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{{Short description|American folk singer (1931–1996)}}
[[image:Bob Gibson c 1960 (JJH).jpg|right|150px|thumb|Bob Gibson<br>circa 1960]]'''Samuel Robert ("Bob") Gibson''' ([[November 16]], [[1931]] – [[September 28]], [[1996]]) was a folk singer who led a [[folk music]] revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the [[Twelve string guitar|12-string guitar]]. He introduced [[Joan Baez]] at the [[Newport Folk Festival]] of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade from 1956 to 1965. His best known album, ''Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn'', was released in 1961. His songs have been recorded by, among others, [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], [[Simon & Garfunkel]], the [[The Byrds|Byrds]], the [[Smothers Brothers]], and the [[The Kingston Trio|Kingston Trio]]. His career was interrupted by his addiction to drugs. After getting sober in 1978, he attempted a comeback, but the musical scene had changed and his traditional style of folk music was out of favor with young audiences. He did, however, continue his artistic career with albums, musicals, plays, and television performances. In 1993 he was diagnosed with [[progressive supranuclear palsy]] (PSP). He died from PSP on September 28, 1996 in Portland, Oregon.
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Bob Gibson
| image = Bob Gibson c 1960 (JJH).jpg
| image_upright = 0.8
| caption = Bob Gibson, circa 1960
| birth_name = Samuel Robert Gibson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|11|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Brooklyn]], New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1996|9|28|1931|11|16}}
| death_place = [[Portland, Oregon]], U.S.
| genre = [[Folk music|Folk]]
| occupation = Singer, songwriter
| instrument = Guitar, banjo
| years_active =
| label = [[Riverside Records|Riverside]], [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]
| past_member_of = [[Hamilton Camp]]
| website = {{URL|bobgibsonlegacy.com}}
}}


'''Samuel Robert Gibson''' (November 16, 1931 – September 28, 1996) was an American folk singer and a key figure in the [[folk music]] revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His principal instruments were [[banjo]] and [[Twelve string guitar|12-string guitar]].
==The road to Chicago==
Bob Gibson was born on November 16, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in various communities outside New York City - [[Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York | Tuckahoe]], [[Yorktown Heights, New York | Yorktown Heights]], and Tompkins Corners, [[Putnam County, New York]]. He had two siblings - an older sister, Anne, and a younger brother, Jim. His early interest in music was, primarily, vocal. He left high school in his senior year and hitchhiked around the country. Eventually returning to New York City, Gibson became a partner in a firm that taught speed reading where he was responsible for sales and public relations. In 1953 Gibson met Pete Seeger. Gibson was so impressed with Seeger and his music, he "took the money I had set aside for rent" and bought a banjo.<ref>Gibson (2001) p. 3</ref> After deciding to leave his job, Gibson taught himself to play the banjo over the next year, became immersed in the study of folk music, and became a performer at the age of 22. After performing briefly in New York City, he traveled to Miami, Florida and played in various clubs. Next, Gibson performed from Cleveland to New York and was eventually hired at the Green Door in Michigan City, Indiana (50 miles east of Chicago). He then found an agent in Chicago and was booked into the Offbeat Room in Chicago.


He introduced a then-unknown [[Joan Baez]] at the [[Newport Folk Festival]] of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade from 1956 to 1965. His best known album, ''Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn'', was released in 1961. His songs have been recorded by, among others, [[The Limeliters]], [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], [[Simon & Garfunkel]] ('You Can Tell The World'), [[The Seekers]], [[The Byrds]], [[Smothers Brothers|The Smothers Brothers]], [[Phil Ochs]], [[The Kingston Trio]] and [[Bob Dylan]].
==The glory years==
Gibson first met [[Albert Grossman]] while performing at the Offbeat Room. Grossman had an idea for a folk club on the near north side of Chicago and, in 1956, opened the [[Gate of Horn]]. In the third week after opening, Grossman booked Gibson into the club. He began a continuous performing streak that lasted eleven months. Beginning as an opener for many of the acts, by the end of his eleven-month stay, Gibson was the headliner, closing for everyone.


