Gary James' Interview With Former Chicago Member
Jeff Coffey



Jeff Coffey spent two years as the lead singer and bass player for Chicago. Prior to that he had his own career going on. So, what was it like being a member of Chicago and what does the road ahead look like for Jeff Coffey? That's what we wanted to find out.

Q - Jeff, you've been out of Chicago for several months now, correct?

A - Yes. January (2018) was my last date.

Q - What have you been doing with yourself, musically speaking?

A - Yeah, well, before I got with Chicago I was in the process of writing and recording for my third solo CD. Then when I got with the band I pretty much had to put the brakes on that 'cause it was a very demanding schedule. But now that I'm done with that I've basically jumped back and I'm in the process of writing and recording this new record. I'm probably most of the way through the record. I still have a few more songs to write and record. I'm very excited about the way it's turning out. Then I've also been playing here and there with Don Felder, the original guitar player for the Eagles, which has been fun.

Q - When you were with Chicago, that seems like a pretty good gig. You left because why? There was just too much road work?

A - The Chicago gig was fantastic. It was a tremendous opportunity for me. I grew up being a fan of the band and their music. For me to step in and play bass and sing those songs was a tremendous honor. It was a time that I'll never forget, truly. I left for various reasons. The schedule is very demanding. Those guys tour a lot. It is in many ways very difficult to do anything else. That had something to do with it, but there are other reasons as well. Very good reasons. Some reasons better left un-said. (laughs)

Q - Alright. We won't get into that. I'm smart enough not to ask. As demanding as Chicago's touring was and continues to be, you still found time to record two CDs of your own, didn't you?

A - Well, that all happened before I got the Chicago gig. I started doing my solo stuff back in 2003. I released a self-titled record in '03 and I released my second solo CD in 2007, which was "Lonely Home". I played a bunch of gigs and festivals. I had a band. I played a lot of solo, acoustic things just to keep the chops up and then I got burnt on the music, burnt on the business basically, and I took some years off.

Q - What did you do?

A - I had an invention idea that I brought to market. So, I packed my guitars away and I didn't play for three or four years. I put all my energy into researching this new business product and product marketing. I spent a lot of energy bringing that into fruition and getting the product out there. My wife and I went to a couple of shows. We went to see my friend, Jack Sizemore. He plays guitar with Jason Aldean. Went to see him and then we went to see a Keith Urban show. My wife looked at me and said, "You want to play again, don't you?" I said, "Yup." So, I just missed it. It was a huge, gaping hole in my soul if I didn't have music. That's just who I am. So, I started playing again. I started writing and recording and then I started going back up to Nashville. I have a lot of friends up in Nashville. I would go do jams and play with all these "A" list guys who had big, Country touring gigs and Rock touring gigs. It was just a great networking kind of situation, which is eventually what led me to landing the Chicago gig.

Q - Somebody in Chicago said, and I don't know who, touring is part of a difficult life, but one filled with tremendous awards. What would the tremendous awards have been? The money?

A - I think that was Lee Loughnane who said that in an interview. I think I remember seeing that. Well, yeah. I mean, for an original principle member of a Classic Rock band like that I would imagine that yes, being a profit sharing group like that is very financially rewarding. I'm sure it is. A lot of money. But when you're a hired guy you're not getting any of that money, so it's not quite the financial reward that a profit sharing member would get. Still, the money was good. But there is a sacrifice. Some people choose to be on the road all the time. Some people choose to space out their terrain. Play selected venues and things like that. Groups like The Rolling Stones, a perfect example. They'll take a couple of years off, come back, play huge stadiums. Eagles, same kind of thing. Some groups choose to stay out there constantly on the road all the time. So it's just a matter of personal preference.

Q - You didn't audition in person for Chicago, did you? You did a video audition?

A - Yeah. It was a combination of things. They were working with some other bass players, singer guys for several months. Maybe about six months or so. It really wasn't working out, so when I got the call from Keith Howland, we hit it off right away on the phone. Keith and I became really close buds during my time in Chicago. We seemed to be coming from the same place musically. We liked the same kind of music and the same kind of groups. But anyway, what happened was, they sent me some 'live' show tracks minus bass and vocals. They wanted to have a video audition. So basically I multi-tracked my bass and vocals, un-edited into Pro Tools, along with their 'live' track. Then I videoed myself doing this. I did three songs, I think it was "Question '67 And '68", and one of the ballads and "25 Or 6 To 4". I sent those in. They liked what they heard and then they wanted me to do another one, more of an instrumental, just to see if I could handle a little more bass stuff. So, they sent me "Introduction". So, I videoed myself playing along with "Introduction". I sent that in and they liked it and that's when they decided to fly me up to Detroit where the band was right before a little, two week run and basically at that point I was at a venue in Findley, Ohio. The day before the show the stage was all set up for the show the next day. We ran through the entire show. I got to play the entire show with the band. So, I thought, man, even if I don't get the gig, at least I got to play through a whole set with Chicago, right? That was pretty cool. But they liked it and I played the show the very next night.

Q - You were in this Gainesville, Florida band, House Of Dreams in the '90s. You released a CD in 1994. What kind of a band was that? What kind of venues did you play?

A - That was a Rock band. I guess you could say it was Rock, maybe with a little Southern twinge to it. There was definitely a Southern Rock, Southern Pop kind of vibe going on in the North Florida Rock scene even back then. But, it was a cool harmony band too. We loved harmonies. We as a band loved groups like the Eagles, singing bands. So, that's the kind of band it was. We released a couple of independent CDs and the we finally got a deal with RCA Records in '97 I think it was and we went out to L.A. and recorded with Keith Olsen. But, we recorded a record and that was right about the time the industry was really changing. Things were kind of falling apart industry wise. We kind of got lost in that. They shelved the record. They held us on for a year and eventually we got dropped. That's when I started pursuing my solo stuff in 2000.

Q - Maybe you should have had another label?

A - It was a different climate that was happening pretty radically with the advent of the Internet and Napster and free downloads. It radically changed the business. They were still trying to figure it out. At that point, a lot of labels really weren't ready to take a chance on an unknown. They would rather take something like today's model, something that already has something going and then take it and run with it. The age of Artist Development is long gone. Now they won't even listen to you unless you, in many cases, have a big fan base following or very high presence in Social Media. So, it's a different game out there. It's a different world for sure.

Q - It must be very difficult to promote your own CD these days.

A - Oh, absolutely, yeah. Like I was saying, the industry has changed so radically now, it's an underdog's world out there. You have to make noise on your own first. You don't need the industry until something happens. But it is very hard. Not only do you have to worry about creating the art and trying to make it the best you can, but then you also have to promote yourself, and that takes a lot of time away from creating the art. Promotion is an art form in itself. So, it's a very tough world out there, trying to self-promote yourself.

Official Website: www.JeffCoffey.com

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