Bob Weston Has Died

[Tango]

So sorry to hear of Bob Weston's passing--not only a great musician but a really funny guy. I remember his Q&A here on The Penguin, and enjoyed the interjection of the two Bob's on each other's Q&A. (If you missed Weston's, it's here:
http://fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/qa/bobweston_qa1.htm


His own website says this:

http://www.bobweston.com/

Bob Weston 1947-2012

It is with great pain that I must announce that Bob Weston has died. He was found dead at home in his London flat in the evening of the 3rd January, by police making a forced entry. Local friends had become concerned at the lack of response, having not seen him for a couple of days. Cause of death has been attributed to a gastrointestinal haemorrhage. He was found in his bed/armchair [checking] in front of the TV; it is presumed he was asleep and didn't suffer...

I spoke to Bob just a few days before Xmas; we had discussed him spending Xmas with us, but he had some gigs to do in London. Instead we made plans for a visit early in the New Year. He was in fine spirits, and was involved in several new projects. He also seemed to be very fit...

My family and I have lost a dear friend; the world has lost an enormously talented musician, with unfinished business...

Steve

[bangdrum]

Wow, 64 is way too young! RIP Bob and thanks for the music.

[michelej1]

CBS News January 6, 2012 4:07
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_16...on-dies-at-64/

Ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Weston dies at 64By Lauren Moraski

(CBS) Bob Weston, the British guitarist who played with Fleetwood Mac in the '70s, has died. He was 64.

Police found Weston's body in his London home on Jan. 3 after friends became concerned about the "the lack of response, having not seen him for a couple of days," explains a message on BobWeston.com.

"He was found in his bed with the TV on; it is presumed he was asleep and didn't suffer," according to a post on the website.

An autopsy revealed the causes of death as gastric intestinal hemorrhage, cirrhosis of the liver and throat problems, reports the Associated Press.

"He was in fine spirits, and was involved in several new projects," his website reveals. "He also seemed to be very fit."

Weston joined Fleetwood Mac in 1972 as a replacement for Danny Kirwan. He played on the albums "Penguin" and "Mystery to Me."

While on tour in late 1973, drummer Mick Fleetwood found out that Weston was having an affair with his wife, Jenny Boyd. Weston was fired, and the rest of the tour was scrapped. Two years later, Mac staples Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the group.

Weston, a Liverpool, England native, released solo material through the years and recorded with various music artists, including Long John Baldry, Murray Head, Bob Welch and Steve Marriott.

[Hard Road]

RIP Bob Weston. I loved his work on Penguin and Mystery to Me and thought it would have been great if he could have played on another Mac album. He really hit his stride on Mystery to Me IMO.

[msLinds]

I'm sorry to hear the news that Bob Weston has passed away.My condolences to his family and friends.RIP Bob.

[wondergirl9847]

I really hate to read this, especially with losing Bob Brunning not long ago.

My condolences are with the Weston family at this time.

No more for a long time, please.

[aleuzzi]

Wow, this is a real shocker to me. I am glad he continued to be active and musically-engaged right up 'til the end. Glad, too, he appeared not to suffer.

[michelej1]

Dave Laing
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 8 January 2012 10.49 EST Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...?newsfeed=true

The long-lasting pop band Fleetwood Mac is also one of the most controversial, its several changes of style and personnel often arising from romantic entanglements rather than musical differences. Bob Weston, who has died aged 64 of a gastrointestinal haemorrhage and cirrhosis of the liver, was the band's lead guitarist in the early 1970s, and contributed to both the evolution of its sound and its turbulent history.

Born in Plymouth, Devon, he began lessons on the violin at the age of 8, switching to the guitar at 12. Like many others, he was swept up in the rhythm and blues boom of the early 1960s, citing as influences in interviews such figures as Muddy Waters and Hubert Sumlin (accompanist of Howlin' Wolf), as well as the jazz musician Django Reinhardt.

By the mid-1960s, Weston was in London, looking for groups to join and recording sessions to play on. His first taste of success came with The Kinetic, a group of British musicians who worked mainly in France. As well as making the album Live Your Life (1967), they supported such luminaries as Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry in Paris shows.

Back in London, Weston's skills as a creative blues guitarist led to work with the singer Aliki Ashman and the organist and singer Graham Bond. In 1970, Weston joined the backing group of the blues singer Long John Baldry, touring Europe and the US as well as playing on Baldry's album Everything Stops for Tea (1972), produced by two of the singer's proteges, Rod Stewart and Elton John.

Baldry's band sometimes performed on the same bill as Fleetwood Mac, which since 1968 had been in the forefront of British blues groups. This was due mainly to the imagination and skill of the singer and guitarist Peter Green, who had crafted such big hits as Albatross and Man of the World (both 1969). However, Green's departure in 1970, followed by the loss of fellow guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, had left the band rudderless. In 1972, the remaining members decided to recruit Dave Walker of the blues rock band Savoy Brown as lead vocalist, and Weston as lead guitarist.

He recalled meeting Kirwan in The Speakeasy, a musicians' club in London's West End. "He rather sarcastically wished me the best of luck, adding 'You're going to need it.'"

