Bob Welch (musician)
Encyclopedia
Robert Lawrence "Bob" Welch, Jr. (born August 31, 1945) is a former member of Fleetwood Mac
, who had a briefly successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", and "Sentimental Lady
".
, into a show business
family. Raised in Beverly Hills, his father was movie producer and screenwriter Robert L. Welch, who worked at Paramount Pictures
in the 1940s and 1950s, producing films starting Paramount's top box office stars, Bob Hope
and Bing Crosby
(singly, not as a duo). He also worked as a TV producer, responsible for the 25th Annual Academy Awards
TV special in 1953 and The Thin Man
TV series in 1958-59. Bob's mother, Templeton Fox, had been a singer and actress who worked with Orson Welles
' Mercury Theatre
in Chicago, Illinois and appeared on TV and in movies from 1962 to 1979.
As a youngster, Welch learned clarinet
, switching to guitar
in his early teens. He had received his first guitar at the age of eight. The young Welch developed an interest in jazz
, rhythm and blues
, and rock music
. After graduating from high school, Welch eschewed going to Georgetown University
, where he had been accepted, to move to Paris
, professedly to attend the Sorbonne
. Welch told People Magazine in a 1979 interview that, in Paris, "I mostly smoked hash with bearded guys five years older." He spent time "sitting in the Deux Magots café
" rather than attending to his studies, and eventually returned to Southern California, where he studied French at U.C.L.A..
Dropping out of U.C.L.A. before graduation, Welch joined the Los Angeles-based interracial vocal group The Seven Souls as a guitarist in 1964, replacing band member Ray Tusken, a guitarist who went on to become vice-president in charge of A&R for Capitol Records
. The Seven Souls lost a battle of the bands
competition whose prize was a recording contract with Epic Records
to Sly and the Family Stone. The original line-up included lead singer Ivory Hudson, saxophonist and singer Henry Moore, drummer Ron Edge and bassist Billy Diez. (Later band members Bobby Watson
and Tony Maiden subsequently formed the funk group Rufus
with Chaka Khan
.)
The Seven Souls's 1967 release "I'm No Stranger / I Still Love You" (OKeh 7289) made no impact at the time of its release, despite subsequent issue in France and Italy. However, the B-side "I Still Love You" has become a Northern Soul anthem over the past 30 years with original copies on OKeh (or French CBS / Italian Epic) changing hands for anything up to £400. The Seven Souls broke up in 1969.
Welch moved back to Paris and started a trio, Head West, which was not a success. Welch told People Magazine, in his 1979 interview, that the two years in Paris between 1969 and 1971 were spent "living on rice and beans and sleeping on the floor."
, then an erstwhile English blues band that had lost two of its three front-line members, Peter Green
and Jeremy Spencer
, within a few months. Along with fellow newcomer Christine McVie
, a keyboardist
/singer-song-writer (formerly of the British blues band Chicken Shack
) married to bassist (and long-time band member) John McVie
, Bob helped to steer the band in a more melodic direction, particularly after lead guitarist/singer-song writer Danny Kirwan
left the band in 1972.
, while seeking a guitarist to replace Spencer. Judy Wong, a friend of the band who served at times as their secretary (the Kirwan-written song "Jewel-Eyed Judy" was dedicated to her), recommended her high school friend Bob Welch to the band. Welch (who has been described as Wong's high school boyfriend) was living in Paris at the time.
The band had a few meetings with Welch and decided to hire him without actually playing with him or listening to any of his recordings. Welch was tasked for the role of rhythm guitar
, backing up lead guitarist Danny Kirwan. It was felt that having an American in the band might extend Fleetwood Mac's appeal across The Pond. Welch eventually went to live in the band's communal home, a mansion yclept Benifold, which was located in Hampshire
. (Using mobile equipment borrowed from The Rolling Stones
, the band would record four albums at Benifold: Future Games
, Bare Trees
, Penguin
and Mystery to Me
.)
Kirwan dominated the last two Fleetwood Mac albums featuring him, Future Games
and Bare Trees
Kirwan showed an increasing maturity in his songwriting and playing, his songs taking up about half of each album. His guitar work also sparkled in several songs written by Welch and McVie, as they developed their own songwriting techniques.
In September 1971, the band released the first Fleetwood Mac album featuring Bob Welch, Future Games, with the title song written by Welch. This album was radically different from anything the band had done up to that point. The choice of Welch seemed to be paying off as there were many new fans in America who were becoming more and more interested in the band. In 1972, six months after the release of Future Games, the band released the well-received album Bare Trees
, which featured Welch's song Sentimental Lady
. (The song would become a much bigger hit for him five years later when he re-recorded it for his solo album French Kiss. He was backed on the album by Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham
, who had replaced Welch as the band's guitarist.)
In 1999, Welch stated: "He was a talented, gifted musician, almost equal to Pete Green in his beautiful guitar playing and faultless string bends." In a later interview, Welch said: "Danny wasn't a very lighthearted person, to say the least. He probably shouldn't have been drinking as much as he did, even at his young age.... He was always very intense about his work, as I was, but he didn't seem to ever be able to distance himself from it... and laugh about it. Danny was the definition of 'deadly serious'."
The end for Kirwan came in August 1972, during an American tour, when he stormed off stage in a violent rage after arguing with Welch. Before a concert on that year's US tour, Kirwan and Welch rowed over tuning and Kirwan flew into a rage, smashing his guitar and refusing to go onstage. He reportedly smashed his head bloody on a wall in back of the stage, then moved into the sound booth to watch the show, where the band struggled without him as Welch tried to cover his guitar parts. After the fiasco of a show, he criticized the band.
Mick Fleetwood subsequently fired Kirwan, partly on the recommendation of Welch. The artistic direction of Fleetwood Mac essentially was left in the hands of Bob and Christine.
