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The evening I met Bob, we were both attending a showcase featuring the sons Carl and Jonah of former Beachboys, Dennis & Carl Wilson who have sadly both passed away.

I learned that as well as being an artist Bob was a songwriter. Bob wrote the basic lyrics for “It’s About Time” to Dennis Wilson’s music. The song appeared on The Beachboys ‘Sunflower’ Album.

Bob met Dennis Wilson in 1970 through Barbara Charren one of his closest and dearest friends from junior high and high school in Los Angeles. Barbara soon became Dennis’s wife and mother of his two sons, Michael and Carl.

Having a song recorded by the Beachboys was exciting for Bob, but it was also a hard-knocks business lesson, as he was cajoled into signing away his publishing rights and most of his royalties.

Bob’s musical leanings went beyond the Beachboys including artists such as Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

In 1970-71 Bob was playing percussion in what may have been the first World Beat music group called “Shanti” an East meets West rock / fusion band.

Richard Bock the famed World Pacific Jazz producer approached Neil Seidel, the lead guitarist and Bob to write a theme song for an upcoming film/concert, it was to be performed by Ike and Tina Turner in Ghana, Africa. It did not happen as planned; Bob and Neil wrote a song “Soul to Soul” which instead was recorded by The Voices of East Harlem.

It can be heard on the re-release of the digitally re-mastered DVD of “Soul to Soul”, an historic soul music concert tour which includes Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, Roberta Flack, Wilson Pickett, Les McCann and many more. The concert celebrated the 14th anniversary of the independence of Ghana in 1971. The documentary, “Soul to Soul” was directed by Academy awarding winning director Denis Sanders.

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