This Temple Professor Is Also A Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Many great musicians have passed through the halls of Temple University.
You know all about the blue-eyed soul of Hall & Oates and the chart-topping success of Jill Scott, but rarely do you hear about Christopher Harper and the Midwestern rock of The Trippers.
Today Harper is a Professor of Journalism at Temple, but in the 1960's he was the lead singer of The Trippers - a group from South Dakota that would gain popularity throughout the region. "It was a band that did a lot cover songs. We went from playing Motown to acid rock, and traveled throughout South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota" explains Harper.
"We were a basement band" he remembers. "I mean I guess we would be called a garage band, but the garages were too cold in South Dakota to practice in."
The Trippers gained popularity through the back half of the 60's, winning a battle of the bands in Iowa in 1967. They recorded a few songs and even charted with one on the Billboard Hot 100. Their success earned them a place in the South Dakota Rock And Roll Music Association Hall Of Fame in 2010, and this year they will be inducted into the Iowa Rock And Roll Music Association Hall Of Fame as what Harper calls a "border band".
In between being The Trippers lead singer and a Professor at Temple University, Christopher Harper found journalism - with a twenty-plus year career including Newsweek and ABC News. Today he credits his time performing to helping him as a journalist and a teacher, and he still sneaks a little of his past life into the classroom. "When things really get boring, I make them even more boring by turning on one of my songs or doing a little rock and roll in front of the classroom" Harper reveals.
This September Professor Harper will head to Iowa for the induction, and once again The Trippers will see the stage. "Four of the six members of The Trippers are still living, and as part of the induction ceremony in Iowa on Labor Day, we'll get back together and try to see what we can do" he says.
To hear more from Temple University's Professor Christopher Harper, check out the full interview below.