Kirwan was replaced by Savoy Brown
lead singer Dave Walker
and Bob Weston
on lead guitar. Both Walker and Weston appeared on Penguin
, released in January 1973, cracking the Top 50 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart in the U.S., reaching #49. Walker's style did not mesh with Fleetwood Mac and he was amicably dismissed, failing to appear on Mac's second album of 1973, Mystery to Me
, which was shipped to market six months after Penguin
.
Mystery to Me contained the Welch song "Hypnotized", which got a lot of airplay on the radio in the United States and became one of the band's most recognizable Fleetwood Mac songs to date. However, Mystery to Me only reached #67 in The States, as that market became increasingly important to the band, which was shipping albums in the respectable range of 250,000 units at the time.
proved debilitating to the band. Mick was devastated by his wife's revelation of the affair, and Weston was sacked from the band. Mick's distress led to the cancellation of a planned tour in the United States, the band's most important market.
In what would be one of the most bizarre events in rock history, the band's manager, Clifford Davis, determined not to cancel the tour, claimed that he owned the name Fleetwood Mac. According to Bob Welch, Davis sent letters to all the remaining Fleetwood Mac band members saying he was putting a new "star-quality, headlining act" together and offering them jobs in this new band. Welch said that he believed that Davis' gambit was ignored by them all. Without telling any of the band members, he then set up a tour with a new group of musicians, booking them into venues in the United States.
Davis announced that Bob Welch and John McVie had quit Fleetwood Mac, and put the "fake Mac" band out on to tour the United States. None of the "fake Mac" members was ever officially in the real band, but it was announced that Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie would be joining the band at a later date. The members of Fleetwood Mac obtained an injunction preventing the fake Mac from touring under their name, while Davis obtained an injunction preventing them from touring. The lawsuits resulting from the fake Mac tour, which was aborted, put the real Fleetwood Mac out of commission for almost a year.
During this period, Bob Welch stayed in Los Angeles
and connected with entertainment attorneys. Welch quickly realized that the band was being neglected by Warner Bros.
, the parent of their label, Reprise Records
. He came to the conclusion that if the band wanted to get better treatment from Warner Bros., they would have to change their base of operation to Los Angeles. The rest of the band agreed immediately. Rock promoter Bill Graham
wrote a letter to Warner Bros. to convince them that the "real" Fleetwood Mac were in fact Fleetwood, Welch and the McVies. While this did not end the legal battle, the band was able to record as Fleetwood Mac again.
Instead of getting another manager, Fleetwood Mac decided to manage themselves. After the courts ruled that the "Fleetwood Mac" marque belonged to Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the two band members set up their own band management company, Seedy Management.
Warner Bros. made a new record deal with the real Fleetwood Mac, after which the quartet of Mick Fleetwood, the McVies and Welch recorded and released the album Heroes Are Hard to Find
on Reprise in September 1974. (The band did not switch to the parent label Warner Bros. Records until 1976, after the multiple platinum success of the 1975 album Fleetwood Mac
, with Rumours
marking their first release on the Warners' label in 1977.) The Heroes Are Hard to Find album was the first to crack the U.S. top 40 in the United States, reaching #34 on the USA Billboard 200 chart.
The Heroes Are Hard to Find tour proved to be the last one for Welch. The constant touring had taken its toll on him. His marriage was failing and he felt that he had hit the end of his creative road with the band. In a 1999 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site Penguin, Welch also said he felt somewhat estranged from the British members of the band after four years. He claimed he felt close to Mick Fleetwood, with whom he claimed he was running the band in 1974, but felt estranged from John and Christine McVie.
Bob Welch resigned from Fleetwood Mac in December 1974 and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Of the Fleetwood Mac albums Welch appeared on, American album sales totaled 500,000 units shipped between 1971 and 2000 for Future Games; 1 million units of Bare Trees between 1972 and 1988; and 500,000 units of Mystery to Me between 1973 and 1976, when it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
.
The Buckingham-Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac achieved super group
status with the albums Fleetwood Mac
(1975) and Rumours
(1977), which shipped 5 million and 19 million units in the U.S., alone, both reaching #1 in the U.S. (Rumours, which has shipped 40 million units worldwide, is one of the most successful sound recordings ever released.) Welch's French Kiss, released in 1977, was his sole platinum album, and after his gold-certified album Three Hearts
(1979), his career faded.
Mick Fleetwood continued to manage Bob Welch's career into the 1980s. In 1994, Welch sued Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie, band attorney and attorney Michael Shapiro and Warner Bros. Records for breach of contract
related to underpayment of royalties. In 1978, Welch and the three band members signed a contract with Warner Bros. agreeing to an equal share of all royalties from their Fleetwood Mac albums. Welch alleged that the three subsequently had struck various deals with Warner Bros. that gave them higher royalty rates. Welch alleged that Fleetwood and the McVies had failed to inform him of the new, higher royalty rate, thus depriving him of his fair share of royalties. The breach of contract lawsuit was settled in 1996.
, Jeremy Spencer
, Danny Kirwan
, Mick Fleetwood
and John McVie
(the band was named by Green after the latter two members, who originally played with him in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) were named to the Hall, as were Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Welch, who anchored the band for several years and three albums, was not.
"My era was the bridge era," Welch told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1998, after he was snubbed by the Hall of Fame. "It was a transition. But it was an important period in the history of the band. Mick Fleetwood dedicated a whole chapter of his biography to my era of the band and credited me with 'saving Fleetwood Mac.' Now they want to write me out of the history of the group. It hurts."