His career was interrupted by his addiction to drugs and alcohol. After getting sober he attempted a comeback in 1978, but the musical scene had changed and his traditional style of folk music was out of favor with young audiences. He did, however, continue his artistic career with albums, musicals, plays, and television performances. In 1993, he was diagnosed with [[progressive supranuclear palsy]] (PSP), and died of that disease on September 28, 1996, at the age of 64.
Grossman had a knack for finding talent. This list of performers he booked into The Gate of Horn included [[Josh White]], [[Glenn Yarborough]], [[Odetta]], [[Joan Baez]] (which led to his inviting the then unknown performer to join him at the 1959 [[Newport Folk Festival]]), [[Hamilton Camp]], and [[Judy Collins]]. Grossman had "scouted" Bob Gibson for his club, but he could not imagine the headline act that Gibson would become.
Bob Gibson was on his way to becoming a legend in Chicago in the early 1960s, helped along by a talented singer and songwriter, [[Hamilton Camp]]. In 1961 their debut album was released on Electra Records, ''Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn''. A watershed album, it influenced singers from [[John Lennon]] to [[Gordon Lightfoot]] to [[John Denver]].


==The demons==
==Biography==
Gibson was born on November 16, 1931, in [[Brooklyn]], New York,<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=968}}</ref> between his older sister Anne and younger brother Jim. He and his siblings grew up in various communities outside New York City – [[Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York|Tuckahoe]], [[Yorktown Heights, New York|Yorktown Heights]], and [[Tompkins Corners, New York|Tompkins Corners]]. His early interest in music was primarily vocal. He left high school in his senior year and [[hitchhiking|hitchhiked]] around the country.
⚫
Bob was an abuser of alcohol even in his teens. He had also experimented with drugs. By the time of his rise to success in Chicago he was a heavy user of [[Amphetamine|speed]]. "Drugs were never recreational for me. My use of them from the beginning was abusive ... ".<ref>Gibson (2001) p. 90</ref> His drug use escalated when he discovered heroin. Gibson was in and out of jails in Canada, Chicago, and Cleveland for various drug-related charges. In the mid 1960s, Gibson began a three-year period of complete isolation where drugs were his only priority. From 1969 to 1978, Gibson tried repeatedly to restart his career, but his addictions made it impossible. During this period he tried often, but unsuccessfully, to get sober. He knew that he needed structure, but, at first, disavowing God he rejected [[Alcoholics Anonymous|AA]]. In 1978 he attended an AA meeting in Cleveland and learned to live a life without alcohol and drugs.


Back in New York City in the late 1940s, Gibson took a job at a firm that taught speed reading, where he was responsible for sales and public relations. In 1952, he met and married his wife Rose, who quickly bore three daughters – Barbara (who changed her name to [[Meridian Green]]), Pati, and Susan. In 1953, he met [[Pete Seeger]] and helped him rebuild his house. So impressed was Gibson with Seeger and his music that he "took the money I had set aside for rent" (to Rose's chagrin) and bought a [[banjo]].<ref>Bender C, Gibson R. ''Bob Gibson: I Come For To Sing''. Firebird Press (2001), pp. 3–18. {{ISBN|1565549082}}</ref> He quit his job, became immersed in the study of folk music, and taught himself to play the banjo over the next year. At the age of 22 he began performing at schools, ladies' social clubs, lounges, and cabarets in New York, Miami, [[Cleveland]], and aboard cruise ships traveling to various Caribbean islands. Eventually he was hired at the Green Door in [[Michigan City, Indiana]], 50 miles east of Chicago.
==Sobriety and comeback==
In 1978 Gibson gave up drugs for good. A musical comeback, however, was not to be. In the early 1960s, Bob Gibson was at the center of the folk music universe, influencing everyone around him. By 1978 there was an audience that was an entirely new generation. Although many remembered Gibson, he was never again to capture the mass public appeal of his early 1960s period. He did embark, however, on one of the most productive periods of his career.


