Musician Paul Chapman should have been celebrating his birthday on June 9th but instead his family announced via social media that Paul had passed away earlier that day. The Welsh born rock guitarist was best known for his work in bands such as UFO and Lone Star.
Chapman was given his nickname “Tonka” because of his indestructible qualities of surviving the rock n roll lifestyle. Chapman gained his fame in the US for his time in the British rock band UFO as the replacement guitarist for the Michael Schenker. At this point in Schenker’s career, he was known as one of the greatest rock guitarist of the genre. Paul came in to fill a space that not many musicians could do gracefully but he did.
With Chapman, the band he released one of my all time favorite UFO albums 1980’s “No Place To Run”. This had the line up of Paul Raymond (who recently also passed away), Phil Mogg, Andy Parker, Pete Way, and Paul Chapman.
The band went on to record three more studio albums with this line up, “The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent” (1981), “Mechanix” (1982); and “Making Contact”. Chapman was very much an integral part of their live shows and as a musician leaves behind a strong legacy with the band.
Here’s Tonka performing “Mystery Train” with UFO.
As a fan of UFO and of Chapman’s, he will be missed.
(photos courtesy of Ron Lyon)
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