Biography

The ever-prolific Popa Chubby returns with a new CD of hard-hitting rock ‘n’ roll, Deliveries After Dark, a collection of balls-out Blues/Rock played with reckless abandon, no apologies, visceral and heavy, with a few surprises thrown in – such as the theme from “The Godfather” rearranged as a surf guitar instrumental, and the spacey and evocative “Woman In My Bed Dub,” a reggae tune as thick with smoke as a Kingston club. Elsewhere, Chubby indulges his need for speed with the road-raging “Deliveries After Dark,” and revved-up boogie of “Sally Likes To Run,” while “Let The Music Set You Free” lays out Chubby’s philosophy over a swaggering, rock solid riff. With Deliveries After Dark, Popa Chubby continues to rule the road with his high-octane ax work and uncompromising, in your face attitude, resulting in a supercharged mix that spits fire at every turn.

Born Ted Horowitz, Popa Chubby is a true native son of the Big Apple. He grew up in the neighborhood immortalized in Robert DeNiro's film "A Bronx Tale." His early memories of hearing the jukebox in his parents' candy store playing the hits of early Sixties soul and R&B and the neighborhood teens flocking around it made a lasting impression on him.

"When I first heard Freddie King my world was turned upside down. I was 19 and this older cat in the neighborhood played me the Just Pickin' record and I was knocked out cold. I thought, 'Man, that's what I wanna be when I grow up.'"

In 1990 the Popa Chubby Band was born. The name was taken from an impromptu jam with Bernie Worrell of Parliament-Funkadelic. "He was singing a song called 'Popa Chubby' and he pointed at me." The name captured the essence of what his music has come to represent. "Popa Chubby basically means to get excited. The core of my music is about excitement. I think music should make people feel alive."

In 1994 Popa signed a recording deal with then recently resurrected O-Keh Records (Sony Music), lured by the prospect of working with Tom Dowd, longtime Atlantic Records engineer/producer, whose recordings by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, the Allman Brothers and others are legendary. Booty And The Beast was released in 1994, and the single, “Sweet Goddess Of Love and Beer,” soon swept the country and became a summer radio hit coast to coast in 1995.

Creative differences left Popa a free agent in 1996, so he began releasing albums on his own label. On the advice of Dowd he went to Europe, where his first two CDs were released as a collection by the French Dixiefrog label. The record was an instant success and left Popa touring nonstop. The energy and showmanship of his sets earned him critical and commercial acclaim overseas, and in fact, he's become a huge star in Europe, where he appears on the covers of magazines and routinely sells out major venues.

In May 2000, Dixiefrog released How'd A White Boy Get the Blues? in Europe. Looking for a domestic label that would understand his unique approach to the blues, Popa brought the album to Blind Pig Records, which released this seminal blues-rock concept record in August of 2001. It uses electric and acoustic guitar blends, drum loops and electronics to show how close the blues, hip-hop and R&B really are. Calling the CD "a fresh take on the genre," Billboard said "If Muddy Waters was a modern blues artist, then Popa Chubby is a post-modern bluesman."

The Good, The Bad, and The Chubby followed in 2002, featuring thirteen brand new compositions reflecting, in Popa's words, "Love, Life, Betrayal, Diesel, Jet Fuel, Marriage, Murder, Stress and Passion!" At the time, Popa's recording studio was about a half a mile away from the World Trade Center, and he wrote the opening track, “Somebody Let The Devil Out,” in reaction to the September 11th tragedy. All Music Guide said the release was "one of the strongest, most distinctive modern blues albums of 2002."

The next year Blind Pig released a collection of Popa's early work entitled The Hungry Years, drawn from several out-of-print albums Popa had released on his own label in the early 90's and including three previously unreleased tracks. "From the bowels of Greenwich Village to the Upper East Side, New York from 1991 to 1996 was my very own Rotten Apple!" Living Blues offered, "Batten down the hatch before putting this on the stereo - this ain't your granddaddy's blues."

In the election year of 2004, Popa Chubby came up with his lyrically edgiest record yet, one of the most topical and important records of the year - Peace, Love, and Respect. Twelve tracks of hard-hitting, politically inspired songs that run from upholding First Amendment rights in the hard-thumping shuffle “Un-American Blues," to protesting the plight of young people dying for the lust of oil and power in “Young Men.”

2005 saw the release of a live CD and a DVD, Big Man, Big Guitar. As Popa described it, "I basically gave Blind Pig free rein to choose the material for Big Man, Big Guitar and was very pleased with their choices. They really put the focus on my guitar work, the roots of my music and the energy we generate on stage. I think they not only captured the best of me as a guitar player and performer today but also included some of those seminal selections that influenced my career from the very beginning."

Stealing the Devil's Guitar arrived the following year, and was Popa Chubby's most guitar-centric studio album to date. As the Philadelphia Inquirer put it, "Truly a bluesman for the new millennium, Popa Chubby has an abiding affection for the tradition but uses it only as a springboard for his distinctive style."

In 2007, Popa unleashed Electric Chubbyland, a live collection celebrating the work of Jimi Hendrix. Relix magazine said “Chubby’s searing guitar work is exceptional, and his vocals evoke the spirit of Jimi. Chubby unleashes some of the fiercest string bending this side of Electric Ladyland. Tribute albums are a dangerous lot, but Electric Chubbyland is a safe, enjoyable, mesmerizing listen.” Long requested by Chubby’s rabid fan base, the albums managed to capture, as Chubby put it, “that special spark of energy that only happens between the audience and performer. I love playing Hendrix with my own spin. Loud and proud for all the people!"

Those same fans will undoubtedly welcome Deliveries After Dark, Chubby’s latest collection of jet-fueled originals. “I have gotten back to why I started playing music to begin with,” says the masterful guitarist. “The excitement and the feeling of raw power. All I can tell you is you need rock and roll in your soul and I am the man in control. The Blues are alive and well and Rock and Roll will never die! Are you ready to rock?”