![]() ![]() Singer Del Shannon hired the Royaltones as his band and toured and recorded with them through 1964. Eight of the Royaltones’ songs hit the Billboard charts including their 1961 top ten hit “Flamingo Express.” Bob became a member of the Royaltones in 1962. Led by the saxophone of George Katsakis the Royaltones played instrumental rock n roll. They hired Bob to record with them on 24 songs released between 19. He brought in his upright bass to play with them. He heard a band called the Royaltones rehearsing in a Detroit club one day and introduced himself. With all of his musicians friends calling him “Babbittt”, he took it as his stage name. People he met for the first time thought it was his real name. In Detroit Bob picked up the nick name Bobo that morphed into Babo, Bobbitt, and finally into “Babbitt”. Bob worked construction during the day and played the clubs at night. ![]() Bob hopped a Greyhound bus to Motown in late 1957 or early 1958.ĭetroit had a lively club scene, a growing recording business, and an up and coming new R&B sound. His uncle in Michigan urged him to move, saying he could earn much more money in Detroit. But it was hard to find a good paying job without a skill and he did not want to work in the steel mills. Instead he took a job to help support his mother. The University of Pittsburgh offered him a music scholarship but he turned it down. ![]() His family moved from Mount Washington to the Glen Hazel projects. He bought a ’60 Jazz Bass and used the 1-2-4 classical fingering system until he learned to use his 3rd finger.īob’s father died when he was a high school senior. He switched from upright bass to a louder and easier to transport electric bass guitar at age 17. He began by sitting in with a group led by a black sax player in a club and began working weekends with them. At age 15 Bob began performing in Pittsburgh area nightclubs. He spent a lot of time playing along to listening to R&B songs played on Pittsburgh radio by Porky Chedwick and Mary Dee and others. His first paying job as musician was with a gypsy band.Īs a teen Bob turned to rhythm-and-blues playing influenced by Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk” and Red Prysock’s “Hand Clappin'”. Bob sites his early influences as Pittsburgh bassist Ray Brown and Charles Mingus.īob was frequently asked to sit in with Hungarian gypsy groups at Hungarians clubs that he went to with his family. which featured the top Pittsburgh area high school musicians. During his three high school years from 1953 to 1955 Bob played classical upright bass in the Pittsburgh Symphony Jr. Bob then studied for three years with the principle bassist for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Anthony Bianco. He took private classical bass lessons for two years from a female bass player who was the main bass player at the Pennsylvania College for Woman. Both of his parents sang in gypsy bands and their gypsy music was constantly heard on the family radio and record player.īob learned the upright bass in elementary school and played in his elementary school orchestra. Bob earliest music influences were his parent’s gypsy music and classical music. His parents had immigrated to America from Hungary and his dad found work as bricklayer. Washington and Beltzhoover neighborhoods and graduated from South Hills High School. J– Bob Babbitt (Funk Brothers) was born Robert Kreinar on Novemin Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in the Mt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |