Bob Welch | The Unsung Hero of Fleetwood Mac 

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He should have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with others members of FM. Very underrated artist.

I emailed Bob Welch after the Hall of Fame snub and told him he had fans all.over the world who thoight he deserved to be honoured. He had the courtesy to write back and thank me. Great man and fantastoc musician and songwriter. Nightwatch is truly beautiful.

The Bob Welch years were the best. The Bob Welch iterations were the best by far!!!

Bob basically carried the Mac for 4 years. Their work from Future Games to Heroes wouldn’t be anywhere near as memorable or interesting if it weren’t for his songs. God rest his soul

Bob was my Godfather, thank you for this video. He was a fantastic mentor and real friend. He did remote viewing at the Monroe Institute, and turned me on to Terence McKenna and William Cooper of all people in the 90's.

To me, Hypnotized was his outstanding masterpiece. I bought the Mystery To Me album when it was first released and it still holds pride of place in my collection.

Saw the penguin tour with Dave walker!! Welch kicked ass!! Awesome guitarist! With a white double neck Gibson!! RIP

Without Bob Fleetwood Mac doesn’t make it to superstardom.

You got that right brother! Bob should be in the RR Hall of Fame. Who knows, Fleetwood Mac might have just faded into obscurity without Bob's artistic creative, and quite unique music.

Great player, singer, and songwriter. His stuff was always "cool and hip." Future Games, Hypnotized, Ebony Eyes, Solitaire, Bright Fire, and Angel are always in the regular playlist. The mark of a great artist is the timelessness of their music. RIP Bob and keep jamming in the great beyond. 🎸🤟

Having graduated high school in 1973 I still think some of the best music Fleetwood Mac made was with Bob Welch...

Bob was THE BEST and most diverse songwriter FM ever had, hands down

I love Bob, since the early years. I'm 70 now and will be a memory just like him. But his Star shines so bright. What makes a song really good? Melody, Bob had melody at his finger tips, in his blood. He was Fleetwood Mac.

Bob and Christine brought a ‘pop’ factor to the band that paved the way for their 70s shoot to the top.

To my ears, the greatest song that Fleetwood Mac ever had, was hypnotized.....

Bob's band Paris was really good too. Apparently he had a very difficult life and death towards the end. He did not deserve that. What a huge talent.

I'm obsessed . Thank you for making this!! It seems most people don't know about Bob 🤦🖕 99.9% of America thinks Fleetwood Mac was always Buckingham/Nicks 🥴

I originally met Bob Welch in the summer of 1965. I was the drummer in a band from Oregon, The Seven Souls. We made the decision to relocate to L.A. in 1965. Our guitar player, Ray Tusken, was recently married and did not want to relocate. Bob Welch took the position of our guitar player. He was a quiet, laid back guy and quite likable. His well known father in the entertainment world, who produced Bob Hope movies, had passed away. His mother, a well known actress, and his sister, Maggie, were living in L.A.; both very nice people. Bob helped to write several songs, which we recorded. We were set to tour with Henry Mancini and The Righteous Bros. in 1966. However, the Vietnam war intervened, and Bill Deiz [bass player], and myself, were drafted at the end of 1965. One of our recordings was eventually entered into the Northern Soul Hall Of Fame. The band did its best to continue on with replacement musicians, but it did not work out. However, as timing and fate would have it, this negative situation proved to be a positive event in the life of Bob Welch. When I knew Bob, he was very polite, musically gifted, clean cut, nice to be around. He did not drink alcohol to excess and he was not into drugs. The same applied to all in our band. I feel that Bob was most deserving of being inducted into the Hall Of Fame, along with the others of Fleetwood Mac. it is sad that he was not.

The rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame has shown their true colors! There’s absolutely no reason they should’ve excluded him and he had a solo career. He was the glue that held Fleetwood Mac together before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham came on board!! Once again that organization has become a sham! So many artists Have been snubbed over the years it’s mine boggling. It’s a museum of music and future generations deserve to know who he was including that he wrote songs for Fleetwood Mac!

