Greatest Hits (Bob Seger album)
Encyclopedia
Greatest Hits is a compilation album
by Bob Seger
& the Silver Bullet Band, released in 1994 (see 1994 in music
). Certified 8 times platinum, it is Seger's most successful album to date. In December 2009, Billboard
and Nielsen SoundScan
confirmed that with nearly nine million copies sold, Bob Seger's Greatest Hits was the decade's best-selling catalog album
in the United States
, even out-selling The Beatles
' 1 and Michael Jackson
's Number Ones. By September 2011, the album had sold a total of 9,062,000 copies in the United States.
. The single picture of Seger holding his guitar became the cover photo as well as the most recognized photograph of Seger to date. Another photograph of the entire band on the same tracks was used for the centerfold of the booklet that came with the It's A Mystery CD, released the following year in 1995.
Other photos on the album include pictures of Seger's newborn son, Cole Seger. The back cover of Seger's son at a water pump was taken at Seger's home at the time in Miami, Florida
. Cole was 17 months old at the time. The inside of the booklet includes photos of Silver Bullet Band members Craig Frost
, Chris Campbell
, and Alto Reed
with their kids as well. Seger's manager, Punch Andrews, was skeptical about the idea of using the band's children as album art at first. However, Seger had seen it done before with other artists and insisted on the photographs being used on the final copy of the CD's insert.
Strings
conducted and arranged by Jim Ed Norman.
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
by Bob Seger
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
& the Silver Bullet Band, released in 1994 (see 1994 in music
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
). Certified 8 times platinum, it is Seger's most successful album to date. In December 2009, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
and Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
confirmed that with nearly nine million copies sold, Bob Seger's Greatest Hits was the decade's best-selling catalog album
Top Pop Catalog Albums
Top Pop Catalog Albums is a fifty-position weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine which ranks the best selling catalog titles, regardless of genre. Billboard defines a catalog title as one that is more than eighteen months old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, even out-selling The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' 1 and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's Number Ones. By September 2011, the album had sold a total of 9,062,000 copies in the United States.
Track listing
Album Art
Californian photographer, Karen Miller, took photos of the band as part of two photoshoots for the album. The most popular pictures out of the first photoshoot were the railroad track scenes taken on the Southern Pacific Railroad Tracks north of Mojave, CaliforniaMojave, California
Mojave is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located east of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 2762 feet...
. The single picture of Seger holding his guitar became the cover photo as well as the most recognized photograph of Seger to date. Another photograph of the entire band on the same tracks was used for the centerfold of the booklet that came with the It's A Mystery CD, released the following year in 1995.
Other photos on the album include pictures of Seger's newborn son, Cole Seger. The back cover of Seger's son at a water pump was taken at Seger's home at the time in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. Cole was 17 months old at the time. The inside of the booklet includes photos of Silver Bullet Band members Craig Frost
Craig Frost
Craig Frost is the keyboardist for Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band. However, he is best known as keyboardist for 1970s hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad....
, Chris Campbell
Chris Campbell
Chris Cardell Campbell is an American football offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League.-References:...
, and Alto Reed
Alto Reed
Alto Reed , is an American long-time saxophonist with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. His most recognizable performances included the introduction to "Turn the Page", and the saxophone solo in "Old Time Rock and Roll"...
with their kids as well. Seger's manager, Punch Andrews, was skeptical about the idea of using the band's children as album art at first. However, Seger had seen it done before with other artists and insisted on the photographs being used on the final copy of the CD's insert.
Personnel
As listed in liner notes.- Roy BittanRoy BittanRoy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Michael BoddickerMichael BoddickerMichael J. Boddicker , is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. Three times N.A.R.A.S. Most Valuable Player "Synthesizer" and MVP Emeritus, he was awarded a Grammy as a songwriter for Imagination from Flashdance in 1984...
– synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones... - Chris Campbell – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Craig FrostCraig FrostCraig Frost is the keyboardist for Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band. However, he is best known as keyboardist for 1970s hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad....
– organ - Bobbye HallBobbye HallBobbye Jean Hall Porter is an American percussionist who has recorded with a variety of rock, soul, blues and jazz artists, and has appeared on 22 songs that reached the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100, six of those reaching #1.-Early career:...
– percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Russ KunkelRuss KunkelRussell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Bob Seger – lead vocals
- Waddy Watchel – guitarGuitarThe 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...
