Roger Hodgson

At age 19, Roger Hodgson had just released his first single, accompanied by session musician, Reg Dwight, who later became known as Elton John. Very soon after, in 1969, Hodgson, along with Rick Davies, co-founded the progressive rock band Supertramp. Songs on the first album Supertramp, released in 1970, were composed by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, with Richard Palmer writing the lyrics. From Indelibly Stamped, released in 1971, and onward, Hodgson and Davies were the band’s lyricists and composers. The hugely successful Crime of the Century was released in 1974. Crisis? What Crisis?, released in 1975, was followed by Even in the Quietest Moments in 1977. In 1979, they released their most successful album, Breakfast in America. This album has sold over 20 million copies to date. The live album, Paris, was released in 1980, with Famous Last Words being released in 1982. Through 1983, all songs recorded by Supertramp were legally credited with a shared writing credit of Davies/Hodgson, much in the same way as Lennon and McCartney did with the Beatles. While their songs are frequently referred to as Supertramp songs, they are actually Roger Hodgson and Richard Davies songs, as they individually wrote and composed their respective songs. The person who sang the song is the one who wrote and composed it. Roger was with the band for 14 years before leaving in 1983 in order to raise his two small children. He left Los Angeles and moved his family to Northern California where he later undertook a solo career. Hodgson built a home studio to continue to be creative and produced several successful solo albums and a #1 DVD. The agreement between Roger and Rick Davies upon Roger’s departure from the band was that Rick would keep the band’s name, Supertramp, while Roger would keep his songs in order to carry on as an artist. Another very important component of this agreement, which had the concurrence of Rick Davies, was that Davies would no longer perform any songs written and composed by Roger Hodgson. Hodgson had been the major songwriter and singer in Supertramp, solely composing and writing 29 of their 32 hits. Hodgson gave us the eternal classics such as "The Logical Song", "Dreamer", "Give a Little Bit", "Breakfast in America", "It's Raining Again", "Take the Long Way Home" and "Fool's Overture", plus so many more. His songs have remarkably stood the test of time and have earned Roger an adoring worldwide following. He is a multi-talented musician performing on keyboard, guitar and piano, doing solo, band, and orchestra concerts worldwide.