<back - POPA CHUBBY - Popa Chubby aka Ted Horowitz was born in 1960 in the Bronx NY. His parents owned a candy store on the corner of 181st Street and Arthur Avenue. His early memories of hearing the juke box playing the hits of early 60s Soul and R&B. To this day the musical influence of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye are ever present in Popa's music.  At age of 6, he picked up the drums and became consumed in playing Wipeout. His parents were huge fans of Jazz and R&B and had a vast collection of 78's and LP's. Popa would spend hours scratching them up by playing the sections he liked over and over again.

When he was 7, his father took him to see an oldies show at Madison Square Garden. Up close to the stage he watched the headliner duck walk across the stage and Chuck Berry quickly became Popa's Rock n' Roll idol. The 70's came and Popa began to hear the Blues Rock like Johnny Winter, Savoy Brown, Led Zepplin and the Rolling Stones. At age 16 he picked up his first guitar and never put it down. He met Punk Rock godfather Richard Hell, who was putting together a new version of his band the Voidoids. Popa was hired for a world tour. All the while Popa was honing his licks via Albert, BB and Freddie King. In 1984, while busking he met singer-songwriter Pierce Turner who was signed with RCA Records. Pierce and Chubby shared a love for Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix. Chubby was hired for a world tour and asked to contribute his Blues-inflected guitar playing to Pierce's album The Sky and The Ground. In 1990 the Popa Chubby Band was formed. The name was taken from a jam with Bernie Worell, one of the founding members of Parliament-Funkadelic. "He was singing a song called 'Popa Chubby' and he pointed at me. Popa Chubby basically means to get excited. The core of my music is about excitement. I think music should make people feel alive."  In 1994 Popa signed a recording deal with the recently resurrected O-Keh label and worked with Tom Dowd, longtime Atlantic Records engineer/producer, whose recordings by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and others are legendary. Booty and The Beast was released in 1994, the single, 'Sweet Goddess Of Love and Beer' became a summer radio hit in 1995. In May 2000, Dixiefrog released How'd a White Boy Get the Blues? in Europe, where it has sold over 60,000 records. Next was Popa Chubby's The Good, The Bad, and The Chubby, features 13 compositions reflecting, in his words, "Love, Life, Betrayal, Diesel, Stress and Passion! This is as real as it ever has gotten for me and if that ain't what the Blues is all about, well slap my ass and call me Shirley!" Year 2004, Popa Chubby released Peace, Love, and Respect. hard-hitting tracks like 'The Top 10 Reasons Why I Can't Sleep At Night'. MP3- Top 10 Reasons |