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Notable people · Music · Entertainment · African American History

Roger Troutman

Hamilton-born funk musician and producer who led the Dayton band Zapp with his brothers and whose talk-box sound, heard on 'More Bounce to the Ounce' and 2Pac's 'California Love', shaped West Coast hip-hop.

Born November 29, 1951, Hamilton
Died April 25, 1999, Good Samaritan Hospital, Dayton (shot outside his studio on Salem Avenue)

At a glance

Born
November 29, 1951, Hamilton (Butler County) source
Died
April 25, 1999, Good Samaritan Hospital, Dayton (shot outside his studio on Salem Avenue) (Montgomery County) source
Buried
Greenwood Cemetery, Hamilton (Section 15, Lot 168) (Butler County) source
Also known as
Roger, Roger Lynch Troutman, Zapp & Roger, Lil' Roger
Known as
Music, Entertainment, African American History

Life story

Roger Troutman was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1951, the fourth of nine children, and graduated from Central State University in Wilberforce. From 1966 he recorded with his brothers in a string of Ohio bands, including Lil' Roger and His Fabulous Vels and Roger and the Human Body, and in the late 1970s the family band became Zapp, based in Dayton. With help from Bootsy Collins and George Clinton, Zapp signed with Warner Bros. in 1979, and 'More Bounce to the Ounce' (1980) reached No. 2 on the R&B chart; Troutman's solo version of 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' (1981) and 'I Want to Be Your Man' (1987) both reached No. 1 R&B. His talk box, played through synthesizers, became his signature, and his music was sampled heavily by West Coast hip-hop, culminating in his work on 2Pac and Dr. Dre's 'California Love' (1995). In 1983 he finished Troutman Sound Labs on Salem Avenue in Dayton, where he was shot by his brother Larry on 25 April 1999; he is buried in his hometown, and an Ohio historical marker has stood on the studio site since 2020.

Ohio ties

  • Hamilton (1951-)
    birthplace; burial in Greenwood Cemetery Butler County · source
  • Wilberforce (Central State University) (unknown)
    graduate Greene County · source
  • Cincinnati (1960s)
    his first band, the Crusaders, played in Cincinnati and cut a single there Hamilton County · source
  • Dayton (1977-1999)
    home base of Zapp and his residence at his death Montgomery County · source
  • Dayton (Troutman Sound Labs, Salem Avenue and Catalpa Drive) (1983-1999)
    his recording studio, where Zapp, Shirley Murdock and others recorded, and where he was shot Montgomery County · source

Timeline

  1. 1951 Born on 29 November in Hamilton, the fourth of nine children. source
  2. 1966 Issued his first records, 'Jolly Roger' and 'Night Time', on the small Ohio label Teen Records as Lil' Roger and His Fabulous Vels. source
  3. 1976 Formed Roger & The Human Body with his brothers and released the album Introducing Roger on the family's own label, Troutman Bros. Records. source
  4. 1977 The brothers adopted the name Zapp, from a nickname of brother Terry, and played small venues around Ohio. source
  5. 1978 After Phelps and Bootsy Collins saw Zapp play, Bootsy invited Troutman to United Sound Studios in Detroit, where he recorded the demo of 'More Bounce to the Ounce'. source
  6. 1980 Zapp's debut album, produced by Bootsy Collins, was released by Warner Bros. on 28 July; 'More Bounce to the Ounce' reached No. 2 on the R&B chart and the album went gold by November. source
  7. 1981 His first solo album, The Many Facets of Roger, appeared on Warner Bros.; his funk version of 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' went to No. 1 on the R&B chart. source
  8. 1983 Finished Troutman Sound Labs, his recording studio on Salem Avenue in Dayton. source
  9. 1985 Recorded the gold album The New Zapp IV U, including 'Computer Love', at Troutman Sound Labs, and produced Shirley Murdock's hit 'As We Lay'. source
  10. 1987 'I Want to Be Your Man', made at his Dayton studio, reached No. 1 on Billboard's R&B chart and No. 3 on the pop chart. source
  11. 1993 Zapp & Roger: All the Greatest Hits became the group's best-selling album, selling over two million copies. source
  12. 1995 Featured with Dr. Dre on 2Pac's 'California Love', which topped the Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination. source
  13. 1999 On the morning of 25 April he was shot several times in the alley behind his Salem Avenue studio and died in surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital; his brother Larry was found dead nearby of a self-inflicted wound, and police called it a murder-suicide. source
  14. 2004 The derelict Troutman Sound Labs building was demolished by the City of Dayton in August as part of the Phoenix Project redevelopment. source
  15. 2020 An Ohio historical marker for Troutman Sound Labs, proposed by two Bowling Green State University students, was dedicated on 16 October at ZAPP Park, 2006 Salem Avenue. source

Stories

A class assignment becomes a marker

In the fall of 2018 Jacqueline Hudson, a doctoral student in American culture studies at Bowling Green State University, and Kari Boroff, an art history student from Dayton, took a museology course taught by the curator of the Wood County Museum. One assignment was to learn the Ohio Historical Marker program by filling out an application. Hudson noticed there were few, if any, markers on Black music, and Boroff's husband suggested Roger Troutman's studio. They filled out the form as if it were real and sent it to the Ohio History Connection, and in 2019 the application was accepted. The marker was dedicated at the studio site in October 2020.

Source

'This was the area that supported us'

The marker at ZAPP Park on Salem Avenue opens with Troutman's own words: '...this was the area that supported us, which made us...'. It says the hits of 1980-82 paid for Troutman Sound Labs, finished in 1983, and that the studio produced the gold album New Zapp IV U, Shirley Murdock's gold debut and 'I Want to Be Your Man'. The back side notes that Roger and Zapp's music has been sampled nearly 900 times, including Zapp's 'Computer Love', recorded there, on 2Pac's 'Keep Ya Head Up'. The building was razed in 2004, and a metal sculpture by Dayton artist Michael Bashaw, titled after Troutman's song 'I Can Make You Dance', now stands behind the marker.

Source

The deal that cost George Clinton an empire

Troutman's first solo album, The Many Facets of Roger, was paid for by George Clinton through CBS and was meant for Clinton's Uncle Jam label. By the time it was ready Clinton was in financial trouble and had been dropped by Warner Bros., and Troutman took a better offer from Warner for the recordings. Clinton later said the album had cost about five million dollars and many people's jobs, and the loss is counted among the reasons Funkadelic went on hiatus. Troutman, now free of Clinton, took near-complete creative control of Zapp, and the album, released in August 1981, sold over a million copies.

Source

Named for Roger Troutman

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

123
  • 1 Troutman Sound Labs Ohio Historical Marker (33-57), ZAPP Park
    2006 Salem Avenue at Catalpa Drive, Dayton Montgomery County · source
  • 'I Can Make You Dance' sculpture by Michael Bashaw, Salem and Catalpa Gateway (site of Troutman Sound Labs, demolished 2004)
    Salem Avenue at Catalpa Drive, Dayton Montgomery County · source
  • 2 Grave of Roger Troutman, Greenwood Cemetery (Section 15, Lot 168)
    Hamilton Butler County · source
  • 3 Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center (displays his lit-up guitar) (unknown)
    East Third Street, Dayton Montgomery County · source

Ohio places

Where Roger Troutman was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.

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