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Bob Seger Site
Like A Rock |
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Seger began playing music in 1961 as the leader of the Detroit-based
trio the Decibels; his future manager, Eddie "Punch" Andrews was also a
member of the band. Moving to Ann Arbor, he played with the Town Criers
before he became the keyboardist and vocalist for Doug Brown & the
Omens. Billing themselves as the Beach Bums, the band released "The Ballad
of the Yellow Beret," a parody of the Sgt. Barry Sadler song "The Ballad
of the Green Beret." The single was withdrawn shortly after its release
after Sadler threatened a lawsuit |
In 1966, Seger released his first solo single, "East
Side Story," which became a regional hit. Several other local hit singles
followed on Cameo Records, including "Persecution
Smith" and "Heavy Music," before
his label folded. In 1968, he formed the Bob Seger System and signed with Capitol
Records, releasing his debut album Ramblin' Gamblin'
Man in the spring of that year. The title track became a national hit,
climbing to number 17, but the group's followup, Noah,
stiffed and Seger decided to quit the music business at the end of 1969 to attend
college.
By the end of the summer, Seger had returned to rock & roll with a new
backing band, releasing Mongrel at the
end of the year. For 1971's Brand New Morning,
he disbanded his group and recorded a singer-songwriter effort. Following its
release, he began performing with the duo Dave Teegarden and Skip "Van Winkle"
Knape, and the duo provided support on 1972's Smokin'
OP's, which was the first release on Palladium Records, a label he formed
with Andrews. .The album failed to sell, as did Back
in '72 (1973) and Seven (1974),
and he moved back to Capitol Records for 1975's Beautiful
Loser.
For the recording of Beautiful Loser, Seger formed the Silver Bullet Band,
which consisted of guitarist Drew Abbott, bassist Chris Campbell, keyboardist
Robyn Robbins, saxophonist Alto Reed and drummer Charlie Allen Martin. Seger
supported Beautiful Loser with an extensive tour with the Silver Bullet
Band, and while it didn't make the album a hit, it provided a wide-spread
grass-roots following across the country. The touring paid off in 1976,
when Live Bullet, a double-album recorded in
Detroit, became a hit, spending over three years on the US charts and going
gold; the album would eventually go quadruple platinum |
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The ground-swell behind Live Bullet sent Seger's next studio album, Night
Moves (1976), into the Top 10 early in 1977. Night Moves became
a blockbuster, generating the hit singles "Night Moves," "Mainstreet" and
"Rock & Roll Never Forgets." Stranger
in Town, released in the summer 1978, was just as successful, featuring
the hits "Still the Same," "Hollywood Nights," "We've Got Tonite," and "Old
Time Rock & Roll." Stranger in Town confirming his status as one America's
most popular rockers.Seger's next album, 1980's Against
the Wind, became his first number one album and all of its big hits
E"Fire Lake," "Against the Wind," "You'll Accomp'ny Me" Ewere all ballads. |
The live album, Nine Tonight, continued his multi-platinum
success in 1981, selling three million copies and peaking at number three.
Seger returned with The Distance
in 1982. The Distance was the first album since Seven to be recorded with
the addition of session musicians, which caused guitarist Abbott to quit
the band in frustration. Over the course of the next decade, the membership
of the Silver Bullet Band shifted constantly. While The Distance featured
"Shame on the Moon," his biggest hit single to date, its sales plateaued
at a million copies, suggesting that his popularity was beginning to level
off. Seger also began to drastically reduce his recording and touring schedules
Ehe only released one other album, 1986's Like
A Rock, during the '80s. Like A Rock and its supporting tour were
both successes, paving the way for "Shakedown," a song taken from the soundtrack
to Beverly Hills Cop II, to
become Seger's lone number one hit in 1987. |
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Four years after its release, he returned with The
Fire Inside. Although the album went platinum and reached the Top 10,
it only appealed to Seger's devoted following, as did 1995's It's
A Mystery, which became his first album since Live Bullet to fail to go
platinum, levelling off at gold status.
(Quoted from AMG © 2002)
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