Welch went on to tell the Plain Dealer, "Mick and I co-managed the group for years. I'm the one who brought the band to Los Angeles from England, which put them in the position of hooking up with Lindsey and Stevie. I saw the band through a whole period where they barely survived, literally." At the time, Welch believed that he had been blackballed by the Hall because of the breach of contract lawsuit against Fleetwood and John & Christine McVie. At the time of his snubbing by the Hall, he believed that the falling out with three band members led them to pressuring the selection committee into excluding him from the Hall.
In a 2003 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site The Penguin, Welch revised his opinion of why he was snubbed by the Hall. He had recently attended a Fleetwood Mac show and visited the band members back stage after the show. The visit reconnected him with Mick Fleetwood, his ex-band mate and ex-manager, after being estranged for many years. (He had never been estranged from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who were not party to the lawsuit.) By 2003, Welch believed that he had been snubbed by the Hall as the directors in New York, music industry insiders, did not like his style of music. However, he did believe that the lawsuit was a factor in his being blackballed, as it prevented him from getting in touch with Mick Fleetwood, whom he was not talking to at the time of the induction, who may have otherwise have used his influence to get Welch included with other members of the band. (Jerry Garcia
had used his influence to get 16 members of the Grateful Dead
inducted into the Hall, including some band mates whose contributions were considered marginal.) Welch said he had also communicated with Christine McVie but was still estranged from John.
Paris
with ex Jethro Tull
bassist Glenn Cornick
and ex Todd Rundgren's Nazz
drummer Thom Mooney
. Paris released two albums; Paris
and, after Hunt Sales
replaced Mooney, Big Towne 2061. Sales' brother Tony
subsequently replaced Cornick before the group split.
In a 1979 interview with People Magazine, Welch said that the two Paris albums were "ill-conceived." Due to the misfire of Paris, his finances had deteriorated until he had only $8,000 left. Mick Fleetwood and members of Fleetwood Mac would soon help him reinvigorate his career as a solo act.
and Christine McVie
. This release brought Welch his greatest success, selling one million copies being certified by the RIAA on 5/1/78. It yielded three hit singles: a revamped version of "Sentimental Lady", the rocker "Ebony Eyes" and "Hot Love, Cold World".
Welch followed up French Kiss with 1979's Three Hearts, an album that replicated the rock/disco
fusion of French Kiss. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on 2/23/1979, and spawned the top 20 hit "Precious Love", while the follow-up single "Church" also charted. He also was the host of a music video program, "Hollywood Heartbeat".
Welch released solo albums into the early 1980s (The Other One, Man Overboard, Bob Welch, and Eye Contact) with decreasing success, during which time he also developed a heroin addiction. After cleaning himself up in 1986, Welch turned away from performing and recording and focused his attention on songwriting for others. In the early 1990s, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona
, where he put together a short-lived group called Avenue M, which backed him on tour and recorded one song for a greatest hits compilation. He later moved to Nashville, Tennessee
.
In 1999, Welch released an experimental jazz
/loop based album, Bob Welch Looks at Bop
. He followed this up in 2003, with His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, which contained new recordings of songs he originally recorded with Fleetwood Mac, as well as some solo hits. In 2006, he released His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2, which mixed a half-dozen new compositions, along with a similar number of his Mac/solo remakes.
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, who had a briefly successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", and "Sentimental Lady
Sentimental Lady
"Sentimental Lady" is a song written by Bob Welch. The song was originally recorded for Fleetwood Mac's 1972 album Bare Trees, but was re-recorded by Welch on his debut solo album, French Kiss, in 1977...
".
Early life
Welch was born in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, into a show business
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
family. Raised in Beverly Hills, his father was movie producer and screenwriter Robert L. Welch, who worked at Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
in the 1940s and 1950s, producing films starting Paramount's top box office stars, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
(singly, not as a duo). He also worked as a TV producer, responsible for the 25th Annual Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
TV special in 1953 and The Thin Man
The Thin Man (TV series)
The Thin Man is a half-hour weekly television series based on the mystery novel The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. The 72 episodes were produced by MGM Television and shown on NBC for two seasons from 1957–1959 on Friday evening.-Overview:...
TV series in 1958-59. Bob's mother, Templeton Fox, had been a singer and actress who worked with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' Mercury Theatre
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
in Chicago, Illinois and appeared on TV and in movies from 1962 to 1979.
As a youngster, Welch learned clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, switching to guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
in his early teens. He had received his first guitar at the age of eight. The young Welch developed an interest in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, and rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. After graduating from high school, Welch eschewed going to Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, where he had been accepted, to move to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, professedly to attend the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. Welch told People Magazine in a 1979 interview that, in Paris, "I mostly smoked hash with bearded guys five years older." He spent time "sitting in the Deux Magots café
Les Deux Magots
Les Deux Magots is a famous café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of Paris, France. It once had a reputation as the rendezvous of the literary and intellectual élite of the city. It is now a popular tourist destination...
" rather than attending to his studies, and eventually returned to Southern California, where he studied French at U.C.L.A..
Dropping out of U.C.L.A. before graduation, Welch joined the Los Angeles-based interracial vocal group The Seven Souls as a guitarist in 1964, replacing band member Ray Tusken, a guitarist who went on to become vice-president in charge of A&R for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. The Seven Souls lost a battle of the bands
Battle of the Bands
Battle of Bands is a contest in which two or more bands compete for the title of "best band". The winner is determined by a panel of judges, the general response of the audience, or a combination. The winning band usually receives a prize in addition to bragging rights. Traditionally, battles of...
competition whose prize was a recording contract with Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
to Sly and the Family Stone. The original line-up included lead singer Ivory Hudson, saxophonist and singer Henry Moore, drummer Ron Edge and bassist Billy Diez. (Later band members Bobby Watson
Bobby Watson
Bobby Watson is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 26 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role...
and Tony Maiden subsequently formed the funk group Rufus
Rufus (band)
Rufus was an American funk band from Chicago, Illinois best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," and "Ain't Nobody."-Origins:...
with Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
.)
