Bob Moore
Bob Loyce Moore (born
November 30,
1932 in
Nashville, Tennessee), is an
American session musician,
orchestra leader, and legendary
bassist.
Moore developed his musical skills as a boy, and by age fifteen had already played
double bass for a musical group on the
Grand Ole Opry. At age twenty, his abilities brought an offer to play with the
Red Foley band. After two years with Foley's band in
Springfield, Missouri, he returned to his native Nashville in 1954 where he was hired to play bass on a studio recording session. This first backup performance marked the beginning of a career which would see him play on more than seventeen thousand such sessions.
In 1958 he played on his first of many
Elvis Presley sessions. The following year he teamed up with
Fred Foster to establish
Monument Records where he would become part of the musical success of
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer,
Roy Orbison. In 1960, he formed the Bob Moore Orchestra and recorded an album which included the song
"Mexico" that as a
45rpm single went to No. 7 on the
Billboard pop music charts.
In his long career, Moore has worked in a variety of music scenes, including a performance at the
Newport Jazz Festival and recording with
Arthur Fiedler and the
Boston Pops Orchestra. While he has strong roots in
country music, and in 1994
Life magazine named him the number one "Country Bassist" of all time, as a sessions player his volume and diversity of work is unrivaled, having performed with artists such as
Bob Dylan,
Marty Robbins,
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Sammy Davis, Jr.,
Julie Andrews,
Frank Sinatra,
Andy Williams,
Connie Francis,
Wayne Newton,
Quincy Jones,
Burl Ives, and for the
French singer,
Johnny Halliday. His son is outsider rock singer/songwriter
R. Stevie Moore. His daughter, Linda Faye Moore, was Miss Tennessee 1977 and a Top 10 finisher in that year's
Miss America pageant; she was later a member of the 1980's country-pop female band Calamity Jane, which had minor hits with 1981's "Send Me Somebody To Love" and a 1982 cover of the
Beatles' "I've Just Seen A Face." Another son, Gary Edward Moore, is not involved in the music business.
For more information:
Bob Moore's home pageR. Stevie's Bob Moore siteLlynda's website