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Charlie Allen Martin – drums
- Joe Miquelon – electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Doug RileyDoug RileyDoug Riley, CM was a Canadian musician. Born in Toronto, Ontario and informally referred to as "Doctor Music", he spent two decades with the Famous People Players as its musical director, besides his participation on over 300 album projects in various genres...
– piano, organ - Bob Seger – lead vocals, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
- Rhonda Silver – background vocals
- Laurel Ward – background vocals
- Sharon Dee Williams – background vocals
- Drew Abbott – guitar
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Charlie Allen Martin – drums
- Alto ReedAlto ReedAlto Reed , is an American long-time saxophonist with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. His most recognizable performances included the introduction to "Turn the Page", and the saxophone solo in "Old Time Rock and Roll"...
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - Robyn Robbins – MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
- Bob Seger – lead vocals, electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
- Ginger Blake – background vocals
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Sam ClaytonSam ClaytonSam Clayton has been a singer and percussionist, primarily focusing on drums; conga and djembe, throughout his musical career. He is best known for his membership as percussionist and supporting vocalist with the American rock band Little Feat since 1972....
– percussion - Laura Creamer – background vocals
- Linda Dillard – background vocals
- Bill PayneBill PayneBill Payne is a founding member of American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other piano rock musicians, including Elton John, to be one of the finest American piano rock and blues music artists...
– piano, organ, synthesizer - Bob Seger – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- David Teegarden – drums
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Bill Payne – piano, organ
- Bob Seger – lead vocals, guitar
- David Teegarden – drums, percussion
- Julie Waters, Luther Waters Maxine Waters, Oren Waters – background vocals
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Venetta Fields – background vocals
- Clydie King – background vocals
- Shirley Mathews – background vocals
- Robyn Robbins – organ
- Bob Seger – lead vocals, piano, acoustic guitar
- David Teegarden – drums, percussion
- Ken Bell – guitar
- Stanley Carter – background vocals
- James Lavell Easley – background vocals
- Roger Hawkins – drums, percussion
- David Hodd – bass guitar
- George Jackson – background vocals
- Randy McCormick – piano
- Howie McDonald – guitar
- Alto Reed – saxophone
- Bob Seger – lead vocals
- Barry BeckettBarry BeckettBarry Edward Beckett was a keyboardist who worked as a session musician with several notable artists on their studio albums...
– keyboards - Pete Carr – lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
- Venetta Fields – background vocals
- Roger Hawkins – drums, percussion
- David Hood – bass guitar
- Jimmie Johnson – rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm 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...
- Clydie King – background vocals
- Shirley Mathews – background vocals
- Bob Seger – lead vocals
Strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
conducted and arranged by Jim Ed Norman.
- Drew Abbott – electric guitar
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Glenn FreyGlenn FreyGlenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
– background vocals - Paul Harris – piano, organ
- Bob Seger – lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar
- David Teegarden – drums
- Barry Beckett – keyboards
- Pete Carr – lead guitar, acoustic guitar
- Roger Hawkins – drums, percussion
- David Hood – bass guitar
- Jimmie Johnson – rhythm guitar
- Bob Seger – lead vocals
- Roy Bittan – piano
- Bob Glaub – bass guitar
- Russ Kunkel – drums
- Steve LukatherSteve LukatherSteve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
– acoustic guitar - Bob Seger – lead vocals
- Jai Winding – organ
- Izora Armstead – background vocals
- Dawayne Bailey – acoustic guitar
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Craig Frost – organ
- Douglas Kibble – background vocals
- Russ Kunkel – drums
- Bill Payne – piano
- Bob Seger – lead vocals
- Rick VitoRick VitoRick Vito is a guitarist and singer. He was part of the band Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991.Vito and Billy Burnette took over as guitarists after Lindsey Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac....
– slide guitarSlide guitarSlide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles... - Martha Wash – background vocals
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Craig Frost – piano
- Alto Reed – saxophone
- Jimmy Romeo – saxophone
- Bob Seger – vocals, guitar
- Crystal Taliefero – saxophone
- Tomo Thomas – saxophone
- David Teegarden – drums
- Rosemary Butler – background vocals
- Chris Campbell – bass guitar
- Laura Creamer – background vocals
- Donny Gerard – background vocals
- Russ Kunkel – drums, percussion
- Tim Mitchell – electric guitar
- Shaun Murphy – background vocals
- Alto Reed – saxophone
- Bob Seger – lead vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, synthesizer