The Sons of Champlin

The Sons of Champlin is an American rock band, formed in the late 1960's and hailing from the San Francisco-Bay area. They are fronted by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Bill Champlin, who was a longtime member of the rock bandChicago.

Champlin started his musical career in high school as a member of a popular local band, The Opposite Six. One of his teachers encouraged Champlin to drop out of school and pursue music full-time. In 1965 the draft claimed the drummer and bass player of the Opposite Six, and Champlin joined forces with guitarist Terry Haggerty, sax player Tim Cain, bassist John Prosser (who played with the Warlocks,and the The Grateful Dead , joined the military serving as a corpman and then becoming a physician and now plays lead bass for the band "ON CALL" which consists of physicians,nurses, a videographer, and an attorney) and drummer Jim Meyers in the band that became the Sons of Champlin. By late 1967 the lineup had changed to include keyboardist/saxman Geoff Palmer, trumpeter Jim Beem, bassist Al Strong, and drummer Bill Bowen to create a funky Hammond B-3-and-horns sound that was distinctive from the rest of the Bay Area’s psychedelic guitar bands (one bandsman referred to the music as "acid jazz").

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