In 1955, he was booked into the Off-Beat Room in Chicago, where he met [[Albert Grossman]]. In 1956, Grossman opened the folk club [[Gate of Horn]] on the near north side of Chicago, where Gibson performed for eleven months, starting as an opener for many of the acts and later becoming the headliner. Grossman booked numerous talented performers into Gate of Horn, including [[Josh White]], [[Glenn Yarborough]], [[Odetta]], [[Hamilton Camp]], [[Judy Collins]], and [[Joan Baez]]. Gibson brought Baez to the 1959 [[Newport Folk Festival]] and introduced her for the first time to a national audience.<ref name=pc19>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19769/m1/ |title=Show 19 – Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music. [Part 2]}}</ref>
⚫
==Illness==
⚫
Starting about 1990, Gibson started to experience the symptoms of an illness that would not be diagnosed until three years later. Loss of balance and falling was one of Gibson's first symptoms. Later, his vision and then his voice were affected. Living near Mendocino, doctors were unsuccessful in diagnosing or treating him. In 1994 he entered the [[Mayo Clinic]] in Jacksonville, Florida where he was diagnosed with [[Progressive supranuclear palsy]] (PSP). With only 20,000 people in the United States with PSP, there was very little research money available for study of the disease. Bob moved from "my favorite place to live (Gibson, page 211)" to Portland, Oregon where some research was being done on PSP.


Gibson steadily gained recognition in Chicago in the early 1960s, aided by Camp. In 1961 their debut album, ''Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn'', was released on Elektra Records.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> A watershed album, it influenced singers from [[John Lennon]] and [[Gordon Lightfoot]] to [[John Denver]].{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Lightfoot's "[[Canadian Railroad Trilogy]]" was patterned more or less opposite to Gibson and Camp's "Civil War Trilogy".<ref>Lightfoot,
⚫
Failing from his illness, Gibson invited many of his friends to a farewell concert on September 20, 1996 in Chicago. His letter to his friends included this paragraph.
Gordon, ''Gordon Lightfoot Complete Greatest Hits – CD Booklet Page 5'', Warner Bros. Records Inc. & Rhino Entertainment Company 2002</ref>


[[Art D'Lugoff]] opened the iconic [[Village Gate]] in New York City in 1958, and Gibson and Camp became regular performers there. After they rejected D'Lugoff's suggestion that they add a female voice to their duo, he gave the same recommendation to [[Peter Yarrow]] and [[Paul Stookey]]; the resulting trio, [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], was deeply influenced by Gibson's music. Yarrow later said of his friend, "When you listen to PPM, you are hearing Bob Gibson."{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
⚫
<blockquote>"This may be the last chance I have to see many of you. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do the simplest things and traveling is really a challenge. I won't be able to play and sing with you, but I'm really looking forward to being an audience of one!"<ref>Gibson (2001) p. 239</ref></blockquote>


[[Shel Silverstein]], then a cartoonist at ''[[Playboy]]'', was a regular fan and captured Gibson's attention when he completed lyrics to an unfinished Gibson tune. Gibson and Silverstein became close friends and writing partners, writing over 200 songs over the next 35 years. Their last joint project in [[Nashville]] in 1993 was the album ''Makin' A Mess'', produced by Silverstein and [[Kyle Lehning]] and released on [[Asylum Records]]. The last cut, "Whistlers and Jugglers and Singers of Song," was a last-minute substitution when Silverstein realized how ill his friend was. It was written about the relationship of "the trio from out of our past", about a girl who always loved a singer and got together with him several years prior to his death.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
The concert was held. Bob tired early, struggled to rise and say goodnight, and received a standing ovation. One week later, on September 28, 1996 Gibson died in Portland, Oregon.

===Drug abuse===
⚫
Gibson began abusing [[recreational drug use|drugs]] and [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] as a teenager. By the time of his rise to success in Chicago, he was a heavy user of [[amphetamines]]. "Drugs were never recreational for me," he wrote. "My use of them from the beginning was abusive."<ref>Bender and Gibson (2001), p. 90.</ref> His drug use escalated when he discovered heroin. Gibson was in and out of jails in Canada, (which led to his Christmas carol "Box of Candy and a Piece of Fruit"){{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Chicago, and [[Cleveland]], for various drug-related charges. In the mid-1960s, he began a three-year period of complete isolation where drugs were his only priority. From 1969 to 1978, he tried repeatedly to restart his career, but his addictions made it impossible. In 1978, he attended an [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] meeting in Cleveland and eventually regained his sobriety. A musical comeback, however, was not to be. While he had been a popular and high-profile performer in the 1960s—as well as an important influence on other musicians—by 1978, interest in his purely acoustic folk-styled music had waned significantly. Although many remembered Gibson and he recorded several albums of new music over the next several years, he was never again to capture the mass public appeal of his early 1960s period.

