A skilled multi-instrumental, singer, and songwriter,
Theo Katzman is known as a founding member of indie funk group
Vulfpeck as well as for his own blue-eyed soul-infused pop. He released his first solo album, the acoustic-minded
Romance Without Finance, in 2011, the same year
Vulfpeck emerged with their debut EP,
Mit Peck. A primarily instrumental group modeled after classic R&B rhythm sections like
Funk Brothers and
the Meters,
Vulfpeck hit the Billboard R&B chart for the first time with their full-length debut, 2015's
Thrill of the Arts.
Katzman's second solo album, 2017's Heartbreak Hits, expanded upon his debut, blending rock with singer/songwriter pop and soul.
Growing up in Long Island, New York with a father who was a bebop trumpet player,
Katzman joined his school orchestra on clarinet in the fourth grade but became more inspired to play music after discovering drums at age 12. (He eventually studied Afro-Cuban percussion under Richie Rodriguez.) He took up the guitar at 14 and started writing songs in high school.
Katzman left his home state in 2004 to enroll in the Jazz and Contemplative Studies program at the University of Michigan. A year later, he joined the Ann Arbor instrumental outfit Toolbox, which eventually rebranded as electro-pop group My Dear Disco (and later
Ella Riot). In addition to touring with the band as guitarist/backing vocalist,
Katzman appeared on My Dear Disco's 2007 eponymous EP and 2008 full-length debut, Dancethink LP. Among the group's other members were
Katzman's roommate,
Joey Dosik (keyboards/saxophone), and bass player Joe Dart. In the meantime,
Katzman completed his B.F.A. He went on to form
Vulfpeck with Dart and two other music majors, Jack Stratton and Woody Goss.
As a singer/songwriter,
Katzman followed his 2010 EP Solo Acoustic with the self-released
Romance Without Finance, his first studio album, in 2011. Dart, Goss, and
Dosik were among the musicians who contributed to the recording.
Vulfpeck's first EP,
Mit Peck, also arrived in 2011. The next year,
Katzman sang on fellow Michigan alum
Charlene Kaye's solo album
Animal Love, and
Vulfpeck issued second EP
Vollmilch. The band's third and fourth EPs,
My First Car and
Fugue State, followed in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
In 2015,
Vulfpeck's first full-length release,
Thrill of the Arts, featured guests including
Dosik, singer
Antwaun Stanley, and guitarist
Blake Mills. It hit the Top 20 of the Billboard R&B Albums chart and led to a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. That year,
Katzman also co-produced and performed on
Michelle Chamuel's debut,
Face the Fire, an album that also included guest spots by the rest of
Vulfpeck. The funk group's second long-player,
The Beautiful Game, arrived in 2016 and landed on a handful of Billboard charts, including R&B Albums, where it reached number six.
Katzman contributed to
Dosik's debut EP, Game Winner, also from 2016.
Six years after self-releasing his solo debut, a Los Angeles-based
Katzman followed up with 2017's Heartbreak Hits. Recorded in Ann Arbor, it featured appearances by Goss and Dart, with
Katzman covering all drums and most guitar on the album. The year 2017 also brought the release of
Vulfpeck's third LP,
Mr. Finish Line, a Top 40 independent album that included appearances by
Bootsy Collins and drummer
James Gadson.
Katzman also contributed percussion to the title track of
Kesha's
Rainbow LP alongside track producer
Ben Folds.
In 2018,
Katzman and Dart collaborated on
Dosik's retro-soul-styled full-length debut
Inside Voice, and were part of his backing band for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Vulfpeck returned to the Top 40 of Billboard's independent albums chart with that year's
Hill Climber. The
Katzman live album My Heart Is Live in Berlin appeared in 2019. ~ Marcy Donelson