TEMPCHIN’S READY WITH A NEW BAND

Jack Tempchin’s career is a lot like television’s “Wheel of Fortune.”

It goes around in cycles: solo artist, songwriter, band leader. Solo artist, songwriter, band leader.

And most every time the wheel stops, there’s a winner--particularly the second time around.

As a solo artist, Tempchin, now 39, first made a name for himself in the late 1960s on the local coffeehouse circuit.

The next time he went out on his own, a decade later, he found even greater success. He was able to venture out of town and tour nationally with the likes of Chicago, Kenny Loggins and Christopher Cross.

As a fledgling songwriter in the early 1970s, Tempchin wrote two hits for the Eagles, “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone.”

Ten years later, when he went back to writing songs full time, Tempchin hooked up with former Eagle Glenn Frey and over the next three years saw five more of his songs reach the top of the charts--”I Found Somebody,” “The One You Love,” “Sexy Girl,” “Smugglers Blues” and “You Belong to the City.”

Tempchin’s first attempt at band leader came in 1976. The group he put together, the Funky Kings, recorded two moderately successful country-rock albums for Arista Records. They also scored a minor hit with “Slow Dancing,” another Tempchin tune.

Now, Tempchin’s second 10-year cycle is coming to a close. In May, he assembled his second band, Jack Tempchin and the Seclusions.

After spending most of the summer rehearsing and recording demonstration tapes, the group two months ago began playing concerts around Los Angeles and at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, where they’ll appear again on Nov. 26.

As soon as Tempchin finishes work on Frey’s soon-to-be-released third solo album, he plans on devoting all his energies toward securing another record deal for his new group.

“I guess I’m once again at the point where I want to put out my own albums and be a performer instead of just a songwriter,” Tempchin said from his Encinitas home.

“And this time, I’m more convinced than ever that I’ll be successful. The Funky Kings were my first real band, ever, and I’ve learned a lot since then--both about the music business and about what it takes to keep a group together.

“Besides, I’ve always done better the second time I’ve tried something. And I’m hoping that history will once again repeat itself, as it’s always seemed to have done for me in the past.”

Tempchin grew up in the College Area and attended Crawford High School. He didn’t learn to play his first instrument, the harmonica, until he was 18, and even then his interest in music was casual. He was more intent on studying psychology and English at San Diego State University.

A few years later, Tempchin switched to the guitar and immediately started writing songs.

“I don’t know if it was because I was too lazy to learn other peoples’ songs, or what,” Tempchin said. “But in any case, I began writing music as soon as I picked up the guitar. And even today, I don’t know very many songs I didn’t write myself.”

By the time Tempchin graduated from college in 1970 with a triple degree in psychology, English, and music, he was regularly performing his own work in such long-gone folk music coffeehouses as the Heritage in Mission Beach, the Bifrost Bridge in Lemon Grove and the Candy Company in La Mesa.

Less than a year later, Tempchin received his first big break. One night at the Candy Company, he met three upstart country-rockers from Los Angeles, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey.

He played them some of his songs and was promptly invited to hang out with them in Los Angeles.

Within a few months, Frey formed the Eagles, and two of Tempchin’s tunes, “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone,” were included on the group’s early albums.

As singles, both songs hit the national Top Ten, and as the Eagles’ star continued to rise, Tempchin decided the time had come for his own moment in the spotlight.

He formed the Funky Kings, but his success as a performer was overshadowed by his success as a songwriter. The Kings’ one single, Tempchin’s “Slow Dancing,” peaked around number 60 on the national charts, while Johnny Rivers’ version of the song made it all the way to the top less than a year later.

In 1978, Tempchin began the second cycle in his career. He disbanded the Funky Kings and went back to being a solo performer, this time landing a number of lucrative opening slots on national concert tours.

Four years later, the Eagles broke up. At one of the Eagles’ farewell concerts, Tempchin once again ran into Frey. And when Frey started to record his first solo album, Tempchin suddenly found himself back behind the scenes as Frey’s songwriting partner.

The pair have worked together ever since, but now, Tempchin said, he’s anxious to get his own performing career back off the ground.

“I just think that if you’ve got a good collection of songs, and you’ve finally found the right people to help you play them, you’ve got the chance to make some really good music,” Tempchin said.

“And if people dig us the way I think they will, then we’ll do all right.”