Bill Chinnock
Encyclopedia
Bill Chinnock also referred to as Billy Chinnock, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey
, he was a prominent member of the Jersey Shore
music scene during the late 1960s, leading bands that included future members of the E Street Band
. He subsequently moved away from the Shore and spent time in New York
and Nashville, Tennessee
before eventually settling in Portland, Maine
. In 1987 he won an Emmy Award
after his song, "Somewhere in the Night" was used as the theme on Search for Tomorrow
. "Hold On To Love", a duet he recorded with Roberta Flack
was also featured as a theme song on Guiding Light
.
and leading a band called The Storytellers which also featured Jim Meltzer (lead vocals), Bill Wolf (bass) and Chip Gallagher (drums). They later recruited Danny Federici
(keyboards) and Vini Lopez
also auditioned to join this band. The Storytellers released a single, "Cry With Me" / Little Boy Sad", on Kama Sutra Records
which was a hit on the Jersey Shore
. It led to regular gigs at the Hullabaloo
clubs in Freehold
, Middletown
and Asbury Park and local TV appearances. Next Chinnock led the Downtown Tangiers Band which also featured Federici, Lopez and Wendell John (bass). In 1968 they recorded an album with Koppelman & Rubin Records
but the producer allegedly disappeared with the recordings and it remains unreleased. Among the songs believed to be recorded were Chinnock originals "Snake Bite", "Burn Baby Burn" and "Crown Liquor". They also played the Electric Circus
and toured with the Joshua Light Show. Towards the end of the bands lifetime Johns was replaced by Garry Tallent
but the band broke up when Chinnock briefly moved to Maine
. Federici and Lopez subsequently formed Steel Mill
with Bruce Springsteen
and Vinnie Roslin
. Among the songs Steel Mill played in concert was Chinnock’s "Crown Liquor". By 1969 Chinnock had returned from Maine and formed a new band, Glory Road, with Tallent, Bobby Williams (drums) and Danny Mansolino (keyboards). On June 21, 1970 they played at the Clearwater Swim Club in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
, opening for Steel Mill. Mansolino was later replaced in the band by a young David Sancious
but they eventually broke up after Chinnock got hepatitis
and mono
. He was confined to bed for eight months and nearly died. Meanwhile, Tallent and Sancious, together with Lopez and Federici, went onto play together in several short lived bands based out of The Upstage in Asbury Park, New Jersey
. They included Bruce Springsteen & The Friendly Enemies, The Sundance Blues Band, Dr. Zoom & The Sonic Boom and The Bruce Springsteen Band. These bands would eventually evolve into the E Street Band
.
Although Chinnock later moved away from the Shore, he would return to play there regularly throughout his recording career, appearing at The Stone Pony
and The Fast Lane. On June 26, 1982 while playing at Big Man's West
he was joined onstage by Springsteen for a rendition of "Lucille
".
and briefly moved to New York
before settling in Maine
. He was eventually signed to Paramount Records
on the recommendation of John H. Hammond
. Hammond had earlier signed Bruce Springsteen
to Columbia Records
. He released his debut album Bill Chinnock Blues in 1975. He also recorded a second album with Paramount which was produced by Tom Dowd
. However to date this album, Road Master, remains unreleased. In 1976 he released an EP, Alive At The Loft, on the North Country label. His 1978 album Badlands was released by Atlantic Records
and featured performances from Vini Lopez
, Randy Brecker
and Michael Brecker
. A young Irene Cara
also provided some backing vocals. Unfortunately for Chinnock its release coincided with Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town
which also featured a song called "Badlands
" and he subsequently faced accusations of jumping on the Springsteen bandwagon. His 1980 album Dime Store Heroes was released on the Atlantic, North Country and Rounder Records
labels and saw him work with, among others, David Sanborn
, Howie Wyeth, Will Lee
, Tony Levin
and Andy Newmark
.
During the early 1980s Chinnock moved to Nashville, Tennessee
to work with producer Harold Bradley
who subsequently produced his next two albums. Originally released by a Nashville-based label, Alliance Records, his 1985 Rock & Roll Cowboys was subsequently re-mixed and re-released by Epic Records
. Among the guest musicians was Max Weinberg
. The 1987 Epic release Learning To Survive In The Modern Age produced a minor hit single with "Somewhere In The Night". The song was also used as the theme song for the soap Search for Tomorrow
, resulting in Chinnock winning an Emmy Award
in 1987. Despite this Chinnock subsequently found himself dropped by Epic and his next album, Thunder In The Valley saw him return to Atlantic. The 1990 album was credited to Billy & The American Suns, a group that included Craig Krampf
(drums), Steve Hill (bass), Rex Stemn (guitar) and Clayton Ivy (piano). Like his two previous albums, it was recorded in Nashville. The song "Just Another Falling Star" was originally performed by Chinnock with the Downtown Tangiers Band.
