"Progeny of successful musicians face great expectations"

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Contemporary Christian pop star Steven Curtis Chapman is a big fan of his sons Caleb and Will Franklin’s burgeoning music — enough to take their band The Following out on tour as his backing band.To Dad, it’s been a top-notch tour.“It’s the coolest thing as a dad I can imagine,” he says,“to get to have my guys on stage with me.”

Progeny of successful musicians face

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Knowledge of industry gives them a leg up, but they still have big shoes to fill

By NICOLE KEIPER

AS Staff Writer

As a baby band, Metallica’s four members camped in a squalid practice space and scarfed a daily meal of “loser’s lunch”: bologna on an open hand, no bread. But on the first tour for teenage Franklin rock band The Following, lunch is catered, a spread of

Sterno-warmed pans piled with stir-fried meat and rice leading back to dessert trays of pert little citrus and chocolate tarts. When lunch is done, the young band members climb back onto their bus and sink into leather seats behind a flat-screen television. “I’d love to do this for the rest of my life,” 17-year-old front man Caleb Chapman chirps, sandy blond hair trained toward his face, 16-year-old brother/drummer Will

Franklin Chapman slumped comfortably to his left. The boys are still in high school, hitting classwork from the bus, playing in arenas to what’s usually between 6,000 and 12,000 squealing fans. “Especially after being on this tour,” Caleb says, “I wouldn’t mind it at all.” Up front, Steven Curtis Chapman — one of contemporary Christian rock’s biggest draws, Caleb and Will’s dad and the guy

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The Chapmans on tour:Will Franklin, left, father Steven Curtis and Caleb Chapman.

www.tennessean.com

THE TENNESSEAN

Sunday, March 18, 2007

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"Progeny of successful musicians face great expectations" by nicolechildrey - Issuu