Chi Coltrane
Encyclopedia
Chi Coltrane (born November 16, 1948, Racine
, Wisconsin
) is best known as an American
rock
-pop
-jazz
songwriter
, pianist
, and singer.
ren to a Canadian
mother
and a German violin
ist father
. She played a number of instruments
as a child. Her family moved frequently; her father died when she was ten. She gave her first piano recital at the age of twelve. In 1970, she used two sidemen, an upright bassist and a drummer, playing jazz
, funk and rock
in local Chicago clubs and bars
. In 1971 she represented the U.S.
at the International Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro
, Brazil
. She appeared on "The Tonight Show" and "The Midnight Special".
Her first hit in the United States was "Thunder and Lightning", released in May 1972. By August it reached #17 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100
chart
, and #12 on the U.S.
Record World top 100 record chart
and U.S.
CashBox top 100, #18 on the Canadian RPM magazine
charts, and #4 on the German
hit list. It drove her first album
, "Chi Coltrane", to stay on the charts for three months. The song "Go Like Elijah" also received considerable airplay, and held the #1 position on the Netherlands hit list for one month.
After her first album was released, she released the album Let It Ride early in 1974 (on the Columbia
label
), Greatest Hits and Best Of albums in 1975, and in 1977 another album, Road To Tomorrow as well as Silk & Steel in 1981. She subsequently moved to Europe
where she lived for a few years. She was voted Best Female Artist for two consecutive years. She released several albums on the Teldec
label during the 1980s, including Live! in 1982 (it reached #12 on the European charts), Ready to Roll (1983) and The Message (1986). In the European “100 Best Musicians of the Century” list, she was listed in the top 50.
Golden Classics was released in November 1996 (Collectibles label). She has done TV
soundtrack
work and collaborated with Tangerine Dream
in 1991. She returned to Los Angeles in 1993, where she built a recording studio
and worked with underprivileged groups.
In 2009 Coltrane resumed her music career, releasing a new compilation "The Essential Chi Coltrane - Yesterday, Today & Forever". The collection featured material from her 1980s albums "Live!", "Ready to Roll", and "The Message". It also contained three new recordings, including the title track which featured a Paul Buckmaster
string arrangement. The album was initially made available at her website.
Coltrane's first comeback performance was a concert in Vienna
at the Donauinselfest
in 2009, where she drew 100,000 people. She then did a tour in the Netherlands in October of 2009. Her CD went to #55 on the charts within two weeks. She then signed with Sony and did another tour in the Netherlands as well as a highly successful tour in Germany. She is now preparing for additional touring in Germany, and another tour in the Netherlands as well as a tour in Switzerland. She has committed to working next on a studio album of new material, to be released in 2012.
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
) is best known as an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, and singer.
Career
Coltrane was one of seven childChild
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
ren to a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
and a German violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist father
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
. She played a number of instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
as a child. Her family moved frequently; her father died when she was ten. She gave her first piano recital at the age of twelve. In 1970, she used two sidemen, an upright bassist and a drummer, playing jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, funk and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
in local Chicago clubs and bars
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
. In 1971 she represented the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the International Rock Festival in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. She appeared on "The Tonight Show" and "The Midnight Special".
Her first hit in the United States was "Thunder and Lightning", released in May 1972. By August it reached #17 on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, and #12 on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Record World top 100 record chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
and U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
CashBox top 100, #18 on the Canadian RPM magazine
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
charts, and #4 on the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
hit list. It drove her first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, "Chi Coltrane", to stay on the charts for three months. The song "Go Like Elijah" also received considerable airplay, and held the #1 position on the Netherlands hit list for one month.
After her first album was released, she released the album Let It Ride early in 1974 (on the Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
), Greatest Hits and Best Of albums in 1975, and in 1977 another album, Road To Tomorrow as well as Silk & Steel in 1981. She subsequently moved to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
where she lived for a few years. She was voted Best Female Artist for two consecutive years. She released several albums on the Teldec
Teldec
The Teldec is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.-History:...
label during the 1980s, including Live! in 1982 (it reached #12 on the European charts), Ready to Roll (1983) and The Message (1986). In the European “100 Best Musicians of the Century” list, she was listed in the top 50.
Golden Classics was released in November 1996 (Collectibles label). She has done TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
work and collaborated with Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
in 1991. She returned to Los Angeles in 1993, where she built a recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
and worked with underprivileged groups.
In 2009 Coltrane resumed her music career, releasing a new compilation "The Essential Chi Coltrane - Yesterday, Today & Forever". The collection featured material from her 1980s albums "Live!", "Ready to Roll", and "The Message". It also contained three new recordings, including the title track which featured a Paul Buckmaster
Paul Buckmaster
Paul John Buckmaster is a Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger and composer.He began learning the cello at the age of 4 and graduated from the Royal College of Music at age 16....
string arrangement. The album was initially made available at her website.
Coltrane's first comeback performance was a concert in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
at the Donauinselfest
Donauinselfest
The Donauinselfest is an annual open-air free music festival happening on Vienna, Austria's Donauinsel. It usually happens in mid-June...
in 2009, where she drew 100,000 people. She then did a tour in the Netherlands in October of 2009. Her CD went to #55 on the charts within two weeks. She then signed with Sony and did another tour in the Netherlands as well as a highly successful tour in Germany. She is now preparing for additional touring in Germany, and another tour in the Netherlands as well as a tour in Switzerland. She has committed to working next on a studio album of new material, to be released in 2012.