In 1991 Chinnock returned to Maine
and the following year released Out On The Borderline on his own label, East Coast Records. Among the guest musicians was Michael Hossack
of The Doobie Brothers
who also co-wrote the song "Take This Heart of Mine". In 1988 Backstreets, a Springsteen fanzine, reported that Chinnock had actually joined the Doobie Brothers as a replacement for Michael McDonald
! In 1992 Chinnock, Danny Federici
and Garry Tallent
also attempted to revive the Downtown Tangiers Band and recorded some sessions but nothing has been released to date. Chinnock’s final album Livin’ In The Promised Land was released in 2003 again on East Coast Records. One of Chinnock last recording’s was
"No Christmas in New Orleans", a re-working of Phil Ochs
’ "No Christmas in Kentucky", recorded in 2005 in aid of Hurricane Katrina
victims.
. The disease defied treatment, ravaging his immune system and leaving him in a great deal of pain. On March 7, 2007 it was reported that Chinnock had died. His manager, Paul Pappas, later told WCSH-TV that he had committed suicide
.
Chinnock was survived by his wife, Terry, and sons William and John. His mother, who lived with Chinnock had died ten days before.
In April 2010, a remastered version of Dime Store Heroes CD was released. The CD contained four never before released live tracks from Chinnock's 2003 concert at The Stone Pony
. It also contained a limited edition DVD career retrospective. Two CD release concerts were held, one in March 2010 at the Stone Pony and the other in April 2010 in Portland, Maine
to celebrate the life and music of Bill Chinnock.
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, he was a prominent member of the Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore sound
The Jersey Shore sound is a genre of rock and roll popularized at the Jersey Shore on the Atlantic Ocean coast of New Jersey, United States, that goes by a variety of names or, more often, is defined by its artists...
music scene during the late 1960s, leading bands that included future members of the E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
. He subsequently moved away from the Shore and spent time in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
before eventually settling in Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
. In 1987 he won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
after his song, "Somewhere in the Night" was used as the theme on Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
. "Hold On To Love", a duet he recorded with Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack
Roberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
was also featured as a theme song on Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
.
Jersey Shore bandleader
In 1967 Chinnock was living in Millburn, New JerseyMillburn, New Jersey
Millburn is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 20,149.Millburn Township was created as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 20, 1857, from portions of Springfield Township.Millburn also...
and leading a band called The Storytellers which also featured Jim Meltzer (lead vocals), Bill Wolf (bass) and Chip Gallagher (drums). They later recruited Danny Federici
Danny Federici
Daniel Paul "Danny" Federici was an American musician, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.- Career :...
(keyboards) and Vini Lopez
Vini Lopez
Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez is an American drummer. Between 1968 and 1974 Lopez backed Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen’s first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle...
also auditioned to join this band. The Storytellers released a single, "Cry With Me" / Little Boy Sad", on Kama Sutra Records
Kama Sutra Records
Kama Sutra Records was started in 1964 by Arthur "Artie" Ripp, Hy Mizrahi and Phil Steinberg as Kama Sutra Productions, a production house. The word "Kama Sutra" is a Sanskrit terminology....
which was a hit on the Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
. It led to regular gigs at the Hullabaloo
Hullabaloo (TV series)
Hullabaloo is an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965 through August 29, 1966. Similar to Shindig! it ran in prime time in contrast to ABC's American Bandstand.-Overview:...
clubs in Freehold
Freehold Borough, New Jersey
Freehold is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,052. It is the county seat of Monmouth County....
