Roger Troutman  

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Roger Troutman (November 29 1951 – April 25 1999) was the lead singer of the band Zapp who helped to pave the way for West Coast hip hop after the scene's rappers heavily sampled his music over the years. Troutman was well known for his use of the talkbox, a device that is connected to an instrument (frequently a keyboard) to create different vocal effects. Roger used a custom-made talkbox--the Electro Harmonix "Golden Throat," as well as a Yamaha DX100 FM synthesizer. As both lead singer of Zapp and in his subsequent solo releases, he scored a bevy of funk and R&B hits throughout the 1980s. In his later years, he was mostly known for singing the chorus to the hip-hop classic, "California Love".