Popa Chubby, (pronounced POP'-uh) stage name of Theodore Joseph "Ted" Horowitz (born March 31, 1960, in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, New York), is an American singer, composer, and guitarist.

Life and career

Popa Chubby - Leverkusener Jazztage 2016-AL4106

At age thirteen Horowitz began playing

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

; shortly thereafter, he began listening to the music of

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and started playing

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

. Although he grew up in the 1970s, Horowitz was influenced by artists of the 1960s, including

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

and

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, among others. In his early twenties, although mainly playing blues music, he also worked as backing for

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

poet

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television (band), ...

. Horowitz first came to public attention after winning a national blues talent search sponsored by KLON, a

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

station in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, which is now known as

KKJZ KKJZ (88.1 MHz FM, "KJazz 88.1") is a non-commercial public radio station in Southern California. The station is the #1 full-time jazz and blues station in the United States The California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation own ...

. In 1989, he appeared, as Ted Horowitz, as guitarist on

Pierce Turner Pierce Turner is an Irish singer-songwriter. After forming a duo with Larry Kirwan he went solo in the mid-1980s and has since released several albums Biography Turner grew up in the port town of Wexford, where his mother ran a retail outlet ...

's ''Sky & the Ground''. He won the New Artist of the Year award and as a result was chosen as the opening act at the Long Beach Blues Festival in 1992. Horowitz played more than 200 club dates a year through the 1990s. In 1994, Horowitz released several albums on his own Laughing Bear label, including ''It's Chubby Time'' and ''Gas Money'', before he obtained a recording contract with Sony Music/Okeh Records. ''Booty and the Beast'', his first major-label album, produced by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

engineer/producer

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

, who worked on recordings for artists such as

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

, and

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

, was released in 1995. In 1996, a live recording, ''Hit the High Hard One'', was released on the Prime-CD label, along with re-releases of his first two albums. Two years later, ''One Million Broken Guitars'' was released on Lightyear Records; ''Brooklyn Basement Blues'' followed in 1999. In 2000, Horowitz signed with

Blind Pig Records Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label. Blind Pig was formed in 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jerry Del Giudice, owner of the Blind Pig Cafe, and his friend Edward Chmelewski. The label is now based in San Francisco. I ...

and released '' How'd a White Boy Get the Blues?'' in 2001. It turned out to be a slight departure from Horowitz's usual musical direction, incorporating elements of

contemporary pop Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

and

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

. ''The Good, the Bad and the Chubby'', released in 2002, was an example of the development of Horowitz's songwriting skills and included the

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

commentary "Somebody Let the Devil Out". Blind Pig released a collection of early Horowitz recordings, ''The Hungry Years'', in 2003. A year later, Horowitz released ''Peace, Love and Respect''. Two albums previously available only in France – ''Live at FIP'' and ''Wild'' – were compiled by the Blind Pig label and released as ''Big Man, Big Guitar'' in 2005, followed by ''Stealing the Devil's Guitar'' a year later. ''The Fight Is On'', was Horowitz's first studio album after a two-year hiatus. It was released in February 2010 on the Provogue label in Europe, and Blind Pig in North America. A world tour followed. In 2008, Horowitz and his ex-wife Galea, recorded ''Vicious Country'', which was released on the Dixiefrog label. ''Vicious Country'' was chosen as 'Record of the Week' by the French

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

television station in March 2009. In 2015, he released ''Big Bad and Beautiful'', a two disc live CD recorded in France with Dave Keyes on keyboards and Francesco and Andrea Beccaro playing bass and drums respectively. In 2016, he released ''The Catfish'' on the French Verycords label and on PCP Productions in North America. This record yielded both the 3D animated video of the title track by Laurent Mercier of Callicore, and the tribute ''Blues For Charlie''. In 2017, he released ''Two Dogs'', again on Verycords for Europe and PCP Productions in North America. In 2018, Eagletone Custom released the Popa Chubby Tribute Stratocaster a replica of his '66. In 2019, Verycords released a limited edition two-CD anthology ''Prime Cuts'', chosen by Popa Chubby. He made his Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival debut on 14 July 2019. His current band line up includes Stefano Giudici (drums), Max Barrett (bass), Dave Keyes (keyboards), as well as a recurring cast of musicians. In 2025, Gulf Coast Records released Popa Chubby & Friends “I (Heart) Freddie King, an album of Freddie King covers featuring guests including Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Mike Zito, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and others.

Discography

* ''The First Cuts'' (a collection of early material) * ''The Hungry Years'' (another collection of early material) * ''It's Chubby Time'' (1994) * ''Gas Money'' (1994) * ''Booty and the Beast'' (1995) * ''Hit the High Hard One – Live'' (1996) * ''One Million Broken Guitars'' (1998) * ''Brooklyn Basement Blues'' (1999) * ''One Night Live In New York City'' (1999) * '' How'd a White Boy Get the Blues?'' (2001) * ''Flashed Back'' (feat. Galea) (2001) * ''The Good, the Bad and the Chubby'' (2001) * ''Live at FIP'' (2002) * ''Old School: Popa Chubby & Friends Play Muddy, Willie and More'' (2003) * ''Peace, Love & Respect'' (2003) * ''Wild Live!'' (2004) * ''Big Man, Big Guitar: Popa Chubby Live'' (2005) compilation * ''Stealing the Devil's Guitar'' (2006) * '' Electric Chubbyland'' (2006, 3-CD box set) * ''Deliveries After Dark'' (2008) * ''Vicious Country'' (feat. Galea) (2008) * ''The Fight Is On'' (2009) * ''Back to New York City'' (2011) * ''Universal Breakdown Blues'' (2013) * ''I'm Feelin' Lucky: The Blues According to Popa Chubby'' (2014) * ''Big, Bad and Beautiful – Live'' (2015, 2-CD set) * ''The Catfish'' (2016) * ''Two Dogs'' (2017) * ''Prime Cuts: The Very Best of the Beast from the East'' (2019, limited edition 2-CD set) * ''It's a Mighty Hard Road'' (Dixie Frog, 2020) * ''Tinfoil Hat'' (Dixie Frog, 2021) * ''Emotional Gangster'' (Dixie Frog, 2022) * ''Live At G. Bluey’s Juke Joint NYC'' (Gulf Coast, 2023, 2-CD set) * I (Heart) Freddie King (Gulf Coast, 2025)

DVDs

* ''Popa Chubby in Concert – Ohne Filter – Musik Pur'' (2002) * ''The Official Popa Chubby DVD – Live Performances – Interviews – Video Clips – Extras'' (2002) * ''Popa Chubby – Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix – At the File 7 – Electric Chubbyland'' (2007)

References

External links

PopaChubby.com

sayyeah.online.fr fan's website

Live pictures
{{Authority control 1960 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American rock guitarists New York blues musicians American blues rock musicians Contemporary blues musicians 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male musicians Blind Pig Records artists Okeh Records artists Shanachie Records artists Cleopatra Records artists Provogue Records artists