In 1980, the band's mentors, George Clinton and Bootsy Collins of Parliament-Funkadelic, took Zapp to Detroit to record its first record for Warner Brothers records. Troutman used to say that he began using the vocoder in concert in order to sing hits originally performed by women. Influenced by James Brown, Jimmy Reed, Duke Ellington and Jimi Hendrix, as well as by the thriving regional funk scene, he formed Zapp with three of his brothers - Lester, Larry and Tony (who changed his name to Zapp) - in the late 70's. Roger Troutman grew up in Hamilton, Ohio. The group's music has been sampled on dozens of hit rap singles.
Zapp is probably best known for its use of the vocoder or talkbox, a device that makes vocals sound robotic, and for influencing musicians from rockers like Lenny Kravitz to rappers like Tupac Shakur. The police said they were investigating the possibility of a murder-suicide. Troutman's older brother Larry, a former bandmate and business partner, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound the same day in a car nearby. Gary White of the Dayton police department said. Troutman was shot several times in the torso on Sunday and died during surgery, Sgt. Roger Troutman, a renowned funk-music innovator who recorded with his brothers in the band Zapp in the early 80's, died on Sunday at the Good Samaritan Hospital and Health Center in Dayton, Ohio.
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