Jim Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English
musician
and songwriter
and a founding member of Traffic. He drummed with
several famous singers
and musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Eric
Clapton, and George Harrison.
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Contents
- 1 Career
- 1.1 Overview
- 1.2 Early
days
- 1.3 First
success
- 1.4 Reformation
and beyond
- 1.5 Collaborations
- 1.6 The
final years
- 1.7 Dear
Mr Fantasy
- 2 Solo
discography
- 3 External
links
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Career
Overview
Born Nicola James Capaldi on 2 August 1944 in Evesham, Worcestershire,
England
to musical Italian parents, Jim Capaldi's musical career lasted more
than four decades. He co-founded Traffic
in Birmingham with Steve Winwood and the band's
psychedelic
rock was influential in Britain
and the United States. Capaldi and Winwood
wrote many of Traffic's major hits and most of the tracks on the band's
ten albums.
Early days
As a child Capaldi studied the piano and singing with his father, a music
teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. In 1961 Capaldi played
drums for the Worcester band The Sapphires and
in 1963 he
formed The Hellions with Dave
Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm
guitar. In August 1964
Tanya Day took The Hellions to the Star-Club in Hamburg,
Germany as her backing group. The Spencer Davis Group were
staying at the same hotel as The Hellions and it was there that Steve
Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason.
Back in Worcester, The Hellions established themselves as busy
professionals of sufficient repute to provide backing to visiting
performers including Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the
end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky-A-Go-Go Club. In 1965 the band released
three singles but none charted and later that year John "Poli" Palmer joined the band on
drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist.
The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 in an attempt to
reduce their costs but local tastes had changed and the band relaunched
themselves as The Revolution with a fourth single that also failed to
chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason
with Luther Grosvenor and
renamed the band Deep Feeling. They played gigs in Birmingham
and the surrounding Black Country area where they
developed a significant fanbase. Capaldi, Jackson and Palmer wrote
original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions
repertoire. Although they recorded several studio tracks only "Pretty
Colours" (Capaldi/Jackson/Palmer) has been released.
First success
Capaldi and the band played frequently in London and Jimi
Hendrix played guitar with them at the Knuckles Club as an unknown
musician in his first UK performance. Back in Birmingham Capaldi would
occasionally join his friends Mason, Winwood and Chris Wood for impromptu
performances at The Elbow Room club on Aston High
Street. Early in 1967
they formalised this arrangement by forming Traffic and the other
members of Deep Feeling disbanded. In 1968, Capaldi, Winwood and Mason contributed
backing music to a solo album by Gordon Jackson.
The new band was signed by Island
Records and rented a quiet cottage in Aston
Tirrold, Berkshire
in order to write and rehearse new material. The cottage did not remain
quiet and had frequent visitors including Eric
Burdon, Eric Clapton and Pete
Townshend as well as Trevor Burton (of The
Move) amongst many others. Capaldi wrote the lyrics for
Traffic's first single "Paper Sun", which appeared in the UK
singles chart at number 5 in the summer of 1967. Two more singles were
released successfully in 1967 and in December the band released the
album Mr. Fantasy,
which demonstrated the individual talents of each member. Mason left
the band soon after the album's release, but returned the following May
before finally leaving again in October. Winwood also left Traffic
(to form Blind Faith) and the rest
reluctantly concluded that the band was over.
Reformation and beyond
Capaldi now tried to form another band with Mason and Wood but
the creative tensions that had caused Mason to leave Traffic remained,
and Wynder K. Frogg only lasted until March 1969. In January 1970 Capaldi and Wood joined Winwood in the studio
to record Winwood's solo album. These sessions were so successful that
the three of them reformed Traffic (without Mason) to release the album
John Barleycorn Must Die.
They then toured the UK and the U.S. with a band extended by several session
musicians.
Although the next Traffic albums were successful, Capaldi
began to develop his solo career and released his first solo album Oh
How We Danced in 1972. This set featured contributions from Free
guitarist Paul Kossoff, Barry Beckett
and Rebop Kwaku Baah as well as several
members of Traffic.