And he was an excellent guitar player

Agreed. Bob Welch wrote some stellar songs, plus adding that jazzy Wes Montgomery sound on Hypnotized. Bad snub by the R'R Hall of Fame people. Sad that he, Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, & Danny Kirwan are eclipsed in memory by the Buckingham/Nicks era.

You didn’t mention the band Paris, he formed after leaving Fleetwood Mac. It was with ex-Jethro Tull bassist, Glenn Cornick. They recorded two excellent albums in 1976.

Hall of Fame snub was 1998. but thanks for making this about my dear friend.

Brilliant musician. And IMHO opinion the savior of Fleetwood Mac for years. If you listen...this is clear to hear.

I still listen to "Hypnotized" at least once a week. Eternal.

The Welch years with Fleetwood Mac are the best. First FM song I heard was "Morning Rain".. 'Future Games' was one of the first few albums I got, and always played both sides beginning to end. There was a 'shift' between 'Bare Trees' and 'Penguin'... maybe because Danny was gone. 'Heroes' (IMO) was the last good FM album. When Bob died, I had to put on "Coming Home" - don't know who wrote the lyrics, but they hit me after Christine passed a couple days ago.. like a message from beyond for Danny, Bob, and Christine (there's a great live version on youtube). Bob's voice and guitar work on this song are ethereal.. never been able to figure out/find the intro lyrics.. seems to end w/"any possible reason to destroy you".. beautiful and haunting song. *Coming Home* We are the hungry ones On a campground that's been and gone Where are all the faces I knew? All the heroes in the bright burning truth Makes you feel real, real good in your bones When the hunger stops, and the truth is known My life, my light is coming home Yeah, coming home

I bought one of Mr. Welch's solo albums and saw him in concert once as an opening act. I was quite impressed. Sad to hear that he couldn't bear to live any longer. That's show biz.

What a great version of this band ... loved this time.

I'm a big Bob Welch fan loved his style and was shocked to hear of his death in 2012, I happened to be living in Los Angeles at that time and off the road myself.

Legend..I ran right out and bought his vinyl..

Awesome musician. Totally underrated.

What a selfless, class act of a person he was.

Bob Welch's dad was a known film producer or director. It was assumed that Bob would follow in his dad's footsteps. Saw FM in Seattle. It's a shame that Bob didn't find a specialist in acupuncture. My uncle found it was the most reliable thing for treating back problems. Each treatment lasted between a year & a year & a half.

Bob was great very cool guy

Always enjoyed his music... fantastic talent and may he rock on in 🎉

He was so much better than what came after, but the band wanted to go into that pop sound, there was/is WAY more money in it. He was the bridge that got them there.

I have been obsessed with Bob Welch since i found "Ebony Eyes" in 2010. I love his Fleetwood Mac material better than anything else they did. He had a great style. Everything he did was quality , imho. Paris was so great . I prefer Paris to Led Zepplin and i think that was the point of Paris. Bob loved Led Zeppelin and wanted a hard rock band intgat style .( I could be wrong about that though. I know he said his favorite rock bands were Led Zeppelin and Van Halen during a 1999 internet interview) I think Bob is criminally underrated and should have been inducted into the RnRHoF. Would love to tell Bob how much i love his work

Great choice of an artist to do a video on. You help ensure that Bob is remembered.

wow, i knew none of this! extremely well done. thanks for sharing!

I saw him with Fleetwood Mac Spirit West, Bruce, & Laing Phila. Spectrum November 1972

Extremely over the top information. Welch was fantastic.

Nice testimonial. He was there on some of my favorite FM albums. Mystery to Me is a Rock of album.

Love you brother Bob. Miss you and your music. ❤

What's important is the joy that music brings to listeners. The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame has nothing to do with that!

Saw the band live with a few different line-ups. I felt the best shows were those that included Bob Welch.

My favorite Bob Welch songs are currently PARIS songs. Both albums are beyond awesome. 1. Blue Robin 2. Religion 3. Big Towne, 2061 4. Heart of Stone 5. Slave Trader

this totally confirms what i thought way back before FM hit the big time.

