Brian Transeau

In 2004, he did a very popular "last night of summer" concert at BT Tower (named for British Telecom, not Transeau). Currently, they are on a joint-tour with the band Earth, Wind and Fire. Also of note, unlike many artists working in electronica, Transeau frequently performs his music live on-stage. The group continues to tour in big and small venues worldwide. In recent years he has also moved into film scoring including Go (1999), Under Suspicion (2000), Driven (2001), The Fast and the Furious (2001), and Monster (2003). And as a new century turned, the band sold their entire recorded output to Rhino Records (after years with Columbia Records as well as their own label). He also provided vocals on the DJ Tiësto single "Love Comes Again". Lead singers have changed from time to time (ranging from Bill Champlin to Jason Scheff), but the group still keeps active more than three-and-a-half decades after its founding.

2003 saw the release of Emotional Technology featuring more vocal tracks than usual, including six with vocals by Transeau. The episode put more emphasis on the death of Terry Kath than their entire career combined, and Cetera completely disowned the special and went so far as to not allow VH1 to use all the songs he composed for the band, even declining to be interviewed (although stock news footage of a Cetera interview does appear). BT's 1999 album Movement in Still Life continued his experimentation outside of the trance genre he helped to define, though an interesting dichotomy emerged between his more adventurous work and the more structured, commercially viable tracks. The show, however, was not without its difficulties. While Ima was comprised solely of the "progressive" sound, 1997's ESCM was more experimental (although it still produced several big records for the electronic dance music scene). In 2002, the group (minus Cetera) had the opportunity to tell their story in an episode of VH1's Behind The Music. However, unlike so many artists of the trance genre, BT has lost neither his momentum nor his edge. concert in 1997, they teamed up with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra to perform a James Pankow/Dwight Mikelson orchestral arrangement of Pankow's rock epic "Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon".

Instantly popular, BT's 1996 album Ima helped shape the future of the burgeoning progressive house scene as it merged with, and later came to define, the trance music style. During a L.A. Transeau's music was not very well received in the United States during the early 1990s, and he moved temporarily to Europe where his music was discovered by Sasha, a British DJ who introduced BT's music into the club circuit. In 1995, they attempted to merge their unique sound with Big Band music for their album Chicago: Night And Day (Big Band), which consisted of covers of songs originally recorded by Sarah Vaughan, Glenn Miller, and Duke Ellington (from whom the album mainly got its inspiration). Born in Maryland, and classically trained from the age of thirteen, he attended Berklee School of Music in Boston for one year before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles, then back to Washington, DC. The band continued to be innovative in the decade of the 1990s, even though their popularity began to decline. Brian Transeau (born October 4, 1971) is a musician who records under the stage name BT. During 1989, they did a joint concert tour with The Beach Boys (who had years earlier sung back-up vocals for "Wishing You Were Here").

BT - Twisted Textures (2002). Records, was unhappy with the finished result, and thus the album was never released officially, although in succeeding years bootleg recordings of the album have surfaced worldwide, including over the Internet. Selected tracks from the unreleased album have since been officially released on a compilation greatest hits CD box set. BT - Breakz from the Nu Skool (2002). Their record company at the time, Warner Bros. Need for Speed: Underground (2003). By the end of the decade, the group planned and recorded a concept album, Stone Of Sisyphus. Stealth (2005). But the conflict between Peter Cetera's style of composing and those of the rest of the group caused Cetera to leave the band in 1985 for a solo career (he topped the charts with the "Karate Kid Part II" theme song "The Glory of Love" and a duet with Amy Grant, "Next Time I Fall (In Love)").

The Underclassman (2005). The group also contributed to movie soundtracks, such as "Two Of A Kind", "Summer Lovers", and "Days Of Thunder". Monster (2003). Chicago itself guested on a Paul Anka song, "Hold Me 'Til The Morning Comes", while the horn section made an appearance on the Bee Gees' album Spirits Having Flown. Zoolander (removed his name, uncredited) (2001). For example, Al Green guested on a bonus track on the Chicago VI CD, while The Bee Gees guested on a track off of "Hot Streets". The Fast and the Furious (2001). From time to time, other artists contributed to Chicago recordings.

Driven (2001).
. Under Suspicion (2000). In 1988, they topped the charts yet again with the Diane Warren composed single, "Look Away". Go (1999). The following album, Chicago 17, became the biggest selling album of the band's history, with two more Top Ten singles, "You're The Inspiration" and "Hard Habit To Break". Wild Colour, "Dreams". This second phase of the band's career lasted through the 1980s with a new producer, David Foster, and again topping the charts with "Hard To Say I'm Sorry/Get Away" (from Chicago 16).

Shiva, "Freedom". The release also marked a move somewhat away from the jazz-rock direction favored by Kath and towards more pop songs and ballads. Seal, "I'm Alive". Kath's death could have meant the end for the band, but instead the group stood strong and later that year recorded and released Hot Streets, their first album without Kath and Guercio and their first album with a title rather than a roman numeral (they would return to the old naming scheme immediately afterward, for the most part). Diana Ross, "Take Me Higher". Then, singer/guitarist/group founder Terry Kath died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, delivering a devastating blow to the band. Mike Oldfield, "Let There Be Light". The year began with an acrimonius split with long-time manager Guercio.

Billie Ray Martin, "Space Oasis". 1978 was a tragic and transitional year for the band. Billie Ray Martin, "Imitation of Life/Running Around Town" (1996). That was the song which won the group their only Grammy award for Best Rock Performance by a duo or group in 1977. Madonna, "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" (1998). But for all their effort, none of their singles went to number one until the group's tenth album (Chicago X) in 1976, when Cetera's slow, exquisite ballad "If You Leave Me Now" went to the top of the charts. Sarah McLachlan, "I Love You" (1999). That summer saw a very successful joint tour across America with the Beach Boys, with each act performing some of the other's material.

Lenny Kravitz, "If You Can't Say No" (1998). The next year's release, Chicago VIII featured the political allegory "Harry Truman" and the nostalgic "Old Days". Grace, "It's Not Over Yet". 1973's Chicago VI also topped the charts bouyed by hits "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" and "Just You and Me". Chicago VII, the band's double-disc 1974 release, featured the Cetera-composed "Wishing You Were Here" (sung by lead guitarist Terry Kath, with background vocals by The Beach Boys). Gipsy Kings, "La Rumba De Nicolas" (1996). Other successful albums and singles followed in each of the succeeding years. Paul Van Dyk, "Forbidden Fruit" (1996). The group bounced back from this misstep in 1972 with their first single-disc release, Chicago V, a diverse set that reached number one on both the Billboard pop and jazz albums charts and yielded the radio hit "Saturday In the Park".

DJ Rap, "Bad Girl" (1998). The performances and sound quality were judged sub-par; in fact, one group member went on record to say that "the horn section sounded like kazoos". Depeche Mode, "It's No Good" (1997). 1-4 (Chicago IV) (consisting of music from their first three albums). Deep Dish, "Stranded" (1997). Some fans say a low point of the group's early career came when they released a quadruple-album live set, At Carnegie Hall, Vols. Crystal Method, "Keep Hope Alive" (1997). With that, the pattern had been set: the band, ever prolific, recorded and released music at a rate of more than two LP discs per year (always titled with the band name and a Roman numeral) from their debut in 1969 through the 1970s.