He followed this up with Whale Meat Again
in 1974 before releasing what many consider to be his masterpiece, Short
Cut Draw Blood, the following year. Full of tracks with
lyrical bite, the album tackled issues such as the environment,
government
corruption and drugs.
In October 1975
a single taken from the album, a cover version of The
Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts", reached number four in the UK chart, and
charted worldwide.
Capaldi's first and only solo Top 40 hit in the United
States was from his 1983 album Fierce Heart,
yielding the hit single "That's Love", which climbed to Number 28 in
Billboard's Top 40 in the summer of that year. The track was a simple
arrangement with synthesized drums, electric guitar, and keyboards.
Capaldi was noted for the extent of his collaborations with
other musicians. In 1973, he played drums at Eric Clapton's Rainbow
Concert and on some Clapton studio sessions.
Collaborations
Jim Capaldi's success as a lyricist continued throughout his life. He
was a five times winner of coveted BMI/Ascap Awards for the "most
played compositions in America", and sales of songs written or
co-written by him exceeded 25 million units. He numbered Bob Marley
among his friends and they travelled together whilst Marley was writing
the Catch A Fire
album. Capaldi wrote the lyrics to "This Is Reggae Music".
Jim Capaldi married Brazilian born Aninha in 1975 and in 1976 he toured with
his band Space Cadets before moving to
Brazil in 1977.
His daughters Tabitha and Tallulah were born in 1977 and 1979,
respectively. The Capaldis lived in the Bahia region of Brazil until the beginning of 1980 and while there
he became heavily involved with environmental
issues. The track "Favella Music" on his 1981 album Let
The Thunder Cry arose from his love of Brazil, and he worked
with several Brazilian composers.
In the 1980s,
Capaldi collaborated with Carlos Santana contributing songs and
ideas to Santana's projects and in the 1990s he wrote the song "Love
Will Keep Us Alive" for the Eagles' successful Hell
Freezes Over album. His own 1988 album Some
Come Running included Eric Clapton and George
Harrison on the track "Oh Lord, Why Lord".
In 1993,
Traffic reformed (without Chris Wood) and recorded a new album Far
From Home and in 1994 Capaldi toured the U.S. and UK with the
band. In 1998
he paired up again with Mason on an extensive American
tour.
The final years
In 2001,
Capaldi's twelfth solo album Living On The Outside
featured George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Paul
Weller, Gary Moore and Ian Paice.
George Harrison played guitar on the track "Anna Julia", which is an
English translation of a song by the Brazilian band Los
Hermanos, and Capaldi played at the Concert
for George in 2002.
Outside his music and his environmental activism, Capaldi also
assisted his wife in her work with Jubilee
Action to help Brazilian street children. He remained
professionally active until his final illness prevented him from
working on plans for a 2005
reunion tour of Traffic. He died of stomach
cancer at 02:30 on 28 January 2005. He was 60 years of age. He is survived by
his wife and two daughters.
Dear Mr Fantasy
Dear Mr Fantasy was a celebration of Jim
Capaldi's life and music that took place at the Roundhouse in Camden
Town, London on Sunday 21st January 2007. Guests included Steve
Winwood, Cat Stevens, Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, and many more. Dear
Mr Fantasy featured the music of Jim Capaldi and Traffic, and
all profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal.
Solo discography
- Oh How We Danced (1972)
- Whale Meat Again (1974)
- Short Cut Draw Blood (1975)
- Play It By Ear (1977)
- Daughter of the Night (1978)
- Contender (1978)
- Electric Nights (1979)
- Sweet Smell of ... Success (1980)
- Let The Thunder Cry (1981)
- Fierce Heart (1983)
- One Man Mission (1984)
- Some Come Running (1988)
- Prince of Darkness (1995)
- Let The Thunder Cry (1999)
- Living On The Outside (2001)
- Poor Boy Blue (2004)
External links
