Robert Lamm is a founding member of the band Chicago, one of the most successful American rock bands, now in its 52nd year. The band has toured every year since the beginning. Their first album “Chicago Transit Authority,” the first of several double albums, was released in April 1969.

Worldwide, Record sales top the 100,000,000 mark: 21 Top 10 singles, 5 consecutive No. 1 albums, 11 No. 1 singles and five Gold singles. Twenty-five of their 36 albums have been certified platinum, and the band has a total of 47 gold and platinum awards. Lifetime achievements include two Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, Founding Artists of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Chicago street dedicated in their honor.

Chicago was inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. Lamm, along with fellow founding member James Pankow, were further honored by being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017.

Soft spoken but sharply focused, Lamm is proud of the band and also of his accomplishments as a songwriter and his many solo projects. He prefers to keep a lower profile. Several people have hinted to him that he should write a book. Others have suggested that perhaps the best way to know Robert Lamm is to listen to his songs and read his lyrics. He says he’s not inclined to write a book, adding that he suggests reading his lyrics would help for people who want to know more about him.

We spoke with him as the band was about to embark on their 2019 tour that will span the summer and into autumn. Chicago performs 8 p.m. Thursday at Turning Stone Casino. (Details here)

Warren Linhart: First things first, congratulations on Chicago’s induction to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, this was long overdue. (The band was eligible in 1994!) Congratulations too on your induction to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. I would think this honor must be especially rewarding to you.

Robert Lamm: Thank you. You’re exactly right, I didn't know it at the very beginning. I was thought I was going to be in a little rock band but when I was at Roosevelt University in Chicago, I was aiming toward being a composition major even back then, that was going to be my interest, so to get into the Songwriters Hall of fame is a really big deal for me and I was very proud of Jimmy (Pankow), his work is amazing too.

W.L.: The documentary “Now More Than Ever”, made a few years ago by Peter Pardini (who went through the USC film school and is a nephew of current Chicago member Lou Pardini) was well received. After watching that program, it’s hard to fathom all the things that you and the rest of the guys have gone through. We all know that change is inevitable, especially after half a century. There have been so many things that happened to and within this band over the years, but I thought those that spoke on camera for the documentary were pretty straight-forward about the more sensitive, touchy subjects, and that’s what made it more interesting for me. Apparently you guys were comfortable with the filmmaker as well.

R.L.: Peter (Pardini) traveled with us for a few months, he became sort of like a fly on the wall so yeah we were comfortable in speaking with him. I've certainly been on camera a lot and to a certain degree there is a little self-consciousness going on but we knew what the project was about so we spoke plainly.

W.L.: Last year, the band revisited the second album “Chicago” as part of your live concerts. [“Chicago”, sometimes referred to as “Chicago II” was released in 1970 and this was the album that garnered radio airplay and introduced a lot of people to the band.] How was the decision to revisit this album arrived at and what are your thoughts now as you look back on that experience?

R.L.: The idea came from our manager, Peter Schivarelli, who is always trying to present the band in a different light, each year or each tour. He presented the idea, and then we all looked at each other and thought we had better go into the archives, in our files, and see if we can find the manuscripts and information about all those songs that we recorded so long ago. Some of them had stayed in the repertoire but others we hadn't played in decades. As the rehearsals began, we began to rediscover those lost treasures that we hadn't played in a long time and we were surprised at how unconventional those compositions were. In the beginning, we were

doing what we felt we needed to do but decades later, we were really kind of appreciating those unusual compositions and as the tour went on, after we had gotten our hands on the unfamiliar stuff and got it happening, I noticed two things- I thought about Terry Kath quite a bit because we were playing songs that he either wrote or was featured in, so more than usual I was thinking about him. [On the night of January 23, 1978. The band was horrified to learn that their bandmate, guitarist Terry Kath, was killed by an accidental gunshot wound to the head. The loss to each member of the band was monumental.] The other thing that happened was the lineup that we currently have was just beginning to be a lineup prior to last year's tour, so by the middle to the end of that tour, it really jelled and was really beginning to pop. The guys who weren't in the band (when the second album was recorded) and came on later worked very hard to get the essence of it, to reproduce that album as close as possible and I think it really shaped the band as it is today.

W.L.: Last year at your Lakeview Amphitheater show, many people commented favorably about the vocal range of your new singer, Neil Donnell, and how he sounded close to how the records sounded with Peter Cetera singing.

R.L.: Neil is a great technical singer, he’s got really great feeling and admittedly, he came in doing Chicago tribute band work in Canada, where he’s from, with loads of respect and ready to work hard. He’s been a great addition.

W.L.: One of the things that was unique about Chicago when you first started was that the band was a democracy among all the members, and this really felt that way to me up until about the time you recorded Chicago 10, which would have been 1976 or so. The band has had many personnel changes over the years and now 52 years later, you're down to 3 founding members on stage. What I saw last year felt like a very cohesive unit. Is it still a democracy in your view these days?

R.L.: Musically it is, now it's down to the three of us so it’s kind of like a board of directors (laughs). As far as music is concerned, rehearsals, and the way guys are playing or things that can be improved, in that sense it certainly is a democracy. The thing about Chicago is… I’ve never called it a democracy. I’ve called it a workshop and I feel that is still the case, but really it is a business on some level and somebody needs to make decisions so it’s up to the three of us. Over the years, we've made some questionable decisions, but we've got nobody to blame but ourselves which is a good thing rather than try to blame somebody outside the band! Essentially, the buck stops with the guys who started the band so in this case, it's up to the 3 of us, Jimmy (Pankow), Lee (Loughnane) and myself.

