Bob Welch | |
|---|---|
 Welch at theRecord Plant in Sausalito, California in 1973 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Robert Lawrence Welch Jr. |
| Born | (1945-08-31)August 31, 1945 Hollywood,California, U.S. |
| Died | June 7, 2012(2012-06-07) (aged 66) Antioch,Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1964–2012 |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of |
|
| Website | bobwelch |
Robert Lawrence Welch Jr. (August 31, 1945 – June 7, 2012) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was a member ofFleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974. He had a successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", "Hypnotized", and his signature song, "Sentimental Lady".
Welch was born inHollywood,California, into ashow business family. His father, Robert L. Welch Sr., was a producer and screenwriter atParamount Pictures, producing films starringBob Hope andBing Crosby. Welch Sr. produced the 25th AnnualAcademy Awards TV special in 1953 andThe Thin Man TV series from 1958 to 1959. Bob's mother,Templeton Fox, was a singer and actress who worked withOrson Welles'Mercury Theatre inChicago and appeared in TV and movies from 1962 to 1979.
Welch learnedclarinet in his childhood, switching toguitar in his early teens. His interests werejazz,rhythm and blues, androck music. He was accepted intoGeorgetown University, but instead moved toParis, planning to attend theSorbonne. Welch toldPeople in a 1979 interview that, in Paris, "I mostly smokedhash with bearded guys five years older" and spent most of his time "sitting in theDeux Magots café". He returned to Southern California, where he briefly studied French at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles but did not complete a degree.[1]
In 1964, Welch joined the Los Angeles-based vocal group The Seven Souls.[2] The Seven Souls lost abattle of the bands competition, the prize being a contract withEpic Records, toSly and the Family Stone. The Seven Souls' 1967 single "I'm No Stranger" made no impact at the time of its release, despite subsequent issue in France and Italy. Its B-side, "I Still Love You", has since become a Northern Soul anthem, with original copies selling up to £400. The Seven Souls broke up in 1969.
Welch subsequently returned to Paris and started a trio, Head West, which was not a success. He later toldPeople that his time in Paris (1969-1971) was "living on rice and beans and sleeping on the floor."[1]
In 1971, Welch auditioned for Fleetwood Mac at Benifold, their retreat and communal home in England. The band had recently lost one of its front-line members, guitaristJeremy Spencer, and were looking for a replacement. Judy Wong, a friend and part-time secretary for the band, recommended her high school friend Welch. The band had a few meetings with Welch and decided to hire him, despite not having previously played with him, after listening to some of his songs on tape.[3] Welch was assignedrhythm guitar, backing uplead guitaristDanny Kirwan. Welch also moved in to Benifold, inHampshire.
The band's first album to featureChristine McVie and Welch,Future Games, was recorded at Advision Studios in London[4] and released in September 1971, with thetitle track written by Welch. Six months later, in 1972, the band releasedBare Trees, which was mostly recorded atDe Lane Lea Studios inWembley, London, and featured Welch's "Sentimental Lady". This song was a big hit for Welch five years later when he re-recorded it for his solo albumFrench Kiss. Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham also sang on and produced the remake.[5]
The band recorded their next two albumsPenguin andMystery to Me at Benifold using mobile equipment hired fromThe Rolling Stones.[6] Throughout this period, Fleetwood Mac often changed band members around the core ofMick Fleetwood, the McVies and Welch. Kirwan was replaced as a vocalist by ex-Savoy Brown lead singerDave Walker, and as a lead guitarist byBob Weston. Both Walker and Weston played onPenguin. Released in January 1973, the album reached No. 49 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart in the United States. This album contained Welch's songs "Bright Fire", "Night Watch", and "Revelation".