⚫
===Illness and death===
⚫
Around 1990, Gibson began to experience loss of balance, frequent falls, and other [[neurological]] symptoms. Later, his vision and then his voice were affected. In 1994 he entered the [[Mayo Clinic]] in [[Jacksonville, Florida]] where a diagnosis of [[progressive supranuclear palsy]] (PSP) was made. With only 20,000 PSP patients in the United States (as opposed, for example, to 500,000 with [[Parkinson's disease]]), it was an "[[orphan disease]]" and therefore the object of little research. Gibson moved from "my favorite place to live ([[Mendocino, California]])" to [[Portland, Oregon]] where PSP was being studied.<ref>Bender and Gibson (2001), pp. 211–4.</ref>

⚫
As his illness advanced, Gibson invited many of his friends to a farewell "hootenanny" on September 20, 1996, in Chicago:

⚫
<blockquote>This may be the last chance I have to see many of you. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do the simplest things and traveling is really a challenge. I won't be able to play and sing with you, but I'm really looking forward to being an audience of one!<ref>Bender and Gibson (2001), p. 239</ref></blockquote>

[[Studs Terkel]] served as host for the event.<ref>Roger Ebert in [http://www.slate.com/articles/arts_and_life/diary/features/1998/roger_ebert/_3.html Slate.com], April 8, 1998. Retrieved June 1, 2015.</ref> Gibson tired early, struggled to rise and say goodnight, and received a standing ovation. One week later, on September 28, 1996, he died at the home of his daughter, Susan, in Portland.

In 1997, Gibson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously by the [[World Folk Music Association]].<ref name="noble">{{Cite book|title=Number No. 1 : the story of the original Highwaymen|last=Noble|first=Richard E.|publisher=Outskirts Press|year=2009|isbn=9781432738099|location=Denver|page=161|oclc=426388468}}</ref>


