Chicago

Formed in 1967 in Chicago at the tail end of the 1960s, the band Chicago coalesced around Walter Parazaider, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, Lee Loughnane, James Pankow, Danny Seraphine, and soon Peter Cetera, with the idea of rock powered by a horn section. After relocating to Los Angeles, Chicago signed with Columbia and in 1969 released the double album Chicago Transit Authority, where rock, jazz, R&B, pop, and touches of contemporary music intermingled. In the early 1970s they followed with a run of numbered albums—Chicago II, Chicago V, and others—marked by extended suites, a central role for the horns, and firm roots in jazz-rock. Terry Kath’s death in 1978 prompted an aesthetic shift and several changes of guitarist, before Chicago, in the early 1980s with producer David Foster, adopted a more pop- and ballad-oriented approach, exemplified by the successes of Chicago 16 and Chicago 17. The departures of historic members such as Cetera and Seraphine did not prevent Chicago from continuing in the studio and on stage, with Jason Scheff and later other musicians, exploring in turn big band (Night & Day: Big Band, 1995), live formats, and Christmas repertoires, up through Born for This Moment in 2022. Still centered on the interplay between vocals, keyboards, guitar, and horns, Chicago has toured extensively—often co-headlining with Earth, Wind & Fire or The Doobie Brothers—and saw its history honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.