The Seven Souls's 1967 release "I'm No Stranger / I Still Love You" (OKeh 7289) made no impact at the time of its release, despite subsequent issue in France and Italy. However, the B-side "I Still Love You" has become a Northern Soul anthem over the past 30 years with original copies on OKeh (or French CBS / Italian Epic) changing hands for anything up to £400. The Seven Souls broke up in 1969.
Welch moved back to Paris and started a trio, Head West, which was not a success. Welch told People Magazine, in his 1979 interview, that the two years in Paris between 1969 and 1971 were spent "living on rice and beans and sleeping on the floor."
Fleetwood Mac
Bob Welch struggled with a variety of marginal bands until 1971, when he was invited to join Fleetwood MacFleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, then an erstwhile English blues band that had lost two of its three front-line members, Peter Green
Peter Green (musician)
Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
and Jeremy Spencer
Jeremy Spencer
Jeremy Cedric Spencer , is a British musician, best known as one of the first guitarists in Fleetwood Mac.Spencer was born in Hartlepool, County Durham. He grew up in South London and was educated at Strand School, where he became known for hilarious impressions of the headmaster and several of his...
, within a few months. Along with fellow newcomer Christine McVie
Christine McVie
Christine McVie is an English rock singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac, though she has also released three solo albums...
, a keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
/singer-song-writer (formerly of the British blues band Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb , Andy Silvester , and Alan Morley , who were later joined by Christine Perfect in 1968.-Career:...
) married to bassist (and long-time band member) John McVie
John McVie
John Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
, Bob helped to steer the band in a more melodic direction, particularly after lead guitarist/singer-song writer Danny Kirwan
Danny Kirwan
Daniel David "Danny" Kirwan is a British musician best known for his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972.-Early career:...
left the band in 1972.
Evolution of the Band
In the summer of 1971, the remaining members of Fleetwood Mac held auditions at their retreat in England, Kiln HouseKiln House
Kiln House is the fourth album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1970. This is the first of the post-Peter Green Fleetwood Mac albums, and their last album to feature Jeremy Spencer...
, while seeking a guitarist to replace Spencer. Judy Wong, a friend of the band who served at times as their secretary (the Kirwan-written song "Jewel-Eyed Judy" was dedicated to her), recommended her high school friend Bob Welch to the band. Welch (who has been described as Wong's high school boyfriend) was living in Paris at the time.
The band had a few meetings with Welch and decided to hire him without actually playing with him or listening to any of his recordings. Welch was tasked for the role of rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, backing up lead guitarist Danny Kirwan. It was felt that having an American in the band might extend Fleetwood Mac's appeal across The Pond. Welch eventually went to live in the band's communal home, a mansion yclept Benifold, which was located in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. (Using mobile equipment borrowed from The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, the band would record four albums at Benifold: Future Games
Future Games
Future Games is the fifth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1971. It was their first album with guitarist Bob Welch and the first to feature Christine McVie as a full member...
, Bare Trees
Bare Trees
Bare Trees is the sixth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1972. This is their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the tour to support this album...
, Penguin
Penguin (album)
Penguin is the seventh album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Bob Weston and the only one to feature Dave Walker.The penguin is the band mascot favoured by John McVie.-Track listing:...
and Mystery to Me
Mystery to Me
Mystery to Me is the eighth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. This was their last album to feature Bob Weston...
.)
Kirwan dominated the last two Fleetwood Mac albums featuring him, Future Games
Future Games
Future Games is the fifth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1971. It was their first album with guitarist Bob Welch and the first to feature Christine McVie as a full member...
and Bare Trees
Bare Trees
Bare Trees is the sixth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1972. This is their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the tour to support this album...
Kirwan showed an increasing maturity in his songwriting and playing, his songs taking up about half of each album. His guitar work also sparkled in several songs written by Welch and McVie, as they developed their own songwriting techniques.
In September 1971, the band released the first Fleetwood Mac album featuring Bob Welch, Future Games, with the title song written by Welch. This album was radically different from anything the band had done up to that point. The choice of Welch seemed to be paying off as there were many new fans in America who were becoming more and more interested in the band. In 1972, six months after the release of Future Games, the band released the well-received album Bare Trees
Bare Trees
Bare Trees is the sixth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1972. This is their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the tour to support this album...
, which featured Welch's song Sentimental Lady
Sentimental Lady
"Sentimental Lady" is a song written by Bob Welch. The song was originally recorded for Fleetwood Mac's 1972 album Bare Trees, but was re-recorded by Welch on his debut solo album, French Kiss, in 1977...
. (The song would become a much bigger hit for him five years later when he re-recorded it for his solo album French Kiss. He was backed on the album by Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...
, who had replaced Welch as the band's guitarist.)
Friction
While the band were doing well in the studio, their tours were more problematic. Danny Kirwan developed an alcohol dependency and became alienated from Bob Welch and the McVies. Welch held contradictory attitudes towards Kirwan in the 18 months they were band mates in Fleetwood Mac: On the one hand, their personal relationship was difficult as Welch felt that Kirwan was playing mind games with the band; and on the other hand, Welch had enormous respect for Kirwan's musicianship.In 1999, Welch stated: "He was a talented, gifted musician, almost equal to Pete Green in his beautiful guitar playing and faultless string bends." In a later interview, Welch said: "Danny wasn't a very lighthearted person, to say the least. He probably shouldn't have been drinking as much as he did, even at his young age.... He was always very intense about his work, as I was, but he didn't seem to ever be able to distance himself from it... and laugh about it. Danny was the definition of 'deadly serious'."