, Middletown
Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 66,522...
and Asbury Park and local TV appearances. Next Chinnock led the Downtown Tangiers Band which also featured Federici, Lopez and Wendell John (bass). In 1968 they recorded an album with Koppelman & Rubin Records
Charles Koppelman
Charles Koppelman is the chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and was Martha Stewart's right-hand man on NBC's The Apprentice: Martha Stewart in 2005.-Career:...
but the producer allegedly disappeared with the recordings and it remains unreleased. Among the songs believed to be recorded were Chinnock originals "Snake Bite", "Burn Baby Burn" and "Crown Liquor". They also played the Electric Circus
Electric Circus (nightclub)
The Electric Circus was a nightclub and discotheque located at 19-25 St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, from 1967 to September 1971. The club was created by Jerry Brandt, Stanton J. Freeman and their partners and designed...
and toured with the Joshua Light Show. Towards the end of the bands lifetime Johns was replaced by Garry Tallent
Garry Tallent
Garry Wayne Tallent , sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the longtime bass player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band....
but the band broke up when Chinnock briefly moved to Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. Federici and Lopez subsequently formed Steel Mill
Steel Mill
Steel Mill was an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of the band included three future members of the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt. As well as playing on the Jersey Shore, Steel Mill also played regularly in Richmond, Virginia and played gigs in California...
with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and Vinnie Roslin
Vinnie Roslin
Vinnie Roslin is an American bass guitarist. He was an original member of Steel Mill, an early Bruce Springsteen band. Other members of band included three future members the E Street Band - Vini Lopez, Danny Federici and Steve Van Zandt....
. Among the songs Steel Mill played in concert was Chinnock’s "Crown Liquor". By 1969 Chinnock had returned from Maine and formed a new band, Glory Road, with Tallent, Bobby Williams (drums) and Danny Mansolino (keyboards). On June 21, 1970 they played at the Clearwater Swim Club in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey
Atlantic Highlands is a Borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey in the Bayshore Region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,385...
, opening for Steel Mill. Mansolino was later replaced in the band by a young David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
but they eventually broke up after Chinnock got hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
and mono
Infectious mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis is an infectious, widespread viral...
. He was confined to bed for eight months and nearly died. Meanwhile, Tallent and Sancious, together with Lopez and Federici, went onto play together in several short lived bands based out of The Upstage in Asbury Park, New Jersey
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Asbury Park is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, located on the Jersey Shore and part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 16,116. The city is known for its rich musical history, including its association with...
. They included Bruce Springsteen & The Friendly Enemies, The Sundance Blues Band, Dr. Zoom & The Sonic Boom and The Bruce Springsteen Band. These bands would eventually evolve into the E Street Band
E Street Band
The E Street Band has been rock musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Nicks, Tom Morello, Sting, Ian...
.
Although Chinnock later moved away from the Shore, he would return to play there regularly throughout his recording career, appearing at The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is one of the world's best known music venues. It is known as a starting point for many musicians, first and foremost for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who were the house-band for much of the mid-seventies, but also for New Jersey natives...
and The Fast Lane. On June 26, 1982 while playing at Big Man's West
Big Man's West
Big Man's West was a nightclub located at 129 Monmouth Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. It was owned by Clarence "Big Man" Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and managed by Terry Magovern and George McMorrow...
he was joined onstage by Springsteen for a rendition of "Lucille
Lucille (Little Richard song)
"Lucille" is a 1957 rock and roll song which was one of Little Richard's international hits.Released on Specialty Records in February 1957, Little Richard's single made number 21 on the US pop chart, and number 10 on the UK chart...
".
Recording career
After recovering from illness, Chinnock left the Jersey ShoreJersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
and briefly moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
before settling in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. He was eventually signed to Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
on the recommendation of John H. Hammond
John H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
. Hammond had earlier signed Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. He released his debut album Bill Chinnock Blues in 1975. He also recorded a second album with Paramount which was produced by Tom Dowd
Tom Dowd
Tom Dowd was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multi-track recording method. Dowd worked on a virtual "who's who" of recordings that encompassed blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records.- Early years :Born in Manhattan, Dowd grew...
. However to date this album, Road Master, remains unreleased. In 1976 he released an EP, Alive At The Loft, on the North Country label. His 1978 album Badlands was released by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
and featured performances from Vini Lopez
Vini Lopez
Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez is an American drummer. Between 1968 and 1974 Lopez backed Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen’s first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle...
, Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
and Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
. A young Irene Cara
Irene Cara
Irene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
also provided some backing vocals. Unfortunately for Chinnock its release coincided with Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
which also featured a song called "Badlands
Badlands (Bruce Springsteen song)
"Badlands" was the leadoff track on Bruce Springsteen's fourth studio album Darkness on the Edge of Town, and its second single.- Themes :The song tells the story of a man down on his luck and angry at the world, who wants a better lot in life....