==Discography==
==Discography==
Legend: CD (compact disc); CS (cassette); LP (33 1/3 long play)
Legend: CD (compact disc); CS (cassette); LP (33{{fraction|1|3}} long play)
*''Offbeat Folksongs'' (Riverside, 1956) LP
*''Offbeat Folksongs'' (Riverside, 1956) LP
*''I Come for to Sing'' (Riverside, 1957) LP
*''I Come for to Sing'' (Riverside, 1957) LP
*''Carnegie Concert'' (Riverside, 1957) LP
*''Carnegie Concert'' (Riverside, 1957) LP
*''Folksongs of Ohio'' (Stinson Records, 1957) 10" LP - ''Note: Released without Bob Gibson's permission''
*''Folksongs of Ohio'' ([[Stinson Records]], 1957) 10" LP – ''Note: Released without Bob Gibson's permission''
*''There's A Meetin' Here Tonight'' (Riverside, 1958) LP
*''There's A Meetin' Here Tonight'' (Riverside, 1958) LP
*''Ski Songs'' (Elektra, 1959) LP
*''Ski Songs'' (Elektra, 1959) LP
*''Yes I See'' (Elektra, 1961) LP
*''Yes I See'' (Elektra, 1961) LP
*''Bob Gibson and [[Hamilton Camp|Bob Camp]] at The Gate of Horn'' (Elektra, 1961) LP
*''Bob Gibson and [[Hamilton Camp|Bob Camp]] at The Gate of Horn'' (Elektra, 1961) LP
*''Folksongs of Ohio'' (Stinson Records, 1963 reissue of earlier 10" LP) LP - ''Note: Re-released also without Bob Gibson's permission''
*''Folksongs of Ohio'' (Stinson Records, 1963 reissue of earlier 10" LP) LP – ''Note: Re-released also without Bob Gibson's permission''
*''Hootenanny at Carnegie'' (Riverside, 1963 reissue of ''Carnegie Concert'') LP
*''Hootenanny at Carnegie'' (Riverside, 1963 reissue of ''Carnegie Concert'') LP
*''Where I'm Bound'' (Elektra, 1964) LP
*''Where I'm Bound'' (Elektra, 1964) LP
*''Bob Gibson'' (Capitol, 1970) LP
*''Bob Gibson'' (Capitol, 1970) LP
*''Funky in the Country'' (Legend Enterprises, 1974) LP
*''Funky in the Country'' (Legend Enterprises, 1974) LP – recorded live at [[Amazingrace Coffeehouse]]
*''Gibson & Camp, Homemade Music (Mountain Railroad Records, 1978) LP
*''Gibson & Camp, Homemade Music'' (Mountain Railroad Records, 1978) LP
*''The Perfect High'' (Mountain Railroad Records, 1980) LP
*''The Perfect High'' (Mountain Railroad Records, 1980) LP
*''Uptown Saturday Night'' (Hogeye Records, 1984) LP
*''Uptown Saturday Night'' (Hogeye Records, 1984) LP
*''Best of Friends'' (1984, on CD, Appleseed Records, 2004), with [[Tom Paxton]] and [[Anne Hills]]
*''Best of Friends'' (1984, on CD, Appleseed Records, 2004), with [[Tom Paxton]] and [[Anne Hills]]
*''Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn &mdash; Revisited!'' (B*G Records, 1986) CS
*''Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn – Revisited!'' (B*G Records, 1986) CS
*''A Child's Happy Birthday Album'' (B*G Records, 1989) CS
*''A Child's Happy Birthday Album'' (B*G Records, 1989) CS
*''Bob Gibson 5/91 - I Hear America Singing'' (Snapshot Music, 1991) CS
*''Bob Gibson 5/91 – I Hear America Singing'' (Snapshot Music, 1991) CS
*''Stops Along the Way'' (B*G Records, 1991) CS
*''Stops Along the Way'' (B*G Records, 1991) CS
*''Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn &mdash; Revisited!'' (Folk Era Productions, 1994) CD
*''Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn – Revisited!'' (Folk Era Productions, 1994) CD
*''Makin' a Mess, Bob Gibson Sings Shel Silverstein'' (Asylum Records, 1995) CD
*''Makin' a Mess, Bob Gibson Sings Shel Silverstein'' (Asylum Records, 1995) CD
*''Joy, Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson'' (Riverside, 1996) CD
*''Joy, Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson'' (Riverside, 1996) CD
*''Perfect High'' (re-release of earlier album, 1998) CD
*''Perfect High'' (re-release of earlier album, 1998) CD
*''Bob Gibson and [[Hamilton Camp|Bob Camp]] at The Gate of Horn'' ([[Collector's Choice Music|Collector's Choice]], 2002 - re-release of 1961 Elektra LP) CD
*''Bob Gibson and [[Hamilton Camp|Bob Camp]] at The Gate of Horn'' ([[Collector's Choice Music|Collector's Choice]], 2002 – re-release of 1961 Elektra LP) CD
*''Where I'm Bound'' (Collector's Choice, 2002 - re-release of 1964 Elektra LP) CD
*''Where I'm Bound'' (Collector's Choice, 2002 – re-release of 1964 Elektra LP) CD
*''The Living Legend Years'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 - compilation with selections from ''Funky in the Country'', ''Homemade Music'', ''The Perfect High'', ''Uptown Saturday Night'') CD
*''The Living Legend Years'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – compilation with selections from ''Funky in the Country'', ''Homemade Music'', ''The Perfect High'', ''Uptown Saturday Night'') CD
*''Funky in the Country'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 - re-issue of 1974 Legend LP) CD
*''Funky in the Country'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1974 Legend LP) CD
*''Homemade Music'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 - re-issue of 1978 Mountain Railroad LP) CD
*''Homemade Music'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1978 Mountain Railroad LP) CD
*''The Perfect High'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1980 Mountain Railroad LP) CD
*''Uptown Saturday Night'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1984 Hogeye LP) CD
*''Ski Songs'' (Collector's Choice, 2008 – re-issue of 1959 Elektra LP) CD
*''Yes I See'' (Collector's Choice, 2008 – re-issue of 1961 Elektra LP) CD
* ''Live at Cornell 1957'' (Rediscover Music 2011) Triple CD.