The end for Kirwan came in August 1972, during an American tour, when he stormed off stage in a violent rage after arguing with Welch. Before a concert on that year's US tour, Kirwan and Welch rowed over tuning and Kirwan flew into a rage, smashing his guitar and refusing to go onstage. He reportedly smashed his head bloody on a wall in back of the stage, then moved into the sound booth to watch the show, where the band struggled without him as Welch tried to cover his guitar parts. After the fiasco of a show, he criticized the band.
Mick Fleetwood subsequently fired Kirwan, partly on the recommendation of Welch. The artistic direction of Fleetwood Mac essentially was left in the hands of Bob and Christine.
Challenges
The next two and a half years proved to be the most challenging for the band. In the three albums Fleetwood Mac would release in this period, they would constantly change line-ups around the core of Mick Fleetwood, the McVies and Welch. The band then faced the ultimate challenge, a very threat to their existence, when their manager put a band on the road in America under the name Fleetwood Mac that contained none of the band members, precipitating a legal row.Kirwan was replaced by Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown
Savoy Brown, originally known as the Savoy Brown Blues Band, are a British blues rock band, formed in 1965, in Battersea, South West London...
lead singer Dave Walker
Dave Walker
David Walker is a singer and guitarist for a number of bands; notably Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac. He shortened his name to Dave Walker...
and Bob Weston
Bob Weston
Bob Weston is an American musician, producer, recording engineer, and record mastering engineer. Critic Jason Ankeny declares that "Weston's name and fingerprints are all over the American underground rock of the post-punk era, producing and engineering dates for a seemingly endless number of...
on lead guitar. Both Walker and Weston appeared on Penguin
Penguin (album)
Penguin is the seventh album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Bob Weston and the only one to feature Dave Walker.The penguin is the band mascot favoured by John McVie.-Track listing:...
, released in January 1973, cracking the Top 50 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart in the U.S., reaching #49. Walker's style did not mesh with Fleetwood Mac and he was amicably dismissed, failing to appear on Mac's second album of 1973, Mystery to Me
Mystery to Me
Mystery to Me is the eighth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. This was their last album to feature Bob Weston...
, which was shipped to market six months after Penguin
Penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...
.
Mystery to Me contained the Welch song "Hypnotized", which got a lot of airplay on the radio in the United States and became one of the band's most recognizable Fleetwood Mac songs to date. However, Mystery to Me only reached #67 in The States, as that market became increasingly important to the band, which was shipping albums in the respectable range of 250,000 units at the time.
Fake Mac & The Move to Los Angeles
Internal stresses caused by line-up changes, touring and the failing marriage of Christine and John McVie (exacerbated by John's alcoholism), and an affair between lead guitarist Bob Weston and Mick Fleetwood's wife Jenny BoydJenny Boyd
Helen Mary Boyd is a former 1960s London fashion model. She is also the younger sister of Pattie Boyd, who married Beatle George Harrison....
proved debilitating to the band. Mick was devastated by his wife's revelation of the affair, and Weston was sacked from the band. Mick's distress led to the cancellation of a planned tour in the United States, the band's most important market.
In what would be one of the most bizarre events in rock history, the band's manager, Clifford Davis, determined not to cancel the tour, claimed that he owned the name Fleetwood Mac. According to Bob Welch, Davis sent letters to all the remaining Fleetwood Mac band members saying he was putting a new "star-quality, headlining act" together and offering them jobs in this new band. Welch said that he believed that Davis' gambit was ignored by them all. Without telling any of the band members, he then set up a tour with a new group of musicians, booking them into venues in the United States.
Davis announced that Bob Welch and John McVie had quit Fleetwood Mac, and put the "fake Mac" band out on to tour the United States. None of the "fake Mac" members was ever officially in the real band, but it was announced that Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie would be joining the band at a later date. The members of Fleetwood Mac obtained an injunction preventing the fake Mac from touring under their name, while Davis obtained an injunction preventing them from touring. The lawsuits resulting from the fake Mac tour, which was aborted, put the real Fleetwood Mac out of commission for almost a year.
During this period, Bob Welch stayed in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and connected with entertainment attorneys. Welch quickly realized that the band was being neglected by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, the parent of their label, Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
. He came to the conclusion that if the band wanted to get better treatment from Warner Bros., they would have to change their base of operation to Los Angeles. The rest of the band agreed immediately. Rock promoter Bill Graham
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
wrote a letter to Warner Bros. to convince them that the "real" Fleetwood Mac were in fact Fleetwood, Welch and the McVies. While this did not end the legal battle, the band was able to record as Fleetwood Mac again.
Instead of getting another manager, Fleetwood Mac decided to manage themselves. After the courts ruled that the "Fleetwood Mac" marque belonged to Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the two band members set up their own band management company, Seedy Management.
Heroes Are Hard to Find
In 1974, for the first time in its history, Fleetwood Mac had only had one guitarist, Bob Welch, who took over lead guitarist duties. The quartet of Welch, Mick Fleetwood, and the McVies represented the ninth line-up in the band's seven year history.Warner Bros. made a new record deal with the real Fleetwood Mac, after which the quartet of Mick Fleetwood, the McVies and Welch recorded and released the album Heroes Are Hard to Find
Heroes Are Hard to Find
Heroes Are Hard to Find is the ninth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1974. This is the last album with Bob Welch, who left at the end of 1974, and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. It was the first Fleetwood Mac studio album properly recorded...
on Reprise in September 1974. (The band did not switch to the parent label Warner Bros. Records until 1976, after the multiple platinum success of the 1975 album Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)
2004 Re-issueOn 24 March 2004, Warner Bros. Records re-released the remastered album, with the following bonus tracks:"Jam #2" – 5:41"Say You Love Me" [single version] – 4:03...
, with Rumours
Rumours
Rumours is the eleventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Largely recorded in California during 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut and was released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. The record peaked at the top of both the...
marking their first release on the Warners' label in 1977.) The Heroes Are Hard to Find album was the first to crack the U.S. top 40 in the United States, reaching #34 on the USA Billboard 200 chart.
