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Robert Clark "Bob" Seger (born May 6, 1945) is an American rock musician who achieved his greatest success in the 1970s and 1980s.

Biography

Bob Seger was born at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He was raised in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn until age 6, when his family moved to the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. When Seger was 10 years old, his father left the family and moved to California. Seger attended Tappan Junior High School and Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, graduating from the latter in 1963.

Seger started his musical career in the 1960s in his native Ann Arbor, Michigan, soon after playing in and around Detroit as a singer and as the leader of Bob Seger and the Last Heard, and then later the Bob Seger System. He is best known for his work with the Silver Bullet Band, a group he formed in 1974. Seger is known as a workhorse midwestern roots-rocker who dealt with blue-collar themes and toured constantly in support of his frequent album releases. As such, critics ignorant of when his career got started have dismissed him as a poor man's Bruce Springsteen, though Seger's career as a professional musician predates Springsteen's by five years. Seger's successes paved the way for other heartland rockers including John Mellencamp and the Michael Stanley Band.

Seger's early work is hard-rocking and shows the influence of fellow Michiganders Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels as well as pioneer rock-and-rollers such as Chuck Berry. Notable songs during this time were Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, "Get Out of Denver", and his classic take on life on the road, "Turn the Page". The Bob Seger System incarnation was essentially a Michigan proto-punk band not very unlike the SRC or The Frost. The Bob Seger System's song "2+2=?" is considered by some to be one of the most fiery anti-war songs ever written.

Seger achieved a commercial breakthrough with his 1976 album Night Moves which featured several hits including the highly evocative title song. Subsequently Seger had success with rockers such as "Hollywood Nights" and mellower mid-tempo ballads such as "We've Got Tonight", "Fire Lake" (recorded 1979, and featured Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, and Glen Frey on backing vocals) and "Against the Wind". His most recognizable songs are almost certainly "Old Time Rock & Roll" (featured in the film Risky Business) and "Like a Rock" (most familiar to many younger Americans through its association with a long-running Chevrolet ad campaign).

In June 1997 Seger drove his automobile off the Trans-Canada Highway in Nipigon, Ontario. * This resulted in a DWI conviction.

Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2004.

Also during 2004, Seger was working on his first new album in 10 years, titled Face the Promise. Seger was recording at the same studio as 3 Doors Down when 3DD's manager asked if he would sing on their album. Seger and 3DD lead singer, Brad Arnold, both sing on "Landing In London" on the album Seventeen Days. Promise will be in stores September 12, 2006. The first single, "Wait For Me", lands on radio in July.

The Encyclopedia of Rock And Roll stated that "His throaty, authoritative delivery is a pleasure to listen to, and the Silver Bullet Band is superb."

Discography

One source of disappointment to Seger fans is the continued absence of all albums (with the exception of Smokin' O.P.'s) released prior to Beautiful Loser from Capitol Records' in-print catalog as of 2006. These albums, some of which were last released on compact disc in the 1980s and others never, currently sell for upwards of $50 per disc at most on-line merchants.

See also

External links

1945 births | Living people | American male singers | American pop singers | American rock musicians | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees | People from Detroit | Michigan musicians | People from Ann Arbor

Bob Seger | Bob Seger | Bob Seger | Bob Seger

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Bob Seger".

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