==Notes==
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
<references/>

==References==
==References==
*Gibson, Bob and Carole Bender. ''BOB GIBSON: I Come For To Sing''. Pelican Publishing Company: Gretna, Louisiana 2001. ISBN 1-56554-908-2.
*Gibson, Bob and Carole Bender. ''BOB GIBSON: I Come For To Sing''. Pelican Publishing Company: Gretna, Louisiana 2001. {{ISBN|1-56554-908-2}}.
*Lightfoot, Gordon, ''Gordon Lightfoot Complete Greatest Hits – CD Booklet Page 5'', Warner Bros. Records Inc. & Rhino Entertainment Company 2002


==External links==
==External links==
⚫
*[http://bobgibsonlegacy.com/ Bob Gibson Legacy – Official Web Site]

⚫
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051217152946/http://www.folkera.com/bobgibson/ Folk Era Records]
⚫
*[http://bobgibsonlegacy.com/ Bob Gibson Legacy - Official Web Site]
⚫
*[http://www.folkera.com/bobgibson/ Folk Era Records]
*[http://www.richieunterberger.com/gibsoncamp.html Liner notes from Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn]
*[http://www.richieunterberger.com/gibsoncamp.html Liner notes from Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn]
*[http://www.themusicofamerica.org The Music of America]
*[http://www.themusicofamerica.org The Music of America]
*[https://anchor.fm/mal-bellairs/episodes/Mal-chats-with-musician-Bob-Gibson-e1c679p/a-a75biip Mal Bellairs radio interview December 27, 1980]


{{Authority control}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Bob}}


⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Bob}}
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[[Category:American folk musicians]]
⚫
[[Category:American folk singers]]
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from progressive supranuclear palsy]]
[[Category:American folk musicians]]
[[Category:Folk musicians from Chicago, Illinois]]
[[Category:American folk singers]]
[[Category:Burials at Rosehill Cemetery]]
[[Category:Folk musicians from Chicago]]
[[Category:Old Town School of Folk musicians]]
[[Category:Old Town School of Folk musicians]]
[[Category:The Music of America]]
[[Category:Riverside Records artists]]
[[Category:Elektra Records artists]]

[[Category:20th-century American singers]]

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[[Category:American folk guitarists]]
[[de:Bob Gibson]]
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[[Category:American banjoists]]
[[Category:American acoustic guitarists]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:People from Mendocino, California]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Chicago]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:Neurological disease deaths in Oregon]]
[[Category:Deaths from progressive supranuclear palsy]]

Latest revision as of 14:20, 16 November 2024

Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson, circa 1960
Bob Gibson, circa 1960
Background information
Birth nameSamuel Robert Gibson
Born(1931-11-16)November 16, 1931
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 28, 1996(1996-09-28) (aged 64)
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
GenresFolk
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, banjo
LabelsRiverside, Elektra
Formerly ofHamilton Camp
Websitebobgibsonlegacy.com

Samuel Robert Gibson (November 16, 1931 – September 28, 1996) was an American folk singer and a key figure in the folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His principal instruments were banjo and 12-string guitar.

He introduced a then-unknown Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade from 1956 to 1965. His best known album, Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn, was released in 1961. His songs have been recorded by, among others, The Limeliters, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon & Garfunkel ('You Can Tell The World'), The Seekers, The Byrds, The Smothers Brothers, Phil Ochs, The Kingston Trio and Bob Dylan.

His career was interrupted by his addiction to drugs and alcohol. After getting sober he attempted a comeback in 1978, but the musical scene had changed and his traditional style of folk music was out of favor with young audiences. He did, however, continue his artistic career with albums, musicals, plays, and television performances. In 1993, he was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and died of that disease on September 28, 1996, at the age of 64.

Biography

[edit]

Gibson was born on November 16, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York,[1] between his older sister Anne and younger brother Jim. He and his siblings grew up in various communities outside New York City – Tuckahoe, Yorktown Heights, and Tompkins Corners. His early interest in music was primarily vocal. He left high school in his senior year and hitchhiked around the country.

Back in New York City in the late 1940s, Gibson took a job at a firm that taught speed reading, where he was responsible for sales and public relations. In 1952, he met and married his wife Rose, who quickly bore three daughters – Barbara (who changed her name to Meridian Green), Pati, and Susan. In 1953, he met Pete Seeger and helped him rebuild his house. So impressed was Gibson with Seeger and his music that he "took the money I had set aside for rent" (to Rose's chagrin) and bought a banjo.[2] He quit his job, became immersed in the study of folk music, and taught himself to play the banjo over the next year. At the age of 22 he began performing at schools, ladies' social clubs, lounges, and cabarets in New York, Miami, Cleveland, and aboard cruise ships traveling to various Caribbean islands. Eventually he was hired at the Green Door in Michigan City, Indiana, 50 miles east of Chicago.