The Heroes Are Hard to Find tour proved to be the last one for Welch. The constant touring had taken its toll on him. His marriage was failing and he felt that he had hit the end of his creative road with the band. In a 1999 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site Penguin, Welch also said he felt somewhat estranged from the British members of the band after four years. He claimed he felt close to Mick Fleetwood, with whom he claimed he was running the band in 1974, but felt estranged from John and Christine McVie.
Bob Welch resigned from Fleetwood Mac in December 1974 and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Of the Fleetwood Mac albums Welch appeared on, American album sales totaled 500,000 units shipped between 1971 and 2000 for Future Games; 1 million units of Bare Trees between 1972 and 1988; and 500,000 units of Mystery to Me between 1973 and 1976, when it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
.
Legacy & Lawsuit
Fleetwood Mac during the Bob Welch era worked its way up to shipping in the range of 300,00-350,000 units per album, due to the band achieving a degree of success in the United States via airplay on FM Radio. While his tenure was not an outstanding commercial success, Bob Welch provided musical and professional direction to the group, helped the band through major crises, and left it in a situation where it had a record contract, a direct line to the record company, connections to industry insiders, no pressure from the record company, and a management situation that would help foster creativity. Thus, many feel that Bob Welch had laid the foundations for Fleetwood Mac's future. Moreover, this last tour enabled the Heroes album to reach a higher position on the American charts than any of the band's previous records. The redirection of the band from blues-rock to pop-rock and its relocation to the California, where Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were recruited as Bob's replacements, ushering the band past the threshold into super group status, happened during Welch's watch.The Buckingham-Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac achieved super group
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
status with the albums Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac (1975 album)
2004 Re-issueOn 24 March 2004, Warner Bros. Records re-released the remastered album, with the following bonus tracks:"Jam #2" – 5:41"Say You Love Me" [single version] – 4:03...
(1975) and Rumours
Rumours
Rumours is the eleventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Largely recorded in California during 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut and was released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. The record peaked at the top of both the...
(1977), which shipped 5 million and 19 million units in the U.S., alone, both reaching #1 in the U.S. (Rumours, which has shipped 40 million units worldwide, is one of the most successful sound recordings ever released.) Welch's French Kiss, released in 1977, was his sole platinum album, and after his gold-certified album Three Hearts
Three Hearts
Three Hearts is an album by rock musician and former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch.-Track listing:All songs by Bob Welch except "I Saw Her Standing There" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and "Come Softly to Me" by Gary Troxel, Gretchen Christopher and Barbara Ellis...
(1979), his career faded.
Mick Fleetwood continued to manage Bob Welch's career into the 1980s. In 1994, Welch sued Fleetwood, John and Christine McVie, band attorney and attorney Michael Shapiro and Warner Bros. Records for breach of contract
Breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party's performance....
related to underpayment of royalties. In 1978, Welch and the three band members signed a contract with Warner Bros. agreeing to an equal share of all royalties from their Fleetwood Mac albums. Welch alleged that the three subsequently had struck various deals with Warner Bros. that gave them higher royalty rates. Welch alleged that Fleetwood and the McVies had failed to inform him of the new, higher royalty rate, thus depriving him of his fair share of royalties. The breach of contract lawsuit was settled in 1996.
Hall of Fame Controversy
When Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1998, original band members Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)
Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
, Jeremy Spencer
Jeremy Spencer
Jeremy Cedric Spencer , is a British musician, best known as one of the first guitarists in Fleetwood Mac.Spencer was born in Hartlepool, County Durham. He grew up in South London and was educated at Strand School, where he became known for hilarious impressions of the headmaster and several of his...
, Danny Kirwan
Danny Kirwan
Daniel David "Danny" Kirwan is a British musician best known for his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972.-Early career:...
, Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
and John McVie
John McVie
John Graham McVie is a British bass guitarist best known as a member of the rock group Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of Mick Fleetwood, was the inspiration for the band's name...
(the band was named by Green after the latter two members, who originally played with him in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) were named to the Hall, as were Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Welch, who anchored the band for several years and three albums, was not.
"My era was the bridge era," Welch told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1998, after he was snubbed by the Hall of Fame. "It was a transition. But it was an important period in the history of the band. Mick Fleetwood dedicated a whole chapter of his biography to my era of the band and credited me with 'saving Fleetwood Mac.' Now they want to write me out of the history of the group. It hurts."
Welch went on to tell the Plain Dealer, "Mick and I co-managed the group for years. I'm the one who brought the band to Los Angeles from England, which put them in the position of hooking up with Lindsey and Stevie. I saw the band through a whole period where they barely survived, literally." At the time, Welch believed that he had been blackballed by the Hall because of the breach of contract lawsuit against Fleetwood and John & Christine McVie. At the time of his snubbing by the Hall, he believed that the falling out with three band members led them to pressuring the selection committee into excluding him from the Hall.
In a 2003 online question and answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site The Penguin, Welch revised his opinion of why he was snubbed by the Hall. He had recently attended a Fleetwood Mac show and visited the band members back stage after the show. The visit reconnected him with Mick Fleetwood, his ex-band mate and ex-manager, after being estranged for many years. (He had never been estranged from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who were not party to the lawsuit.) By 2003, Welch believed that he had been snubbed by the Hall as the directors in New York, music industry insiders, did not like his style of music. However, he did believe that the lawsuit was a factor in his being blackballed, as it prevented him from getting in touch with Mick Fleetwood, whom he was not talking to at the time of the induction, who may have otherwise have used his influence to get Welch included with other members of the band. (Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
had used his influence to get 16 members of the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
inducted into the Hall, including some band mates whose contributions were considered marginal.) Welch said he had also communicated with Christine McVie but was still estranged from John.
