Our latest podcast episode features legendary musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter Artie Kaplan, whose career has definitively helped shape the sound of pop, rock, and RnB music.
Kaplan is considered a genius musician whose iconic saxophone solos can be heard on over 150 top-10 songs, including Len Barry’s "1-2-3," Little Eva’s “The Locomotion," the Chiffons’ “One Fine Day,” and The Archies “Sugar, Sugar.” His distinct sound made him one of the most in-demand session players and music contractors of his era, helping him gain recognition of music’s biggest stars. “What a rush that was” he recalls, “to go from oblivion to Nat King Cole.”
In 1972 he went on to release his first studio album, “Confessions of a Male Chauvinist Pig.“ For Kaplan, the record struck a bittersweet chord, though he acknowledges that it undoubtedly “changed [his] life.”
When asked to describe the transition from iconic sax player to a singer-songwriter, he explained that “from the beginning I was always that. I think that’s why I understood the artists who I worked for. I understood the trials and tribulations they went through, I knew what was going on in their heads even though they didn’t vocalise it. I was one of them but they didn’t know it… I understood them because I was part of them.”
During Kaplan‘s career he also accomplished a boyhood dream of his by contracting the musical movie soundtracks of films written and conducted by some of his musical heroes, including The Arthur movie by Burt Bacharach, The verdict musical score by Johnny Mandel, and the Midnight Cowboy, conducted by John Barry.
Today, at the age of 87, Kaplan has for the most part put down his instruments in favour of his pen. “The only thing I do is write. I’ve been writing lyrics and melodies now more than ever before. That's what keeps me busy all day.”
For Kaplan’s full chat with Ronny, and more episodes in our podcast series, click HERE.
Comments