Monday, April 26, 1999
Musician Troutman fatally shot
His act, Roger and Zapp, was local favorite
BY WILLIAM A. WEATHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DAYTON, Ohio — Funk musician Roger Troutman, whose duo, Roger & Zapp, was scheduled to perform this summer in Cincinnati at the Coors Light Festival, was shot to death Sunday, possibly by his brother in a murder-suicide, police said.
Mr. Troutman, 47, of Dayton and a former Hamilton resident, was found outside his northwest Dayton recording studio about 7 a.m. He had been shot several times in the torso and died while in surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center, Dayton police Sgt. Gary White said.
His brother, Larry Troutman, 54, was found dead in a car a few blocks away with a gunshot wound to the head, Sgt. White said. A handgun was found inside the car, which matched the description of a car leaving the scene of
Roger Troutman's shooting, Sgt. White said.
“We're investigating Roger's death as a homicide. We're uncertain about the suicide aspect,” Sgt. White said.
Investigators could know by Tuesday whether the gun was used in both shootings, he said.
“Family members have been interviewed. They can offer no reason or motive for this double shooting,” Sgt. White said.
Roger & Zapp, artists with Warner Brothers, were known for the 1980 hit “More Bounce for the Ounce.”
Mr. Troutman, who grew up in Hamilton before moving to Dayton, had performed at the Coors Light Festival the past two summers. The musician, whom Enquirer music critic Larry Nager described as “one of Babyface's predecessors in the rich Ohio Valley old school funk music tradition,” was nominated for a Grammy in 1997 in the Rap Duo or Group category for his “California Love” collaboration with 2Pac and producer Dr. Dre.
Cincinnati businessman Steve Reece, owner of Integrity Hall in Bond Hill, first met Mr. Troutman in 1968. Mr. Reece, searching for participants for a talent show program he was operating, was tipped to a Hamilton teen who was touted as a promising musician and singer.
“His mother didn't want him in the entertainment business,” Mr. Reece recalled of his initial contact with Mr. Troutman's family. But she relented, and “(Mr. Troutman) became the main attraction in the shows,” Mr. Reece said.
“He had a lot of talent,” Mr. Reece said. “He could play three or four instruments. He could write music. He was a good entertainer.” Mr. Reece said he recently spoke with Mr. Troutman and the singer-musician agreed to participate in a small business conference he was holding June 12 at Integrity Hall to celebrate the facility's 11th anniversary.
“I got the news (of Mr. Troutman's death) in church,” Mr. Reece said. “I couldn't believe it. I thought somebody had made a mistake.”
Mr. Nager said Mr. Troutman's career was on the rise. “He was in the middle of a big comeback. He regularly played the stadium festival,” he said.
With his unique mix of funk and electronics, Mr. Troutman was in the forefront of the revival of “old school” music from the late '70s and early '80s, he said.
Mr. Troutman's musical talent blossomed at an early age, Mr. Nager said. “He was playing clubs when he was just a kid.”
Describing a performance of Roger & Zapp at the 1997 Coors Light Festival, Mr. Nager said Mr. Troutman's “funk was razor sharp. He and Zapp haven't lost a step since their heyday in the early '80s when the group's computerized cartoonish funk kept the dance floors filled.”
Cincinnati native Bootsy Collins, bass player with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame member Parliament-Funkadelic, said he would miss his friend and former colleague.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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