" and he subsequently faced accusations of jumping on the Springsteen bandwagon. His 1980 album Dime Store Heroes was released on the Atlantic, North Country and Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
labels and saw him work with, among others, David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Howie Wyeth, Will Lee
Will Lee (bassist)
Will Lee aka William Franklin Lee IV is an American musician and bassist, best known for his work on the CBS television program The Late Show with David Letterman as part of the CBS Orchestra....
, Tony Levin
Tony Levin
Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
and Andy Newmark
Andy Newmark
Andrew "Andy" Newmark is an American musician, best known as a popular session drummer, and for playing with the funk band Sly & the Family Stone from 1972 to 1973....
.
During the early 1980s Chinnock moved to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to work with producer Harold Bradley
Harold Bradley
Harold Bradley is a pop guitarist and an American country guitarist.Harold played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen Bradley. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the...
who subsequently produced his next two albums. Originally released by a Nashville-based label, Alliance Records, his 1985 Rock & Roll Cowboys was subsequently re-mixed and re-released by Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
. Among the guest musicians was Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey...
. The 1987 Epic release Learning To Survive In The Modern Age produced a minor hit single with "Somewhere In The Night". The song was also used as the theme song for the soap Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
, resulting in Chinnock winning an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1987. Despite this Chinnock subsequently found himself dropped by Epic and his next album, Thunder In The Valley saw him return to Atlantic. The 1990 album was credited to Billy & The American Suns, a group that included Craig Krampf
Craig Krampf
Craig Krampf is an American musician and songwriter.The majority of his notable credits are as a studio drummer. Since the 1970s, he has played on albums by other artists ranging from Steve Perry to Alabama to Kim Carnes to Flo and Eddie to Alice Cooper to Melissa Etheridge...
(drums), Steve Hill (bass), Rex Stemn (guitar) and Clayton Ivy (piano). Like his two previous albums, it was recorded in Nashville. The song "Just Another Falling Star" was originally performed by Chinnock with the Downtown Tangiers Band.
In 1991 Chinnock returned to Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and the following year released Out On The Borderline on his own label, East Coast Records. Among the guest musicians was Michael Hossack
Michael Hossack
Michael Hossack is the drummer in the band The Doobie Brothers.Hossack, known as "Big Mike," learned his craft drumming in the Boy Scouts and later served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. His musical career began in a short-lived band called Mourning Reign, but upon their break-up...
of The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
who also co-wrote the song "Take This Heart of Mine". In 1988 Backstreets, a Springsteen fanzine, reported that Chinnock had actually joined the Doobie Brothers as a replacement for Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
! In 1992 Chinnock, Danny Federici
Danny Federici
Daniel Paul "Danny" Federici was an American musician, best known as the longtime organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.- Career :...
and Garry Tallent
Garry Tallent
Garry Wayne Tallent , sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the longtime bass player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band....
also attempted to revive the Downtown Tangiers Band and recorded some sessions but nothing has been released to date. Chinnock’s final album Livin’ In The Promised Land was released in 2003 again on East Coast Records. One of Chinnock last recording’s was
"No Christmas in New Orleans", a re-working of Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
’ "No Christmas in Kentucky", recorded in 2005 in aid of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
victims.
Later years
Towards the end of his life Chinnock suffered from Lyme diseaseLyme disease
Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most...
. The disease defied treatment, ravaging his immune system and leaving him in a great deal of pain. On March 7, 2007 it was reported that Chinnock had died. His manager, Paul Pappas, later told WCSH-TV that he had committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Chinnock was survived by his wife, Terry, and sons William and John. His mother, who lived with Chinnock had died ten days before.
In April 2010, a remastered version of Dime Store Heroes CD was released. The CD contained four never before released live tracks from Chinnock's 2003 concert at The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is one of the world's best known music venues. It is known as a starting point for many musicians, first and foremost for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who were the house-band for much of the mid-seventies, but also for New Jersey natives...
. It also contained a limited edition DVD career retrospective. Two CD release concerts were held, one in March 2010 at the Stone Pony and the other in April 2010 in Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
to celebrate the life and music of Bill Chinnock.
Discography
- Bill Chinnock
- Bill Chinnock Blues (1975)
- Road Master (recorded 1975, unreleased)
- Alive At The Loft (1976)
- Badlands (1978)
- Dime Store Heroes (1980)
- Rock & Roll Cowboys (1985)
- Learning To Survive In The Modern Age (1987)
- Out On The Borderline (1992)
- Livin In The Promised Land (2003)
- Billy & The American Suns
- Thunder In The Valley (1990)
- The Storytellers
- "Cry To Me" / "Little Boy Sad" (1968)