Harold "Happy" Chichester is an American singer-songwriter and musician.
Early life, education and personal life
Chichester resides in the
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, Ohio, area, where he began making music in 1986.
Career
Royal Crescent Mob
Happy's first band of note was the 1980s rock/funk group the
Royal Crescent Mob
Royal Crescent Mob was an American four-piece punk funk/funk rock band from Columbus, Ohio, United States, formed in 1985. Also known to their fans as the R.C. Mob, the band members included Brian "B" Emch (guitar), David Ellison (vocals, harmoni ...
in which he played bass. Formed in 1985, the Royal Crescent Mob were renowned for their live performances. They signed a major label deal with
Sire Records
Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records.
History Beginnings
The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...
and released six albums. They toured with
The Replacements,
The B-52's
The B-52's, also styled as The B-52s, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards, synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, p ...
and others and were once featured in
''Seventeen'' magazine. After nine years with the band, Happy left to pursue a solo career. Happy was replaced by Ben Pridgeon, but the band dissolved within a few years. They all remain friends.
The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers
Having been friends with
Greg Dulli
Greg Dulli (born May 11, 1965) is an American musician from Hamilton, Ohio. Debuting as a member of the rock band the Afghan Whigs in 1986, Dulli has been a member of the Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, and in 2020 released his debut solo albu ...
since the days when
The Afghan Whigs
The Afghan Whigs are an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. They were active from 1986 to 2001 and have since reformed as a band. The group – with core members Greg Dulli (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick McCollum (lead guitar), and John Cur ...
used to open for the Royal Crescent Mob, Happy has often lent his talents to Greg Dulli's projects The Afghan Whigs and
The Twilight Singers
The Twilight Singers are an United States, American indie rock musical group, band. The group was formed in 1997 by Greg Dulli as a side project during a hiatus from his group The Afghan Whigs. After the Afghan Whigs disbanded, Dulli used The Twi ...
. Happy provided vocals, songwriting and various instruments to Afghan Whigs releases ''Gentlemen'' (1993) and ''Black Love'' (1996).
He was also a founding member of The Twilight Singers. He appears heavily on their first album, ''Twilight As Played by the Twilight Singers'' (2000). Happy toured as a keyboardist with both the Afghan Whigs and the Twilight Singers. On Greg Dulli's 2005 solo album ''Amber Headlights'', Happy provided drums to the song "So Tight."
Howlin' Maggie
Happy met bassist Jim Rico at
Ohio University
Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...
; they started
Howlin' Maggie
Howlin' Maggie was a four-piece band founded by (and fronted by) Harold "Happy" Chichester in Columbus, Ohio, in 1994. Chichester was previously the bassist for Royal Crescent Mob, and is also a founding member of The Twilight Singers with Greg ...
in January 1994. During the following months, guitarist Andy Harrison, trumpeter Randy Sanders and drummer
Jerome Dillon
Jerome Dillon is a professional musician, best known for his tenure as drummer with industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails from 1999–2005. After his departure, his own project, Nearly, released its debut album ''reminder'' in December 2005, ...
were added to the line up, and in 1995 the band signed a recording deal with Columbia Records, releasing the critically acclaimed ''Honeysuckle Strange'' on April 9, 1996. The band toured extensively with the Afghan Whigs, but by the late '90s, the original lineup was dissolved.
Chichester bought himself out of his record deal with Columbia Records and his wife, Laura, founded PopFly Records and signed Chichester as her first artist. In 2001, the label released its first CD, Howlin' Maggie's ''Hyde''. Chichester recruited guitarist Lance Ellison, former Royal Crescent Mob drummer Carlton Smith, and bassist Christian Hurd. After two US tours in support of the album, Happy decided to take a solo approach and disbanded Howlin' Maggie. Although they played their last shows in the summer of 2002,
[''The AllMusic Guide''] Howlin' Maggie reunited for a single show in Columbus, Ohio on November 24, 2010. Proceeds for the show was to benefit a children's charities and memorial fund established after the passing of a local DJ,
CD101's Andy "Andyman" Davis.
Solo
After Howlin' Maggie, Chichester continued to write songs and play live. In 2002
Shawn Smith invited Happy to support his band
Brad
Brad may refer to:
* Brad (given name), a masculine given name
Places
* Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania
* Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania
* Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania
* ...
on their national tour and open all the shows. The experience was inspiring, and Chichester began to periodically hit the road to see how audiences reacted to his new songs, while spending his days off the road in his studio to record his first solo album.
A performance at the Aladdin Theater in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Oregon, on March 28, 2003 (which was recorded for the price of a pint of beer) became an underground hit.
He had recorded and produced a limited, numbered pressing of the show in Portland, copies of which were eventually selling on
eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
for $50. Eventually, the live album was officially released through PopFly Music.
''Lovers Come Back'', Happy's first full-length studio solo album, was released by PopFly Music on February 14, 2007. In support of the album, he headed out on an extensive tour of the United States and Europe (while opening for
RJD2
Ramble Jon Krohn (born May 27, 1976), better known by his stage name RJD2, is an American musician based in Columbus, Ohio. He is the owner of record label RJ's Electrical Connections. He has been a member of groups such as Soul Position, MHz Lega ...
) to promote the album. He continues to tour and record as a solo artist to a growing and cultish underground following.
References
External links
*
Happy Chichesterat
MySpace
Comprehensive Happy Chichester discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chichester, Happy
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Musicians from Columbus, Ohio
Singer-songwriters from Ohio
The Twilight Singers members