In 1955, he was booked into the Off-Beat Room in Chicago, where he met Albert Grossman. In 1956, Grossman opened the folk club Gate of Horn on the near north side of Chicago, where Gibson performed for eleven months, starting as an opener for many of the acts and later becoming the headliner. Grossman booked numerous talented performers into Gate of Horn, including Josh White, Glenn Yarborough, Odetta, Hamilton Camp, Judy Collins, and Joan Baez. Gibson brought Baez to the 1959 Newport Folk Festival and introduced her for the first time to a national audience.[3]

Gibson steadily gained recognition in Chicago in the early 1960s, aided by Camp. In 1961 their debut album, Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn, was released on Elektra Records.[1] A watershed album, it influenced singers from John Lennon and Gordon Lightfoot to John Denver.[citation needed] Lightfoot's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" was patterned more or less opposite to Gibson and Camp's "Civil War Trilogy".[4]

Art D'Lugoff opened the iconic Village Gate in New York City in 1958, and Gibson and Camp became regular performers there. After they rejected D'Lugoff's suggestion that they add a female voice to their duo, he gave the same recommendation to Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey; the resulting trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, was deeply influenced by Gibson's music. Yarrow later said of his friend, "When you listen to PPM, you are hearing Bob Gibson."[citation needed]

Shel Silverstein, then a cartoonist at Playboy, was a regular fan and captured Gibson's attention when he completed lyrics to an unfinished Gibson tune. Gibson and Silverstein became close friends and writing partners, writing over 200 songs over the next 35 years. Their last joint project in Nashville in 1993 was the album Makin' A Mess, produced by Silverstein and Kyle Lehning and released on Asylum Records. The last cut, "Whistlers and Jugglers and Singers of Song," was a last-minute substitution when Silverstein realized how ill his friend was. It was written about the relationship of "the trio from out of our past", about a girl who always loved a singer and got together with him several years prior to his death.[citation needed]

Drug abuse

[edit]

Gibson began abusing drugs and alcohol as a teenager. By the time of his rise to success in Chicago, he was a heavy user of amphetamines. "Drugs were never recreational for me," he wrote. "My use of them from the beginning was abusive."[5] His drug use escalated when he discovered heroin. Gibson was in and out of jails in Canada, (which led to his Christmas carol "Box of Candy and a Piece of Fruit")[citation needed] Chicago, and Cleveland, for various drug-related charges. In the mid-1960s, he began a three-year period of complete isolation where drugs were his only priority. From 1969 to 1978, he tried repeatedly to restart his career, but his addictions made it impossible. In 1978, he attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Cleveland and eventually regained his sobriety. A musical comeback, however, was not to be. While he had been a popular and high-profile performer in the 1960s—as well as an important influence on other musicians—by 1978, interest in his purely acoustic folk-styled music had waned significantly. Although many remembered Gibson and he recorded several albums of new music over the next several years, he was never again to capture the mass public appeal of his early 1960s period.

Illness and death

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Around 1990, Gibson began to experience loss of balance, frequent falls, and other neurological symptoms. Later, his vision and then his voice were affected. In 1994 he entered the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida where a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) was made. With only 20,000 PSP patients in the United States (as opposed, for example, to 500,000 with Parkinson's disease), it was an "orphan disease" and therefore the object of little research. Gibson moved from "my favorite place to live (Mendocino, California)" to Portland, Oregon where PSP was being studied.[6]

As his illness advanced, Gibson invited many of his friends to a farewell "hootenanny" on September 20, 1996, in Chicago:

This may be the last chance I have to see many of you. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do the simplest things and traveling is really a challenge. I won't be able to play and sing with you, but I'm really looking forward to being an audience of one![7]

Studs Terkel served as host for the event.[8] Gibson tired early, struggled to rise and say goodnight, and received a standing ovation. One week later, on September 28, 1996, he died at the home of his daughter, Susan, in Portland.