I could not subscribe fast enough.. you actually made a video about my hero, Bob Welch 😊😊

Welch was totally screwed by not being included with Fleetwood Mac’s HOF induction. There would have been no future for Fleetwood Mac without his involvement. And his period completely set the tone for the direction of the band. He really was the bridge between the original band and the Buckingham/Nicks era. We aren’t talking about a brief secondary member of the band, we are talking about a leading member and songwriter/frontman for multiple albums. He should not have been excluded.

Thank you...

Always loved Bob Welch's music with Hypnotized and Sentimental Lady my favourites. It is sad that Bob isn't included with the rest of Fleetwood Mac in the Hall Of Fame.

Sad ending for a great artist. RIP.

Always has been one of my favs. My heart broke to hear of his pain and eventual suicide. Rip.

I first heard Bob Welch when he was in Fleetwood Mac and loved his songs. When he went solo I was not surprised by his fame. French Kiss probably had the sexiest album cover ever and Three Hearts was close behind. The music was very good on both of these albums. My only regret was not seeing him in concert.

Fleetwood Mac with him was when I first became a fan of the band

Bob Welch is my favorite member of Fleetwood Mac.

PLAY ON was an awesome book by Mick!!

❤️❤️❤️ Bob Welch is so underrated and unsung. Thank you for this

He was magical on so many levels. Brilliant man. Future Games was the BEST, then Bare Trees, indeed. There was ok stuff later, but these two albums were the treatures.

Thanks for making this mini-doc, Bob is definitely an oft overlooked yet very important member of Fleetwood Mac and their history. So many great, deep cuts made during that 1971-1974 era.

Great story, well-produced and written. Thx for shining a light on one of rock's forgotten heroes.I thought I knew the Mac backstory well-enough, but learned a lot from your vid. R I P, Christine McVie and Bob Welch.

Love this channel. Bob has great songs on every album he was part of. Check out "Like Rain"

Thank you for the video

Another great video man. Really glad to see you shining the light on the likes of McVie and Welch, who really are unsung heroes. Keep up the good work!

Great video! Nice, factual timeline of his progression as an artist and up to his sad, and untimely death. He was a true artist and he is missed greatly by so many of us. Thanks for this ♥️🎸🎤🎶

I liked this video, immensely. This was as accurate as I have seen. Loved the band, from its first inception. ‘Bare Trees,’ was such a great album, as was ‘Mystery To Me.’ Welch was so underrated.

Always loved Bob.

I love his vocal style and his tone (Sort of a talking-singing style). One of my all time favorite songs by FWM was during the Bob Welch era (1971-1974) and is entitled Hypnotized from thier Mystery To Me record (1973) which was certified Gold in 1975 by the RIAA. Sadly, Bob Welch committed suicide on June 7, 2012, fearing a spinal surgery would leave him an invalid thus burdening his wife.

In general People don’t realize, due to inaccurate reports, that FM were steadily getting more and more of a following in the US leading up to 1975. Bob and Christine basically set the stage for the supernova that FM would become. A lot of the material from this period sounded a lot like 1975-Tusk. I think.

Bare Trees was my fav by FM & one of my favorite albums period. 🌳

thank you for this video! I love Bob Welch's music!

Bare Trees is awesome , still listening . This group was the perfect bridge to modern Fleetwood Mac . I saw a great show at the Whiskey

Skipped over Penquin and 2 Paris albums ... 3 of Bob's best.

Bob had early influences on the band FleetwoodMac, but his attendance was short, as with Peter Green, both great musicians. But Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had a much bigger affect on FWM, as well as Christine McVee. The Rumors album was by far FWMs best album, and most likely one of the top 100 rock albums of all time. The later FleetwoodMac was the best, by far.

Thanks for the video. I love Bob Welch and you did a great job on this video 🙂 Edit: i just looked at a comment below and thought "wow, someone else considers Bob their hero.....'' Haha that is my old YT account. Phillynott2459 is me , Alan 😊

Not in the same league as Peter Green or Danny kirwan as either a guitarist or singer. However Bob made some good contributions.