Paris
In 1975, Welch formed the short-lived hard rock power trioPower trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format where the traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords...
Paris
Paris (band)
Paris was an American rock music power trio formed in 1975 by guitarist and vocalist Bob Welch, who had just left Fleetwood Mac, bass player Glenn Cornick, formerly of Jethro Tull, and drummer Thom Mooney who had been a member of Nazz with Todd Rundgren. The group released two albums for Capitol...
with ex Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
bassist Glenn Cornick
Glenn Cornick
Glenn Douglas Barnard Cornick was the bespectacled, first bass guitar player in the progressive rock band, Jethro Tull....
and ex Todd Rundgren's Nazz
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
drummer Thom Mooney
Thom Mooney
Thom Mooney is an American drummer.Strongly influenced by the British invasion during the sixties, he was a founding member of the East Coast rock group Nazz, along with guitarist Todd Rundgren, who later went on to have a successful solo career...
. Paris released two albums; Paris
Paris (Paris album)
Paris was an eponymous album, the first of the two albums recorded by the power trio Paris, which was active from 1975-1977.Paris comprised guitarist Bob Welch, formerly with Fleetwood Mac, bassist Glenn Cornick, formerly of Jethro Tull and drummer Thom Mooney, formerly of Nazz...
and, after Hunt Sales
Hunt Sales
Hunt Sales is an American rock and roll drummer who has played with Todd Rundgren, his brother Tony Sales, Iggy Pop and Tin Machine.- Personal life : Hunt Sales is the son of 1950s/60s television comedian Soupy Sales...
replaced Mooney, Big Towne 2061. Sales' brother Tony
Tony Sales
|Tony Fox Sales is an American rock musician. A bass guitarist, Sales and his brother, Hunt Sales, played with Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop and Tin Machine with David Bowie.-Early life and career:...
subsequently replaced Cornick before the group split.
In a 1979 interview with People Magazine, Welch said that the two Paris albums were "ill-conceived." Due to the misfire of Paris, his finances had deteriorated until he had only $8,000 left. Mick Fleetwood and members of Fleetwood Mac would soon help him reinvigorate his career as a solo act.
Solo
In September 1977, Welch released his first solo album, French Kiss (originally to have been called Paris 3), a mainstream pop collection featuring contributions from former band mates Mick FleetwoodMick Fleetwood
Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...
and Christine McVie
Christine McVie
Christine McVie is an English rock singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac, though she has also released three solo albums...
. This release brought Welch his greatest success, selling one million copies being certified by the RIAA on 5/1/78. It yielded three hit singles: a revamped version of "Sentimental Lady", the rocker "Ebony Eyes" and "Hot Love, Cold World".
Welch followed up French Kiss with 1979's Three Hearts, an album that replicated the rock/disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
fusion of French Kiss. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on 2/23/1979, and spawned the top 20 hit "Precious Love", while the follow-up single "Church" also charted. He also was the host of a music video program, "Hollywood Heartbeat".
Welch released solo albums into the early 1980s (The Other One, Man Overboard, Bob Welch, and Eye Contact) with decreasing success, during which time he also developed a heroin addiction. After cleaning himself up in 1986, Welch turned away from performing and recording and focused his attention on songwriting for others. In the early 1990s, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, where he put together a short-lived group called Avenue M, which backed him on tour and recorded one song for a greatest hits compilation. He later moved to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.
In 1999, Welch released an experimental jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
/loop based album, Bob Welch Looks at Bop
Bob Welch Looks at Bop
-Track listing:All songs written by Bob Welch except My Funny Valentine by Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers, Milestones by Miles Davis, Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn, I Got Rhythm by George & Ira Gershwin & Moodys Mood For Love by Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh & James Moody# "Bird"# "My Funny Valentine...
. He followed this up in 2003, with His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, which contained new recordings of songs he originally recorded with Fleetwood Mac, as well as some solo hits. In 2006, he released His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2, which mixed a half-dozen new compositions, along with a similar number of his Mac/solo remakes.
