Bob Welch (musician)
Robert Lawrence Welch Jr. (August 31, 1945 – June 7, 2012) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter who was a member of Fleetwood 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".
Bob Welch
Robert Lawrence Welch Jr.
August 31, 1945
Hollywood, California, U.S.
June 7, 2012 (aged 66)
Antioch, Tennessee, U.S.
Singer, musician, songwriter
Vocals, guitar, bass guitar
1964–2012
- Seven Souls
- Head West
- Fleetwood Mac
- Paris
Early life[edit]
Welch was born in Hollywood, California, into a show business family. His father, Robert L. Welch Sr., was a producer and screenwriter at Paramount Pictures, producing films starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Welch Sr. produced the 25th Annual Academy Awards TV special in 1953 and The Thin Man TV series from 1958 to 1959. Bob's mother, Templeton Fox, was a singer and actress who worked with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre in Chicago and appeared in TV and movies from 1962 to 1979.
Welch learned clarinet in his childhood, switching to guitar in his early teens. His interests were jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock music. He was accepted into Georgetown University, but instead moved to Paris, planning to attend the Sorbonne. Welch told People in a 1979 interview that, in Paris, "I mostly smoked hash with bearded guys five years older" and spent most of his time "sitting in the Deux Magots café". He returned to Southern California, where he briefly studied French at the University of California, Los Angeles but did not complete a degree.[1]
In 1964, Welch joined the Los Angeles-based vocal group The Seven Souls as a guitarist.[2] The Seven Souls lost a battle of the bands competition, the prize being a contract with Epic Records, to Sly 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 told People that his time in Paris (1969-1971) was "living on rice and beans and sleeping on the floor."[1]
Rock trio and solo career[edit]
In 1975, Welch formed the short-lived hard rock power trio Paris with ex-Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick and former Nazz drummer Thom Mooney. With a guitar-driven aesthetic compared by retrospective critics to Led Zeppelin,[16] Paris released two commercially unsuccessful albums: Paris and Big Towne, 2061. Hunt Sales later replaced Mooney until the group disbanded.
In a 1979 interview with People, 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 the RIAA, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard chart in 1978. It yielded three hit singles: a revamped version of "Sentimental Lady" produced by Buckingham and McVie (#8), "Ebony Eyes" (#14; featuring Juice Newton on backing vocals) and "Hot Love, Cold World" (#31).
Welch followed up French Kiss with two albums in 1979.[17] In February, Three Hearts, an album that replicated the rock/disco fusion of French 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's The 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 hosted Hollywood Heartbeat, an early music video program.[18] His subsequent solo albums into the early 1980s (Man Overboard, Bob Welch, and Eye Contact) were not successful; released approximately two years after "Church," Bob Welch only charted at No. 201.
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 re-recordings of songs he originally performed 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. 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 of Second Life, streaming live into the Gibson Island virtual stage from Lawson's studio.[19]
Recovery and second marriage[edit]
Following the release of Eye Contact (which failed to chart), Welch took to partying with Guns N' Roses, who were rehearsing in his garage. He became addicted to cocaine and heroin, and was hospitalized for detox 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 by Taryn Power (Tyrone Power's daughter) and Tony Sales at The Central (now The Viper Room). Welch and Armistead were married in December 1985 and moved to Phoenix, 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 to Nashville, Tennessee, and remained married until his death.
Death and legacy[edit]
Three months before his death, Welch underwent spinal surgery. The procedure was unsuccessful. He was still in considerable pain, despite taking the medication pregabalin (Lyrica) for six weeks.
On June 7, 2012, around 6:00 a.m., Welch died by suicide, 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.[23][24][25]
Wendy died on November 28, 2016, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart disease, also aged 66.[26] Bob and Wendy Welch are buried beside each other in Memphis, Tennessee.
An exhibit chronicling Bob Welch's career opened at The Musicians Hall of Fame at Belmont University in Nashville, 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]
Pop culture[edit]
Bob Welch is mentioned throughout episode one of season eighteen of Family Guy called "Yacht Rocky." The main character, Peter Griffin, finds out that Bob Welch has passed away 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 about Bob's passing.[28][29]