Wayback Wednesday: Bob Seger
A milestone birthday for Bob Seger, who turns 75 on May 6th! Born in Detroit, Michigan he worked in some local bands in his teens, and then formed Bob Seger and The Last Heard. They had a local success with “East Side Story”, and then signed with Cameo-Parkway Records, which a few years before had been the home of Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, and others. He released “Heavy Music” in 1967, which had the potential to break out nationally, when suddenly, Cameo-Parkway went out of business! In 1968, Seger was signed to Capitol Records, which changed the name of the band to The Bob Seger System. His first single, “2+2+?” Became a big hit in Detroit, Buffalo, and Orlando, but never charted nationally. Then, his 2nd single “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” became his first national hit, peaking at #17 in 1969.
After that, though it would be 8 years, and 9 albums before Seger returned to the charts. Meantime he’d formed The Silver Bullet Band, and his Beautiful Loser album was a success, followed by the Live Bullet LP recorded in concert in Detroit which really made his reputation. Rock N’Roll stardom finally followed..he’s sold more than 75 million records worldwide…with 13 platinum and 7 multi-platinum sales awards. One of his biggest singles was 1978’s “Still The Same”, and we salute Bob Seger on his birthday with a live version of it here on Wayback Wednesday.