W.L.: You were born in Brooklyn, then in your mid-teens you moved to Chicago, living there through the turbulent 1960s with the Vietnam War raging with a heated political climate and added to that, the tenseness of the 1968 Democratic Convention. Then the band moves to Los Angeles and you’re working very hard to secure your first record deal. Your songs reflect a lot of what you’ve witnessed and experienced. If there was ever a socially conscious guy, you’re him. I’m looking at a partial list of your songs -- State of the Union … A Song For Richard And His Friends … Dialogue … It Better End Soon … Free … 25 or 6 to 4 … Another Rainy Day in New York City … Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? … Saturday in the Park …

You’ve written so many memorable songs, yet you were not always the lead singer. Was it always your intention to figure out the best person to sing a particular song you wrote? Did you write songs specifically with one of the guys in mind?

R.L.: I really enjoyed casting the songs so it wasn't about me writing the songs or me singing every song I wrote, it was more about who would sound the best on this song and to some degree, who would be the best fit lyrically, so yeah, I did give it a lot of thought.

W.L.: Let me ask you about sound quality of the recordings. Early in your career, there were stereo vinyl albums. [There were also quadraphonic mixes made of many of the initial Chicago (Columbia) albums in the early 1970s. Quad records back then were supposed to be the new big thing although it did not turn out that way. The real interest in surround sound came much later.] How involved were you with the sound quality of the vinyl recordings then, and then later when we entered the CD (digital) age and the remastering of your catalog came about?

R.L.: Me personally, I have not been, but I will tell you that we are currently in the process of totally remixing and remastering (the first album) Chicago Transit Authority and it sounds amazing.

W.L.: I’m not surprised to hear you say that it sounds really good. It all starts with the initial multi-track recording and the master tapes that are mixed from them and on that first album, you guys had Fred Catero working for you. He was a highly respected engineer and the tapes prove it.

R.L.: Oh yes, he was a total master, and that first album was recorded on only 8 tracks which makes this new project that I just heard all the more interesting because that original recording has held up all these years. Rhino Records has been going deep into the archives. We've been listening to some of the archived material, for example “Chicago Live at the Isle of Wight.” The performances were just mind boggling, but for us it was just like a gig, so there's a lot of stuff in the archives that we've been listening to and they're going to release that stuff at some point. They are committed and we are directly consulted on this. Actually, Lee (Loughnane) has been our guy in the studio. He’s carved out time in his private life to work with engineer Tim Jessup, who's been working with us. They have been listening to a lot of the tapes. Lee wants to be there doing this… and I don't want to be. I would rather be writing songs and spending time with my family.

I’ve also gotten involved with the people that got left behind from the Parkland School shootings a couple of years ago. One of the kids who got killed was Alex Schachter, a trombone player who played in the high school band. His favorite piece to play was “25 or 6 to 4”. After the tragedy occurred, his father, Max Schachter was talking about keeping schools safe. We have the TSA in airports checking everybody going everywhere but we have nothing like that in our schools so I’ve gotten involved in this project called “Safe Schools for Alex.”

There has been a re-recording of “25 or 6 to 4”, but kind of a rap version, which sounds kind of crazy, Vanilla Ice is doing the rapping, it's really a great track by 1st call session guys in LA. That track is part of a release of an NBA Basketball electronic game by Saber Electronics. They're trying to raise funds to finance this program to make schools safer and so I'm trying to help Max Schachter and his campaign. There are other things in life besides playing music.

W.L.: Let me ask you about Terry Kath. He was such a powerful influence and a brilliant musician. [Jimi Hendrix upon seeing the band perform in their earlier days in Los Angeles told them that Kath was a better guitarist than he was.] I was lucky enough to have seen Terry perform with the band several times. He had a presence and a passion toward music as powerful as anyone I have ever seen. Few would disagree that the band was never the same after he passed. The whole direction of the band veered in the years that followed. Up until that point, the first 11 albums were recorded with the original band. What do you think might have happened if he were still alive?

R.L.: It was more than just his playing as you said. He had a presence and he played with complete conviction. I think Terry would be right in the thick of all the technological advances, especially in recording and sampling and by now he would have had a serious solo career going… that’s what I think. (pauses) You know, it took me a long time to get over Terry's death, and in my solo work, I've worked through that grief with several songs. It took me that to get over it.

W.L.: While watching the “Now More Than Ever” documentary, I'm waiting for the part where you were asked about the future of the band and retirement. You had to know that question was coming but your reaction was almost like it caught you by surprise. Now it’s 2 years later and you’re about to start another long tour. How do you feel about all this now?

R.L.: We’re just going to continue with what we're doing. In my mind, the plan is to try to stay in touch with our techniques, our playing abilities and keeping our ears open. I'm always listening to music of all kinds- part of that is curiosity and part of it is that's what musicians do I think, at least the musicians I know are always listening to other musicians. So the plan is to just keep going. In a strange way, the band has improved over the years with the addition of the new guys that have come in gradually, over the last 30 years anyway. As long as there seems to be a demand and that seems to be not only in North America but in Asia and Europe as well. As long as people want to hear us play, we're going to want to play.

W.L.: Well, that sure doesn't sound like you're thinking about retiring!

R.L.: (laughs) And do what? What could be better than what we do now. Hey listen, I have a very nice life, a lovely family. I’ve been married a long time. I love my wife, we do things together that are outside the band which provides me with input of all kinds for my writing and for whatever I think I need to say, and I am very proud of all the solo work that I’ve done. Some of that solo work was my homage to Chicago because there was a time when the band didn’t want to record anymore. I think my song writing has improved, I’m older and wiser by some multiple and because I have more courage to say what I’m feeling than I did when I was younger. As long as people are listening and want to hear us, we’re going to keep doing it, so the answer to retirement would be … no.

Warren Linhart is a concert photographer/journalist, and production staff member of NewsChannel 9 in Syracuse.