Welch Returns From 30 Year Sleep

[michelej1]

From Top 40 Charts

http://top40-charts.com/news/Rock/Ex...ion/42206.html

Ex-Fleetwood Mac Man Bob Welch Returns From 30 Year Vacation

(Airline Records)--A "beauty sleep"..that's what former Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer Bob Welch calls his...er, "extended" 30 year vacation. "Some people would say that's near-death", says Bob..."...but I was loving it...and in a trance, MOST of the time" ;-)

BOB WELCH is best known as singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the immensely successful rock band FLEETWOOD MAC-and for his own platinum solo albums and top-ten hits such as SENTIMENTAL LADY and EBONY EYES from FRENCH KISS on Capitol Records.

Bob started his career with a show band, the SEVEN SOULS, playing night clubs around the country. Las Vegas lounges, and chic European resorts after having a Top-20 hit on the L.A. R&B charts. While living in Europe , where he was majoring in French at the Sorbonne, he was chosen to fill the guitar spot in FLEETWOOD MAC. He flourished with the band as a songwriter and guitarist, and wrote and sang 22 of the 50 songs on five albums.

Bob left FLEETWOOD MAC to form the group PARIS with SOUPY SALES' son, Hunt Sales, and JETHRO TULL's bass player, Glenn Cornick.. After two albums with PARIS, Bob's solo career took off in 1977 with a series of albums that generated 8 top-ten singles. During this time, he appeared and often guest-hosted on TV shows like **** CLARK'S NEW AMERICAN BANDSTAND, DON KIRSHNER'S ROCK CONCERT, SOLID GOLD and BERT SUGARMAN'S MIDNIGHT SPECIAL.

This lead to Bob hosting his own pre-MTV syndicated weekly music variety TV series HOLLYWOOD HEARTBEAT for Gold Key Media. His two-hour live TV musical special, "BOB WELCH AND FRIENDS" was an MTV first. He continued on, recording more solo albums for RCA Records, and the worldwide sales of Bob's FLEETWOOD MAC and solo career record output continued to soar into the tens of millions.

During his career as a solo artist, Welch received numerous awards including BILLBOARD'S "FAVORITE DEBUT ARTIST" AWARD and the NORTH AMERICAN ROCK RADIO'S "#1 POP SINGLE NEW MALE ARTIST" AWARD, as well as playing in front of the largest rock concert audience ever (over 300,000 people) at CAL JAM II. Both RHINO RECORDS and CURB RECORDS have recently released collections of Bob's solo material, and FLEETWOOD MAC has released a 25th anniversary boxed set, "THE CHAIN," which includes some of Bob's work with that band, as well as re-releasing on CD all his former recordings with FLEETWOOD MAC.

Bob helped found AFTRA'S "SINGERS NIGHT" at the famous BLUEBIRD CAFE, when he served on the their Board of Directors. He is currently a member of ASCAP (32 years), NSAI and is a voting member of NARAS. Bob's songs have been cut by SAMMY HAGAR, POINTER SISTERS, BRUCE CHANNEL, DON NIX, and most recently, by KENNY ROGERS. Bob has had his material used in HBO movies, like "TOUGH AND DEADLY," and one of his compositions is featured in the DREAMWORKS/STEVEN SPIELBERG production directed by CAMERON CROWE, "Almost Famous."

Bob has music compositions with various production music libraries such as DSM Producers in New York.

As an endorsee of GIBSON guitars, Bob performs at guitar clinics at different cities in the area, such as Chicago, Memphis, and Birmingham. Bob was one of the first on-line interviews and one of the first endorsees for COMPUSERVE'S MUSIC FORUM, Bob performed on the "FIRST VIRTUAL GUITAR LESSON" on CD ROM in conjunction with Gibson guitars for COMPUSERVE MAGAZINE. He continues to do the multiple interviews and rock bios for TV networks like the DISNEY CHANNEL and the BBC.

Bob received an award from A.S.C.A.P commemorating over 25 years of consecutive airplay for his compositions "SENTIMENTAL LADY and HYPNOTIZED"

In 1999 Bob released a new CD , "Bob Welch Looks At Bop", a tribute to the "BE BOP" music of the 1940's. He also writes a column for the music professionals website and magazine "ARTISTPRO.COM", and is an audio consultant for A.M.D computers and for STEINBERG Gmbh, the audio production specialists.

Bob was featured in a July 2002 WALL STREET JOURNAL article spotlighting "songwriting by e-mail collaboration."

Bob's song , "Sentimental Lady" is featured in the November 2002 release, "ABOUT SCHMIDT," starring JACK NICHOLSON and KATHY BATES.

On July 8th 2003, One Way Records released Bob's latest CD; "Bob Welch; His Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond"

Bob has done several fundraisers at the world famous Bluebird cafe in Nashville.

In 2006 "Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond 2" was released.