Mystery to Me contained Welch's song "Hypnotized", which earned significantFM radio airplay in the United States.[citation needed] However, as a result of an aborted tour,Mystery to Me only reached No. 67 in the States.[7]
By late 1973, internal stresses caused by a shifting line-up, touring, the deterioration of the McVies' marriage and an affair between Weston and Fleetwood's wife,Jenny Boyd, were debilitating to the band. Weston was sacked and the band quit a tour of the US.[8]
The band's manager,Clifford Davis, refused to cancel the remaining 26 dates of the tour, fearing that this would destroy his reputation with bookers and promoters.[9] In a letter to the remaining Fleetwood Mac members, he said he "had not slaved for years to be brought down by the whims of irresponsible musicians".[9] He claimed that he owned the Fleetwood Mac name, and informed them of his plan to make the band into a new "star-quality, headlining act"—in effect firing them, but offering them jobs in the new band. Welch and the other band members did not take this seriously and ignored Davis's offer. Davis then set up a US tour with a new group of musicians—without Fleetwood Mac's consent—who were to be billed as "The New Fleetwood Mac".[9] None of the new musicians had ever played with any previous incarnation of the band.[10] Davis announced that Welch and John McVie had quit Fleetwood Mac, and that Fleetwood and Christine McVie would be joining the 'new' band at a later date. The original members of Fleetwood Mac obtained an injunction preventing the "fake Mac" from touring under their name, while Davis obtained an injunction preventing the original band from touring. The lawsuits resulting from the ultimately aborted tour put Fleetwood Mac out of commission for almost a year.
During this limbo, Welch stayed inLos Angeles and connected with entertainment attorneys. Welch believed the band was being neglected byWarner Bros.—the parent of their label,Reprise Records—and convinced the band to move to Los Angeles.
Instead of getting another manager, Fleetwood Mac decided to manage themselves. After the courts ruled that the "Fleetwood Mac" name belonged to Fleetwood and John McVie, the two band members set up their own band management company, Seedy Management.[11]
In 1974, Welch was the only guitar player in the band. Warner Bros. made a new deal with Fleetwood Mac, releasing the albumHeroes Are Hard to Find on Reprise in September 1974. The album became the band's first to reach the Top 40 in the United States, peaking at No. 34 on theBillboard chart. The subsequent tour would be Welch's last with Fleetwood Mac.
Welch was suffering with personal and professional issues: his marriage was failing, and he felt he had exhausted his creativity with the band. Later, he explained that he felt estranged from John and Christine McVie, yet close to Fleetwood; he asserted in 1974 that he was running the band.[12] Welch resigned from Fleetwood Mac in December 1974 and was replaced byLindsey Buckingham andStevie Nicks.
Of the Fleetwood Mac albums on which Welch appeared, American album sales totaled 500,000 units shipped between 1971 and 2000 forFuture Games; 1 million units ofBare Trees between 1972 and 1988; and 500,000 units ofMystery to Me between 1973 and 1976, when it was certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of America.[13]
Welch's relationship with his former band remained amicable in the years following his departure. During the height of their respective popularity in the late 1970s, Welch would frequently open for Fleetwood Mac and he would sit in as lead vocalist on "Hypnotized". Mick Fleetwood managed Welch's career into the 1980s.
