Bob Welch (musician) : 1. Early life, Fleetwood Mac.

Bob Welch (musician)

1. Early life.

Welch was born into a show business family. His father, Robert Welch, was a producer on many hit films for Paramount Pictures in the 1940s and 1950s. His mother, Templeton, had been a singer and actress who worked with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. As a youngster, Welch learned clarinet, switching to guitar in his early teens. He developed an interest in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock music. In the late 1960s, he moved to Paris in order to attend the Sorbonne, but soon dropped out so he could pursue music full time.^{[citation needed]}

Fleetwood Mac.

Welch struggled with a variety of marginal bands until 1971, when he was invited to join Fleetwood Mac, then an erstwhile English blues band that had lost two of its three frontline members, Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, within a few months. Along with fellow newcomer Christine McVie, Bob helped to steer the band in a more melodic direction, as heard on 1971's Future Games. He wrote songs for and played on several Fleetwood Mac albums, including Bare Trees (1972), Mystery to Me (1973) and Heroes Are Hard to Find (1974).

These Welch-era Fleetwood Mac albums sold moderately well, though Bare Trees included the first recorded version of Welch's song "Sentimental Lady", and Mystery to Me featured the Welch composition "Hypnotized", both of which received extensive radio airplay. In December 1974, Welch departed the band, citing exhaustion.

In 1975, Welch formed the short-lived hard rock power trio Paris with ex Jethro Tull bassist Glenn Cornick and ex Todd Rundgren's Nazz drummer Thom Mooney. Paris released two albums; Paris and, after Hunt and Tony Sales replaced Mooney and Cornick, Big Towne 2061

Mick Fleetwood credited Welch with keeping Fleetwood Mac afloat during some lean years. Welch was not included when Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.