In 1997, Gibson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously by the World Folk Music Association.[9]

Discography

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Legend: CD (compact disc); CS (cassette); LP (331⁄3 long play)

  • Offbeat Folksongs (Riverside, 1956) LP
  • I Come for to Sing (Riverside, 1957) LP
  • Carnegie Concert (Riverside, 1957) LP
  • Folksongs of Ohio (Stinson Records, 1957) 10" LP – Note: Released without Bob Gibson's permission
  • There's A Meetin' Here Tonight (Riverside, 1958) LP
  • Ski Songs (Elektra, 1959) LP
  • Yes I See (Elektra, 1961) LP
  • Bob Gibson and Bob Camp at The Gate of Horn (Elektra, 1961) LP
  • Folksongs of Ohio (Stinson Records, 1963 reissue of earlier 10" LP) LP – Note: Re-released also without Bob Gibson's permission
  • Hootenanny at Carnegie (Riverside, 1963 reissue of Carnegie Concert) LP
  • Where I'm Bound (Elektra, 1964) LP
  • Bob Gibson (Capitol, 1970) LP
  • Funky in the Country (Legend Enterprises, 1974) LP – recorded live at Amazingrace Coffeehouse
  • Gibson & Camp, Homemade Music (Mountain Railroad Records, 1978) LP
  • The Perfect High (Mountain Railroad Records, 1980) LP
  • Uptown Saturday Night (Hogeye Records, 1984) LP
  • Best of Friends (1984, on CD, Appleseed Records, 2004), with Tom Paxton and Anne Hills
  • Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn – Revisited! (B*G Records, 1986) CS
  • A Child's Happy Birthday Album (B*G Records, 1989) CS
  • Bob Gibson 5/91 – I Hear America Singing (Snapshot Music, 1991) CS
  • Stops Along the Way (B*G Records, 1991) CS
  • Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn – Revisited! (Folk Era Productions, 1994) CD
  • Makin' a Mess, Bob Gibson Sings Shel Silverstein (Asylum Records, 1995) CD
  • Joy, Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson (Riverside, 1996) CD
  • Perfect High (re-release of earlier album, 1998) CD
  • Bob Gibson and Bob Camp at The Gate of Horn (Collector's Choice, 2002 – re-release of 1961 Elektra LP) CD
  • Where I'm Bound (Collector's Choice, 2002 – re-release of 1964 Elektra LP) CD
  • The Living Legend Years (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – compilation with selections from Funky in the Country, Homemade Music, The Perfect High, Uptown Saturday Night) CD
  • Funky in the Country (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1974 Legend LP) CD
  • Homemade Music (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1978 Mountain Railroad LP) CD
  • The Perfect High (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1980 Mountain Railroad LP) CD
  • Uptown Saturday Night (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1984 Hogeye LP) CD
  • Ski Songs (Collector's Choice, 2008 – re-issue of 1959 Elektra LP) CD
  • Yes I See (Collector's Choice, 2008 – re-issue of 1961 Elektra LP) CD
  • Live at Cornell 1957 (Rediscover Music 2011) Triple CD.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 968. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ Bender C, Gibson R. Bob Gibson: I Come For To Sing. Firebird Press (2001), pp. 3–18. ISBN 1565549082
  3. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 19 – Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music. [Part 2]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  4. ^ Lightfoot, Gordon, Gordon Lightfoot Complete Greatest Hits – CD Booklet Page 5, Warner Bros. Records Inc. & Rhino Entertainment Company 2002
  5. ^ Bender and Gibson (2001), p. 90.
  6. ^ Bender and Gibson (2001), pp. 211–4.
  7. ^ Bender and Gibson (2001), p. 239
  8. ^ Roger Ebert in Slate.com, April 8, 1998. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  9. ^ Noble, Richard E. (2009). Number No. 1 : the story of the original Highwaymen. Denver: Outskirts Press. p. 161. ISBN 9781432738099. OCLC 426388468.

References

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  • Gibson, Bob and Carole Bender. BOB GIBSON: I Come For To Sing. Pelican Publishing Company: Gretna, Louisiana 2001. ISBN 1-56554-908-2.
  • Lightfoot, Gordon, Gordon Lightfoot Complete Greatest Hits – CD Booklet Page 5, Warner Bros. Records Inc. & Rhino Entertainment Company 2002
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