(Airline Records)--A "beauty sleep"..that's what former
Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer Bob Welch calls his...er, "extended" 30 year vacation. "Some people would say that's near-death", says Bob..."...but I was loving it...and in a trance, MOST of the time" ;-)
BOB WELCH is best known as singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the immensely successful rock band FLEETWOOD MAC-and for his own platinum solo albums and top-ten hits such as SENTIMENTAL LADY and EBONY EYES from FRENCH KISS on Capitol Records.
Bob started his career with a show band, the SEVEN SOULS, playing night clubs around the country. Las Vegas lounges, and chic European resorts after having a Top-20 hit on the L.A. R&B charts. While living in Europe , where he was majoring in French at the Sorbonne, he was chosen to fill the guitar spot in FLEETWOOD MAC. He flourished with the band as a songwriter and guitarist, and wrote and sang 22 of the 50 songs on five albums.
Bob left FLEETWOOD MAC to form the group PARIS with SOUPY SALES' son, Hunt Sales, and JETHRO TULL's bass player, Glenn Cornick.. After two albums with PARIS, Bob's solo career took off in 1977 with a series of albums that generated 8 top-ten singles. During this time, he appeared and often guest-hosted on TV shows like DICK CLARK'S NEW AMERICAN BANDSTAND, DON KIRSHNER'S ROCK CONCERT, SOLID GOLD and BERT SUGARMAN'S MIDNIGHT SPECIAL.
This lead to Bob hosting his own pre-MTV syndicated weekly music variety TV series HOLLYWOOD HEARTBEAT for Gold Key Media. His two-hour live TV musical special, "BOB WELCH AND FRIENDS" was an MTV first. He continued on, recording more solo albums for RCA Records, and the worldwide sales of Bob's FLEETWOOD MAC and solo career record output continued to soar into the tens of millions.
During his career as a solo artist, Welch received numerous awards including BILLBOARD'S "FAVORITE DEBUT ARTIST" AWARD and the NORTH AMERICAN ROCK RADIO'S "#1 POP SINGLE NEW MALE ARTIST" AWARD, as well as playing in front of the largest rock concert audience ever (over 300,000 people) at CAL JAM II. Both RHINO RECORDS and CURB RECORDS have recently released collections of Bob's solo material, and FLEETWOOD MAC has released a 25th anniversary boxed set, "THE CHAIN," which includes some of Bob's work with that band, as well as re-releasing on CD all his former recordings with FLEETWOOD MAC.
Bob helped found AFTRA'S "SINGERS NIGHT" at the famous BLUEBIRD CAFE, when he served on the their Board of Directors. He is currently a member of ASCAP (32 years), NSAI and is a voting member of NARAS. Bob's songs have been cut by SAMMY HAGAR, POINTER SISTERS, BRUCE CHANNEL, DON NIX, and most recently, by KENNY ROGERS. Bob has had his material used in HBO movies, like "TOUGH AND DEADLY," and one of his compositions is featured in the DREAMWORKS/STEVEN SPIELBERG production directed by CAMERON CROWE, "Almost Famous."
Bob has music compositions with various production music libraries such as DSM Producers in New York.
As an endorsee of GIBSON guitars, Bob performs at guitar clinics at different cities in the area, such as Chicago, Memphis, and Birmingham. Bob was one of the first on-line interviews and one of the first endorsees for COMPUSERVE'S MUSIC FORUM, Bob performed on the "FIRST VIRTUAL GUITAR LESSON" on CD ROM in conjunction with Gibson guitars for COMPUSERVE MAGAZINE. He continues to do the multiple interviews and rock bios for TV networks like the DISNEY CHANNEL and the BBC.
Bob received an award from A.S.C.A.P commemorating over 25 years of consecutive airplay for his compositions "SENTIMENTAL LADY and HYPNOTIZED"
In 1999 Bob released a new CD , "Bob Welch Looks At Bop", a tribute to the "BE BOP" music of the 1940's. He also writes a column for the music professionals website and magazine "ARTISTPRO.COM", and is an audio consultant for A.M.D computers and for STEINBERG Gmbh, the audio production specialists.
Bob was featured in a July 2002 WALL STREET JOURNAL article spotlighting "songwriting by e-mail collaboration."
Bob's song , "Sentimental Lady" is featured in the November 2002 release, "ABOUT SCHMIDT," starring JACK NICHOLSON and KATHY BATES.
On July 8th 2003, One Way Records released Bob's latest CD; "Bob Welch; His Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond"
Bob has done several fundraisers at the world famous Bluebird cafe in Nashville.
In 2006 "Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond 2" was released.
April 2008 "Greatest Hits And More " was released on Airline Records .This title is a renamed re-release of "Bob Welch ; His Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond" which is no longer availible. "Bob Welch; Greatest Hits And More" has completely different liner notes than "FM Years And Beyond".It consists of RE-RECORDINGS, by Bob Welch, of some of his best-known Fleetwood Mac and solo material. The recordings are metticulous recreations as to arrangement, key, tempo etc. of these songs.....except with the dynamic range (hi's and low's) that was lacking in the originals due to the necessity,in the pre digital era , to mix songs so that they would sound good (and loud) on the mono car radios of the '70's.Bob thinks the re-recordings sound the way the "originals" SHOULD have sounded . He also likes the way his voice was recorded (by him) as Bob never liked the sound engineers got on his voice in the "old days" Purists beware ; if you love highly compressed, narrow dynamic range, thin sounding old plastic vinyl records , these re-records will sound too good for you ;-) And....they will drive modern "ground-pounding" sub-woofers........and wake your neighbors..........
Bob played for the opening of Gibson guitar corp's "Gibson Island" on 2nd Life's virtual stage, (7/16/08) with his "avatar" "Bob Welch Magic" This was another "1st" for Bob; 1st "online interactive interview and midi guitar lesson" on "Compuserve" in '92 with a 2400 baud modem (!), 1st MTV live broadcast "Bob Welch And Friends Live At The Roxy" in '81....Bob likes to stay on "the cutting (sometimes "bleeding ;-) edge.....;-)