By the 1990s, Welch's once diplomatic relationship with Fleetwood Mac had become acrimonious. In 1994, Welch sued Fleetwood, the McVies, band attorney Michael Shapiro and Warner Bros. Records forbreach of contract related to underpayment of royalties. Previously, in 1978, Welch and the band had signed a contract with Warner Bros. agreeing to an equal share of all royalties from their Fleetwood Mac albums. Welch alleged that the members later made new deals with Warner Bros. for higher royalty rates, and neither Fleetwood nor the McVies had informed Welch, thus cheating him out of equal royalties. The lawsuit was settled in 1996.[14]
When Fleetwood Mac was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, original band membersPeter Green,Jeremy Spencer,Mick Fleetwood, andJohn McVie were named to the Hall, as were later additionsDanny Kirwan,Christine McVie,Lindsey Buckingham, andStevie Nicks. Welch, who anchored the band for several years and five albums, was not. Welch felt the recent legal battle with the band soured the committee to include him. "My era was the bridge era," Welch told theCleveland newspaper thePlain Dealer in 1998. "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... 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."[15]
In a 2003 online question-and-answer session on the Fleetwood Mac fan site The Penguin, Welch revised his opinion about the exclusion. He had recently visited Fleetwood Mac backstage after a show, and he reconnected with Mick Fleetwood. Welch no longer blamed the band for his exclusion. He instead blamed the Hall's committee and its industry insiders (such asAhmet Ertegun andJann Wenner), stating they did not like his style of music. He still maintained that the lawsuit was a factor, as it prevented him from contacting Mick Fleetwood, and they were still estranged at the time of the induction.[15]
In 1975, Welch formed the short-livedhard rockpower trioParis with ex-Jethro Tull bassistGlenn Cornick and formerNazz drummerThom Mooney. With a guitar-driven aesthetic compared by retrospective critics toLed Zeppelin,[16] Paris released two commercially unsuccessful albums:Paris andBig Towne, 2061.Hunt Sales later replaced Mooney until the group disbanded.
In a 1979 interview withPeople, Welch said that the two Paris albums were "ill-conceived." The band's overhead and ensuing lack of commercial success drained Welch's finances, leaving him with only $8,000 in savings (equivalent to ~$35,000 in 2024) after its dissolution.[1]
In September 1977, Welch released his first solo album,French Kiss, a mainstream pop collection featuring contributions from Fleetwood, Buckingham, and Christine McVie. The album was certified platinum by theRIAA, peaking at No. 12 on theBillboard chart in 1978. It yielded three hit singles: a revamped version of "Sentimental Lady" produced by Buckingham and McVie (#8), "Ebony Eyes" (#14; featuringJuice Newton on backing vocals) and "Hot Love, Cold World" (#31).
Welch followed upFrench Kiss with two albums in 1979.[17] In February,Three Hearts, an album that replicated the rock/disco fusion ofFrench Kiss, peaked at No. 20 (earning a RIAA gold certification) and spawned the hit "Precious Love" (#19), while the follow-up single "Church" (#73) also charted as his final U.S. Top 100 hit. His second effort that year, November'sThe Other One, contained his first solo recordings without any Fleetwood Mac members. Although the album reached No. 105 on the charts, none of its singles charted. Notable songs include "Rebel Rouser" and "Don't Let Me Fall". From 1980 to 1981, he hostedHollywood Heartbeat, an earlymusic video program.[18] His subsequent solo albums into the early 1980s (Man Overboard,Bob Welch, andEye Contact) were not successful; released approximately two years after "Church",Bob Welch only charted at No. 201.
In 1999, Welch released an experimentaljazz/loop-based album,Bob Welch Looks at Bop. He followed this up in 2003 withHis Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, which contained re-recordings of songs he originally performed with Fleetwood Mac, as well as some solo hits. In 2006, he releasedHis Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond 2, which mixed a half-dozen new compositions, along with a similar number of his Mac/solo remakes. He released more CDs with Fuel Records in 2008, 2010, and 2011.
Welch appeared as an avatar named BobWelch Magic in 2008, performing solo acoustic favorites and hits live for 30 minutes, in a show with Von Johin (musician/publisher Mike Lawson) and Cypress Rosewood (musician Tony Gerber) in the virtual world ofSecond Life, streaming live into the Gibson Island virtual stage from Lawson's studio.[19]
Following the release ofEye Contact (which failed to chart), Welch took to partying withGuns N' Roses, who were rehearsing in his garage. He became addicted tococaine andheroin, and was hospitalized fordetox in spring of 1985. Welch reflected on that era as "being a very bad boy, very decadent, very cynical, VERY stoned. It was not a good time."[20]
The day he was released from detox, he was introduced to Wendy Armistead byTaryn Power (Tyrone Power's daughter) andTony Sales at The Central (nowThe Viper Room). Welch and Armistead were married in December 1985 and moved toPhoenix, Arizona, to maintain Welch's sobriety. Welch abstained from all illegal drugs for the rest of his life.[21]
While in Phoenix, they formed a short-lived group called Avenue M.[22] The group went on tour and recorded one song for a greatest hits compilation. Welch and Armistead later moved toNashville, Tennessee, and remained married until his death.