Future Games is a great work...but those Fleewood Mac guitarists all seemed to fall apart...it's like playing keyboards for the Dead...dangerous.Bob Welch is a treasure ...rock on dear comrade

FM never had or needed a revival, they are ubiquitous

It’s not like the members of Fleetwood Mac hated him, I mean Christine McVie & also Lindsay Buckingham who couldn’t have known him well DID help him out by singing background vocals to his most famous song “Sentimental Lady”. So that was nice on their part & Nicks for her part did have some nice things to say when she learned of his death. She couldn’t have known him all that well either although she said she did. But I’m sure his lawsuit was way after then anyway but still I don’t think Christine would’ve held a grudge to help keep Bob out of the ROFH. I’m not sure how she felt about him then & now but I don’t see her being that type. Mick? Yeah kinda, Lindsay wouldn’t have known the man well enough to to care, plus it was pre his era. John McVie? Who knows maybe. But I still get sad about Bob now & then but this is life. . After all Pete Best never got inducted either, so would you blame Lennon or McCartney? Their respective former bands transitioned into a different era that succeeded both of them so it’s common sense they wouldn’t be thought of in regards to what both bands, Beatles.& Mac would eventually become. Fleetwood Mac with Bob Welch was one thing, but what they were without him was a whole different animal & like it or not their greatness is rightfully going to be considered sans Welch than with him. So as Dylan wrote, Let us stop talking falsely now, the hours getting late. Is life fair no? Do I like it no? But it is what it is, time to let it be.

Bob was the Cyrano de Bergerac of pop

He is a RnR hall of Fame in my book. It's Mick's felt he' not in it. Mick would be in the poor house if it were not for the song writers in the band, and that includes Bob Welsh

Unfortunately, Bob was talked into suing Fleetwood Mac in the early '90s, but by doing do, he ruined his chances for 'Hall of Fame' induction a few years later. I agree with everybody else though, he was instrumental in bringing to band to America.

F the Hall of Fame..Jann WANKER and the merry band of Elitist music 🎶 Snobs...Love u Bob...yiu done good Matt NYC 👏

Matter is neither created nor destroyed in this universe. Is energy matter? Is the soul energy? Are souls a real thing? Where’s Bob Walsh now?

Heartboy , absolutely agree

I still remain a Welch fan. His terminal illness led him to suicide, maybe the reason why the snobbish R&R Hall of Fame didn't include him when the band was inducted. Very sad.

He will get into the HoF. Has to.

The only FM album that I own is "Heroes are Hard to Find".

Bob Welch snubbed by The Grammys. Another instance of "the grammy awards" having little to no relevance. Degraded to a popularity contest and just another consumerist song and dance. However, "music fans" seem to think "the grammys" are a gold standard of some sort. There is NO accounting for musical taste.

Have a listen to Bob's jawdroppingly beautiful solo on Christine's 'Why' (from Mystery To Me) on his final live performance with the band - recorded at the Record Plant in 1974 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8JIsyNGwWVc.html A worthy heir to Greeny and Danny indeed. RIP Bob, Christine, Danny and Peter.

*~ BOB WELCH ~*

He should have been inducted into the RRHOF with the other members of FM, that was just flat out wrong. It seems like there's more stupid politics surrounding that place than in DC. He was a crucial "bridge" for the band between Peter Green and Buckingham/Nicks incarnations. As you correctly point out, it's unlikely they would have survived without his contributions, which were extremely significant, he was clearly much more than just some "hired gun" guitar slinger.

His looks changed alot into the 80's. It almost looks as if he got a hairpiece or implants? He was great though and maybe the best period for them.

No excuse for his HoF exclusion.

It would have been so easy to induct bob in HOF. Shake my %*#@!÷ head

I am into the Peter Green and Bob Welch years in Fleetwood Mac. Never cared for the Buckingham/Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac.

there wasn't anything mentioned about the group, PARIS that he formed in the late 1970's🤨....both albums sold well. 😄

Kirwin

Number one...Jeremy Spenser is still alive and well. You must have meant Danny Kirwan.