April 2008 "Greatest Hits And More " was released on Airline Records .This title is a renamed re-release of "Bob Welch ; His Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond" which is no longer availible. "Bob Welch; Greatest Hits And More" has completely different liner notes than "FM Years And Beyond".It consists of RE-RECORDINGS, by Bob Welch, of some of his best-known Fleetwood Mac and solo material. The recordings are metticulous recreations as to arrangement, key, tempo etc. of these songs.....except with the dynamic range (hi's and low's) that was lacking in the originals due to the necessity,in the pre digital era , to mix songs so that they would sound good (and loud) on the mono car radios of the '70's.Bob thinks the re-recordings sound the way the "originals" SHOULD have sounded . He also likes the way his voice was recorded (by him) as Bob never liked the sound engineers got on his voice in the "old days" Purists beware ; if you love highly compressed, narrow dynamic range, thin sounding old plastic vinyl records , these re-records will sound too good for you ;-) And....they will drive modern "ground-pounding" sub-woofers........and wake your neighbors..........

Bob played for the opening of Gibson guitar corp's "Gibson Island" on 2nd Life's virtual stage, (7/16/08) with his "avatar" "Bob Welch Magic" This was another "1st" for Bob; 1st "online interactive interview and midi guitar lesson" on "Compuserve" in '92 with a 2400 baud modem (!), 1st MTV live broadcast "Bob Welch And Friends Live At The Roxy" in '81....Bob likes to stay on "the cutting (sometimes "bleeding ;-) edge.....;-)

[michelej1]

From the New to the Old:

Here's an Avenue M interview that I just put up. I hadn't seen it online before.

March 9, 1990

Section: ENTERTAINMENT/WEEKEND

BOB WELCH FINDS HIMSELF ON NEW ROAD IN PHOENIX

JUSTIN MITCHELL ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS STAFF WRITER
It's an Arizona band with a Los Angeles name fronted by an American guy who used to play with an English band.

Bob Welch - whose vocals, guitar work and songwriting stamped Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1970s with songs such as Hypnotized and Sentimental Lady - has resurfaced with Avenue M (named for LA's Melrose Avenue). The band performs tonight at Buffalo Rose in Golden and tomorrow in Winter Park.

After leaving Fleetwood Mac, Welch had some solo hits with a re-recorded version of Sentimental Lady (done with Mac-mate Christine McVie and Welch's replacement Lindsey Buckingham), Ebony Eyes, Hot Love, Cold World and Precious Love. He also formed a hard rock trio, Paris (with ex-Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick and current Tin Machine drummer Hunt Sales) that released two albums before dissolving amid general critical and commercial indifference.

Welch went through some bad times in Los Angeles ("I was directionless with a capital D," he said. "Draw any conclusions you want to.") before finding a future wife and road manager and deciding to clean up his act. Hence Phoenix.

In between he'd formed a band called The Touch with Crosby, Stills and Nash drummer Dallas Taylor - but after a brief bit of elation when the band signed with Van Halen's former manager, Welch said he quickly lost The Touch.

"It was too good to be true," he said in a call from L.A. "And I should've known. We were a total democracy and no one could make a decision. So the band peaked in the first six months and then petered out. It was really demoralizing but also a real eye opener. So in '87, Wendy and I said 'We're at the end of the line. Let's get out of L.A.' It was getting really flaky there and frankly, we were worried about the big earthquake. It was kinda like throwing darts at a map but we wound up in Phoenix knowing nothing about it except that it has fabulous Mexican food."

Although Welch said it took him "about nine months to figure out which way was north" he and his wife found a vibrant, lively hard rock scene in the city that previously gave Alice Cooper and Dokken to the world.

And he began scouting clubs using his wife as a front.

"She's real cute so I'd tell her 'That bass player looks good.' She'd go up and ask for a phone number. It saved me having to explain that I was thinking about starting a band. . . . "

He found drummer Bob Milan, guitarists Glen DeJongh and Fred Robinson; bassist Blitz Yates and began rehearsing hard.

"The thing about the name was that I wanted mainly a name that we didn't have to live down or up to later - a real neutral name. The best name with bands is really their own names, like Van Halen or Dokken. But I didn't want to call it Welch. Let's face it: 'Ladies and gentlemen, Welch! . . . ' doesn't really cut it. "

While he's reworked a few of his old songs for Avenue M, Welch said the group concentrates on new material, describing it as a cross between his old band, Paris, and Van Halen.

"I was really pretty bored with music until I heard Eddie Van Halen," Welch admitted. "It was like he opened up a whole new can of peas, a whole cornucopia of musicality. It just knocked me out. It was like I was 18 again."

The recent dates that Avenue M have played have encouraged Welch, who said that the band has found fans in kids too young to remember him with Fleetwood Mac or as a solo act.

"We played some all-ages shows where there were a lot of underaged people, I'm talking about 18, 19, 20 who come up and say things like 'Hey dude, you smoke.' And the old fans with open minds seem to enjoy it. I hope I'll be able to keep some of them and grab some newcomers too, which would be the ideal thing."

Bob Welch and Avenue M perform at 9 tonight at Buffalo Rose, 1119 Washington in Golden (information: 279-5190) and at 10 p.m. tomorrow at The Slope in Winter Park (information: 726-5727).