Three months before his death, Welch underwent spinal surgery. The procedure was unsuccessful and doctors told him his condition would not improve.[23]
On June 7, 2012, around 6:00 a.m., Welch died bysuicide, shooting himself in his Nashville home where his wife Wendy — for whom he left a nine-page suicide note and love letter — discovered his body. He was 66 years old.[24][25]
Wendy died on November 28, 2016, fromchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) andheart disease, also aged 66.[26] Bob and Wendy Welch are buried beside each other inMemphis, Tennessee.
An exhibit chronicling Bob Welch's career opened at The Musicians Hall of Fame atBelmont University inNashville, Tennessee on August 27, 2018. Despite the lawsuit over a decade earlier, Fleetwood wrote a tribute for the exhibit. Bob and Wendy Welch's estate has endowed a scholarship to support Belmont School of Music students.[27]
Bob Welch is mentioned throughout episode one of season eighteen ofFamily Guy called "Yacht Rocky". The main character,Peter Griffin, finds out that Bob Welch has died and takes a moment to lie down and stare at the ceiling while listening to "Sentimental Lady". This repeats several times in the episode as different characters lament Bob's death.[28][29]
| Release date | Album | Chart (US)[30] | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 1977 | French Kiss | 12 | Platinum |
| February 1979 | Three Hearts | 20 | Gold |
| November 1979 | The Other One | 105 | — |
| September 1980 | Man Overboard | 162 | — |
| October 1981 | Bob Welch | 201 | — |
| June 1983 | Eye Contact | — | — |
| September 10, 1999 | Bob Welch Looks at Bop | — | — |
| July 8, 2003 | His Fleetwood Mac Years & Beyond | — | |
| March 28, 2006 | His Fleetwood Mac Years and Beyond, Vol. 2 | — | — |
| December 21, 2011 | Sings the Best Songs Ever Written | — | — |
| Release date | Album | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| December 1991 | The Best of Bob Welch | Unauthorized |
| 1994 | Greatest Hits | Unauthorized |
| August 10, 2004 | Live from the Roxy | Recording from 1981 |
| December 21, 2011 | Live in Japan[31] | Recording from 1979[citation needed] |
| Year | Title | Chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [32] | US AC [33] | US Rock [34] | CAN [35] | AU | ||
| 1977 | "Sentimental Lady" | 8 | 10 | — | 3 | — |
| 1978 | "Ebony Eyes" | 14 | — | — | 7 | 2 |
| "Hot Love, Cold World" | 31 | — | — | 37 | — | |
| 1979 | "Precious Love" | 19 | 42 | — | 13 | 37 |
| "Church" | 73 | — | — | 85 | — | |
| "3 Hearts" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1980 | "Don't Let Me Fall" | — | — | — | — | — |
| "The Girl Can't Stop" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Don't Rush The Good Things" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1981 | "It's What Ya Don't Say" | — | — | 45 | — | — |
| "Two To Do" | 107 | — | — | — | — | |
| 1982 | "Remember" | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1983 | "S.O.S." | — | — | — | — | — |
| "I'll Dance Alone" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2011 | "Black Dog" | — | — | — | — | — |
| Date | Album | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Head West | Repackaged in 1973 & credited to "Bob Welch withHead West" |
| Release Date | Album |
|---|---|
| September 3, 1971 | Future Games |
| March 1972 | Bare Trees |
| March 1973 | Penguin |
| October 15, 1973 | Mystery to Me |
| September 13, 1974 | Heroes Are Hard to Find |
| Release date | Album | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| January 1976 | Paris | — |
| August 1976 | Big Towne, 2061 | — |
| International | |
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| National | |
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| Other | |
