigg Robb (from the early/mid 90’s onward)
• Rhonda Stevens
• Ray Davis
• Roger Troutman Jr.
• Dick Smith