A Farewell to Paul Chapman

Last Tuesday, June 9th, Paul Chapman died on his 66th birthday. The man was an amazing guitarist known for his time with the band UFO. While in UFO, he contributed to four albums. No Place to Run with its classic version of Elvis’s Train Train – simply a personal fav. The next album, The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent was simply classic. It is just an amazing album. Followed by Mechanix and Making Contact. All pretty damn good.

And then there were the numerous shows, festivals, and tours. From UFO he moved onto his former bandmate Pete Way’s new project: Fastway. He began his career with the Irish band, Skid Row, replacing Gary Moore. Keep in mind that he was replacing Michael Schencker when he joined UFO.

Paul Chapman is one of those musicians whose music I have listened to for a long time. Forty years. Damn. And still love the riffs, the solos, the songs. I caught him playing live with UFO in 1982. They were supporting Ozzy Osbourne. It was the tour on which we lost Randy Rhoads, another amazing guitarist. This show was the only time I saw Paul Chapman with UFO. I want to say he was primarily playing his BC Rich. Mainly, I just remember UFO’s set just being too short. I wanted more. Still do, but now we know that will not happen.

I leave you with this YouTube recording of a UFO show in Chicago in 1981 featuring much of the material referenced above along with the other classic UFO tunes. All featuring Paul Chapman on guitar. Enjoy.