Head West
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Head West Head West Head West is a music album released in 1970 by the American band Head West, who were based in Paris, France. The band are best known today for their vocalist / guitarist Bob Welch, who went on to join Fleetwood Mac in 1971. Since 1973, by which time Welch had become more well-known, the album was... |
- | - |
Fleetwood Mac
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03.09.1971 | Future Games Future Games Future Games is the fifth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1971. It was their first album with guitarist Bob Welch and the first to feature Christine McVie as a full member... |
91 | - | Debut album with Fleetwood Mac |
| 03.1972 | Bare Trees Bare Trees Bare Trees is the sixth studio album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1972. This is their last album to feature Danny Kirwan, who was fired during the tour to support this album... |
70 | - | Features the original recording of "Sentimental Lady" |
| 03.1973 | Penguin Penguin (album) Penguin is the seventh album by British rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Bob Weston and the only one to feature Dave Walker.The penguin is the band mascot favoured by John McVie.-Track listing:... |
49 | - | - |
| 15.10.1973 | Mystery to Me Mystery to Me Mystery to Me is the eighth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1973. This was their last album to feature Bob Weston... |
68 | - | Features "Hypnotized" |
| 13.09.1974 | Heroes Are Hard to Find Heroes Are Hard to Find Heroes Are Hard to Find is the ninth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released in 1974. This is the last album with Bob Welch, who left at the end of 1974, and was replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. It was the first Fleetwood Mac studio album properly recorded... |
34 | - | Bob quit Fleetwood Mac after this album |
| 24.11.1992 | 25 Years – The Chain | 34 | - | Compilation |
Paris
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01.1976 | Paris Paris (Paris album) Paris was an eponymous album, the first of the two albums recorded by the power trio Paris, which was active from 1975-1977.Paris comprised guitarist Bob Welch, formerly with Fleetwood Mac, bassist Glenn Cornick, formerly of Jethro Tull and drummer Thom Mooney, formerly of Nazz... |
103 | - | - |
| 08.1976 | Big Towne, 2061 Big Towne, 2061 Big Towne, 2061 was the second of the two albums recorded by Paris, a power trio who were active from 1975-1977.Paris originally comprised guitarist Bob Welch, formerly with Fleetwood Mac, bassist Glenn Cornick, formerly of Jethro Tull and drummer Thom Mooney, formerly of Nazz, but Mooney left... |
152 | - | - |
Solo
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.11.1977 | French Kiss | #12 | - | Platinum |
| 02.1979 | Three Hearts Three Hearts Three Hearts is an album by rock musician and former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch.-Track listing:All songs by Bob Welch except "I Saw Her Standing There" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and "Come Softly to Me" by Gary Troxel, Gretchen Christopher and Barbara Ellis... |
#20 | - | Gold |
| 11.1979 | The Other One The Other One (Bob Welch album) The Other One is a 1979 solo album by Bob Welch, former guitarist and singer with rock band Fleetwood Mac. The track "Future Games" was first released on the Fleetwood Mac album of the same name. The album was reissued as a 2-for-1 CD by Edsel Records in 1998... |
#105 | - | - |
| 09.1980 | Man Overboard Man Overboard (Bob Welch album) Man Overboard is a 1980 solo album by Bob Welch, former guitarist and singer with rock band Fleetwood Mac. It was reissued as a 2-for-1 CD by Edsel Records in 1998... |
#162 | - | - |
| 10.1981 | Bob Welch Bob Welch (album) Bob Welch is the fifth solo album from the ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist. It was his first for RCA Records. The album has since been reissued by Edsel Records.-Track listing:All songs written by Bob Welch except where noted.# "Two to Do"... |
#201 | - | - |
| 06.1983 | Eye Contact Eye Contact (Bob Welch album) Eye Contact is a 1983 album by musician Bob Welch.-Track listing:# "American Girls"# "S.O.S"# "Bernadette"# "He's Really Got A Hold On Her"# "Don't Let Me Touch You"# "I'll Dance Alone"# "Fever"# "Stay"# "Love On The Line"... |
- | - | - |
| 12.1991 | The Best of Bob Welch The Best of Bob Welch -Track listing:# "Black Book"# "Big Towne, 2061"# "Heart Of Stone"# "Blue Robin"# "Sentimental Lady"# "Hot Love, Cold World"# "Ebony Eyes"# "Precious Love"# "Church"# "The Ghost Of Flight 401"# "Don't Wait Too Long"# "Future Games"# "Rebel Rouser"... |
- | - | - |
| 1994 | Greatest Hits Greatest Hits (Bob Welch album) Greatest Hits is a collection of Bob Welch's best known songs when he was signed to Capitol Records .-Track listing:# "Sentimental Lady"# "Ebony Eyes"# "Precious Love"# "Hot Love, Cold World"# "Church"... |
- | - | - |
| 10.09.1999 | Bob Welch Looks at Bop Bob Welch Looks at Bop -Track listing:All songs written by Bob Welch except My Funny Valentine by Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers, Milestones by Miles Davis, Lush Life by Billy Strayhorn, I Got Rhythm by George & Ira Gershwin & Moodys Mood For Love by Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh & James Moody# "Bird"# "My Funny Valentine... |
- | - | - |
| 08.07.2003 | His Fleetwood Mac Years & Beyond His Fleetwood Mac Years & Beyond Bob Welch: His Fleetwood Mac Years & Beyond was an album of rerecordings of songs by former Fleetwood Mac guitarist turned solo artist Bob Welch. As the title suggests, most of the songs were rerecordings of songs he had written and recorded both with Fleetwood Mac and solo... |
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| 10.08.2004 | Live at The Roxy Live at the Roxy (Bob Welch album) Live at the Roxy is a live album by the American rock musician Bob Welch, recorded in 1981 and released in 2004. Welch had been a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1971–74, and this album features appearances by many members of that band.... |
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| 28.03.2006 | His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, Vol. 2 His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, Vol. 2 -Track listing:All songs written by Bob Welch except Black Magic Woman by Peter Green, Rhiannon by Stevie Nicks, Two Sides To Beautiful by Bob Welch & Bob Mylan & World Turning by Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie.# "Never Say Never"... |
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Solo singles
- "Big Towne, 2061" / "Blue Robin" (1976)
- "Ebony Eyes" / "Outskirts" (1977)
- "Sentimental Lady" / "Hot Love, Cold World" (#8, 1977)
- "Ebony Eyes" / "Dancin' Eyes" (#14, 1978)
- "Hot Love, Cold World" / "Danchiva" (#31, 1978)
- "I Saw Her Standing There" / "Church" (1979)
- "Precious Love" / "Something Strong" (#19, 1979)
- "Church" / "Here Comes The Night" (#73, 1979)
- "Church" / "Don't Wait Too Long"
- "Three Hearts" / "Oh Jenny" (1979)
- "Rebel Rouser" / "Spanish Dancers" (1979)
- "Don't Let Me Fall" / "Oneonone" (1980)
- "Don't Rush The Good Things" / "Reason" (1980)
- "Those Days Are Gone" / "The Girl Can't Stop" (1980)
- "Two To Do" / "Imaginary Fool" (1981)
- "Sentimental Lady" / "Ebony Eyes" (1981)
- "Remember" / "You Can't Do That" (1982)
- "'Fever" / "Can't Hold Your Love Back" (1983)
- "Can't Hold Your Love Back" / "S.O.S." (1983)
- "I'll Dance Alone" / "Stay" (1983)