Bill Champlin Leaving Chicago After 28 Years

Bill Champlin, who joined the group Chicago in 1981 at the insistence of friend David Foster, has decided to leave the group after more than a quarter of a century to focus on a solo career.

“This music is callin’ me,” said Champlin, who first came to prominence with Sons of Champlin, a seminal late-60’s San Francisco band whose soul stylings and complex song structures set it apart from other groups of the psychedelic scene, and a series of critically acclaimed solo albums.

Champlin joined Chicago at a time of upheaval, right after they broke their long ties with Columbia Records. The group moved to Warner Brothers and started working with David Foster who knew Champlin as a fine studio musician and writer, previously winning two Grammys for writing Earth Wind & Fire's After the Love is Gone and George Benson's Turn Your Love Around. During his time with Chicago, Champlin was lead vocalist on such hits as Look Away and Hearts in Trouble and traded lead with Peter Cetera on Hard Habit to Break.

Champlin recently released a new album, No Place to Fall, and will be hitting the road for his Bichin' Tour starting November 6 in San Juan Capistrano, California. He explained about the tour name, "A few years ago, I was signing a stack of press photos and going through them at such a clip, I was using only two letters from each name – and I realized that I was signing ‘BICH.' I’m really looking forward to playing more intimate venues and hearing what fans think of the new music. I can’t wait to spend some one-on-one time with my old and new fans!"

The management of Chicago released a short statement, saying "Bill Champlin is no longer in Chicago. He was a long time band member and we wish him all the best as he embarks on his new solo project, for which he’s worked long and hard."