The Robert Jeffrey Band is the Carothers family band. Its members are Robert Jeffrey Carothers (“Bob”) on vocals, guitar, sax, and flute, Deborah Carothers (“Debbie”) on vocals and acoustic guitar, Ben Carothers on vocals and bass guitar, Chris Carothers on drums, Jack Carothers on keyboards, Mark Huff on congas and harmonica, and Kevin Hegedus on vocals, bass guitar and guitar. When the band plays clubs or festivals, it performs its own renditions of popular classic rock, blues and country music. But they also have a wealth of original music they perform for concert settings. The band and/or its members have opened for several national recording artists including Poco, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Dave Mason, Judas Priest, BJ Thomas, Bucky Covington, Bo Bice, Nelson, and others.
To read the history of the band, continue to scroll down.
Band History The Carothers brothers from Cadiz, Ohio began playing music in the early 1960’s. Their father Ben Carothers, who was well known regionally for playing music with his brother Eddie Carothers in a band called the “Countdowns,” formed a band with his sons Jack, Bob, and Chris . They played throughout Southern Ohio and West Virginia as “Him and His Sons” while the boys were still in school. Eventually, the brothers branched off on their own and became known as “The Chris Michael Band” (named after the youngest son and drummer Chris Michael Carothers.) Inspired by Grand Funk Railroad, they began playing “boogie” music as a 3-piece power trio. The Chris Michael Band changed gears for a short while, moved to Monroeville, PA, played the Holiday Inn circuit, and put together a popular Top 40 lounge act and 50s show with Bud Deyarmin (“Buddy Dee”) and Ted Kibble. In the late 70s, the Carothers brothers moved to Cleveland Ohio, rented a big house in Lakewood, and re-vamped the band as a Southern Rock band. In 1978 Robert Carothers met his future wife Deborah who showed up at the band’s house to audition as a singer. (She got the job!) ( Click here if you would like to see a video that looks back on that event.) The band played throughout Northern Ohio at the Agoras, Peabody’s, Pirate’s Cove, the Mistake, the Greenville Inn and countless other clubs. One of their live concert performances was broadcast on WMMS during the Coffee Break Concert hosted by Matt the Cat. The station also played the band’s newly-released single “Another Love.”In 1979, the Carothers brothers became the touring band of internationally-acclaimed singer-songwriter Melanie who performed at Woodstock. She is perhaps best known for her songs “Brand New Key”, “Look What They’ve Done to My Song”, and “Candles in the Rain.” With Melanie, the brothers played many large venues, television shows, and radio shows, and were even booked at Carnegie Hall! (Unfortunately that engagement got cancelled; so although they were booked at Carnegie Hall, they never got to actually play there!) Mark Huff joined the band in 1980 and played congas. Other members of the band over the years have included Susan Davis, John Penca, Dave Howard, Gus Andexler, Mike Hallassey, Jim Chopak, Tom Hook, Mike Daily (who went on to be pedal steel player for Hank Williams, Jr.) and Mark Dowdle (sound man who sang bass and went on to run sound for Diana Ross, Elton John, Jackson Brown, and too many other big names to mention.) In the 1990’s Ben Carothers rejoined the band as the bass player. In 2002, with the release of a new CD of original music, the “Chris Michael Band” changed its name to “The Robert Jeffrey Band” named after the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Robert Jeffrey Carothers, aka “Bob.” In 2007, Kevin Hegedus (formerly of the band “Trendy”) joined the band to play bass, (when Ben is not playing bass) and to fill in on harmonies. Ben Carothers, at the current age of 84, continues to play with the band on special occasions. These days the band performs only a few times a year. Check the performance schedule to see dates marked “full band” to see when the Robert Jeffrey Band will be performing again.Click here to view Video excerpts of The Robert Jeffrey BandClick here to view Video of Robert Jeffrey Band performing Southern Man in 2003
