The label's demise stunted the single's burgeoning popularity, but the pulsating tune illuminated Seger as a forceful vocalist. "Heavy Music" nearly reached the Top 100 charts in 1967, just as the Cameo-Parkway label folded. The pair became partners and shared a solid business relationship that has endured for over three decades.Ī year later, in 1966, Seger recorded the single "Heavy Music" on the national Cameo-Parkway label, selling 66,000 copies.
By 1965 Andrews and Seger had raised enough money to release "East Side Story," which sold 50,000 copies in the Detroit area. In 1964, at the age of nineteen, Seger formed the band Last Heard with the organ player from Del Shannon's band they recorded the singles "The Lonely One" and "East Side Story." "East Side Story" caught the ear of a Detroit clubowner named Ed (Punch) Andrews, who owned Hideout Records. After watching his father struggle with alcoholism, Seger vowed to avoid drug use and to impart something significant through music with honest emotion. As a result, Seger's music often reflects hard-life experiences-this is particularly evident on "The Ring," "The Lonely One," "Against the Wind," and "Turn the Page"-and is fueled by an empathy for human loss, a compassion for societal problems, and a love of simple pleasures. Seger's father deserted his wife and sons when Seger was ten years old, leaving Seger's mother with little in the way of financial prospects. Seger's early influences included country musicians, whose songs were played on WLAC out of Nashville, and rhythm and blues artists, especially Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Van Morrison, Otis Redding, James Brown, and Detroit's Mitch Ryder. Later, he was a member of bands called the Town Criers and the Omens. He honed his musical skills in high school by performing at local parties in Ann Arbor in a three-piece band called the Decibels. By the time Seger had reached high school, he was playing the electric guitar and keyboards.
He encouraged a preschool-aged Bob to learn to play the ukulele. Stewart Seger, an in-house medic for the Ford Motor Company, led a 13- piece orchestra on weekends in the 1940s. Seger was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 6, 1945, one of two sons of Stewart and Charlotte Seger. with grit, not glitter," and Seger told Newsweek in 1986: "Gritty guys like us will always be around, because we're the guys who work hardest and really care about what we do." People magazine's Carl Arrington described his music as "hard. Seger has been credited with blazing a path for musicians like the Eagles, John Cougar Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, and Tom Petty, all of whom possessed a similar, straightforward style of rock music. Between 19, Seger had 14 Top 40 singles in the United States and was dubbed the "Godfather" of no-frills rock music. He had been touring and recording since 1963 and was already popular in his native Michigan when he met with long- awaited recognition. Seger received national acclaim in 1976 with the album Night Moves, which was a sentimental journey back to his adolescent dating experiences. Addresses: Record company-Capitol Records, 1750 Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90028 or 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 35th floor, New York, NY 10104.īob Seger's unadorned, working-class songs and wistful, raspy vocal style reflect his Michigan roots and affection for rock and roll. Born Robert Clark Seger, May 6, 1945, in Ann Arbor, MI son of Stewart (an in-house medic for the Ford Motor Company and former orchestra leader) and Charlotte (a domestic) Seger married, 1967 (divorced, 1967) married Annette (Nita) Sinclair (an actress), Novemchildren: Cole, Samantha Char.