Remembering Terry Kath

Terry Alan Kath was born January 31, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Elmer and Evelyn ran a bratwurst shop, ‘The Edelweiss Inn’, in the city’s German district.

Kath was an amazing guitarist and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the band “Chicago”. Severely underrated, Jimi Hendrix once told Chicago band member Walt Parazaider that “Your guitar player is better than me.”

Kath played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band’s early hit singles. He has been praised by the band for his guitar skills and Ray Charles-influenced vocal style. Kath sang lead on “Make Me Smile”, “Color My World”, “I’m A Man”, “Wishing You Were Here”, and many more. Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell reportedly has described Kath as a vocal inspiration.

Eddie Van Halen

Guitar Player magazine called Kath’s “Free Form Guitar” “astounding.” Players said it proved that Kath’s manipulation of the strings, fretboard and effects were ahead of his time. On the track, there are moments when he plays around with “two-handed tapping,” a style that would be made popular a decade later by a young upstart guitarist from the Netherlands named Eddie Van Halen.

Terry Kath Illustration By Paul King Art

Kath “could play a rhythm guitar part, a lead guitar part and sing a lead vocal simultaneously. I’ve never heard anybody that could do that,” said the band’s trumpet player, Lee Loughnane.

Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne said Kath was “the fastest guitar player I’ve ever seen.” Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, an icon in his own right, recently called Kath “one of the most underrated guitar legends of the ’70s.” Who could forget the classic guitar solo in “25 or 6 to 4”!

Peter Cetera

Terry was not fond of the band’s direction and hated Peter Cetera. He was taking us in a direction that I didn’t want to go said Kath. He was a half a sissy and wanted us to play sappy love songs. I want to play Guitar and rock out.

Kath struggled with substance abuse issues, and enjoyed playing with handguns, which is a recipe for disaster. In 1978, Kath accidentally shot himself and died instantly. He was only 31 years old. We remember and salute Terry Kath on his birthday!