Kirwan's remark proved to be prophetic, although to begin with, Weston made a significant contribution to the group's sound on stage and in the studio. Fleetwood Mac was in transition from being a blues band to a more melodic pop-rock one, and Weston was adept at both styles. He played on the 1973 albums, Penguin and Mystery to Me, co-writing several songs. Penguin is regarded by many Fleetwood Mac aficionados as one of the group's most underrated recordings.

They were also on a schedule of relentless touring, which was beginning to take its toll. Walker was unceremoniously fired early in 1973, there were tensions between the husband-and- wife team of Christine Perfect and John McVie, and when Weston began an affair with Jenny Boyd, the wife of drummer Mick Fleetwood, the scene was set for a split. This duly came in Lincoln, Nebraska, during an American tour in October 1973.

Weston was woken by a phone call summoning him to the tour manager's hotel room. He was told that other group members had already departed, that the remaining tour dates would be cancelled and that his services were no longer required. He was put on the next flight back to London.

This proved to be a cathartic moment for Fleetwood Mac. Within a year they had re-formed with the lineup that would go on to create Rumours (1977), although in the interim their manager had formed another "Fleetwood Mac" to fulfil US tour commitments. It has sometimes been alleged, inaccurately, that Weston was part of that group.

In fact, he landed on his feet in London, where his Fleetwood Mac credentials opened doors. He had abortive discussions with George Harrison about collaborations, but toured with blues veteran Alexis Korner and played on Sandy Denny's final album, Rendezvous (1977). His most lucrative project was with the actor Murray Head, star of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. Weston featured on Head's album Say It Ain't So (1975), a big hit in France and Canada, and led Head's touring band.

Weston also recorded three solo albums, Nightlight (1980), Studio Picks (1981) and There's a Heaven (1999), and spent much of the last two decades writing or arranging music for films and television in France and Britain. Still in touch with older musicians, he had been due to record with the ex-Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. He is survived by his younger brother, Peter.

• Robert Joseph Weston, guitarist and songwriter, born 1 November 1947; died 3 January 2012

[Wouter Vuijk]

S**t,
Another unnecessary loss.
RIP Bob, and my condolences to all his family and friends.

[Street_Dreamer]

I hope/wish someone would contact Mick about Bob and have him speak to his time in Fleetwood Mac. The whole Penguin/Mystery To Me period isn't as well documented as it should be.

[michelej1]

Telegraph.co.uk, January 9, 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...ob-Weston.html


Bob Weston

Bob Weston, who has died aged 64, played lead guitar with Fleetwood Mac in the early 1970s, but lasted only a year before being unceremoniously sacked for having an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife; he thus missed out on the opportunity to feature in what became the most commercially successful rock group of the era.

Weston’s fall from grace was one of the more pedestrian dramas to have afflicted the band’s line-up over the years. Named after the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and bass guitarist John McVie, Fleetwood Mac initially featured the great Peter Green on lead guitar, and had its first No 1 single in 1969 with Albatross.

But Green began to binge on LSD, and left the band in 1970; the following year, during an American tour, his fellow guitarist Jeremy Spencer walked out of his hotel in Los Angeles to go shopping and never returned — he had joined a religious group called The Children of God. A third guitarist, Danny Kirwan, was fired in autumn 1972, to be replaced by Weston.

Weston featured on the album Penguin (1973), playing lead guitar alongside Bob Welch . He also sang with Christine McVie on Did You Ever Love Me, and wrote the instrumental Caught in the Rain. On the album Mystery to Me, he co-wrote the track Forever.

It was while the band was touring America in late 1973 that Weston was discovered to be having an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife, Jenny Boyd. After the band’s performance at Lincoln, Nebraska, Weston was fired and the remainder of the tour cancelled. Weston later recalled: “I got a phone call early one morning, about eight. I hadn’t even had a cup of tea. Next thing, there’s a knock at the door, and the entire road crew was standing there. They were all looking daggers at me, very menacing, all broken noses and scars ... It was horrible seeing all those lads with whom I’d worked so happily emanating such a lot of hostility towards me.” The group’s manager, Clifford Davis, attempted to recruit an entirely new set of musicians to complete the tour under the name Fleetwood Mac, leading to a prolonged legal wrangle.

With both Weston and Welch gone (Welch left in December 1974), Fleetwood, McVie and McVie’s wife Christine Perfect then recruited Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to form the line-up that in 1977 would create the album Rumours, which sold more than 40 million copies.

Weston, meanwhile, picked up his career and toured with the blues veteran Alexis Korner. He also featured on the album Say It Ain’t So (1975) by Murray Head, star of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Robert Joseph Weston was born in Plymouth on November 1 1947. Initially he was taught violin, but at the age of 12 decided to switch to guitar. Arriving in London in the mid-Sixties, he joined a group called The Kinetic, which recorded an album and supported Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix at concerts in France. In 1970 Weston became part of the backing group of the blues singer Long John Baldry, touring Europe and the United States (sometimes appearing on the same bill as Fleetwood Mac) as well as playing on Baldry’s album Everything Stops for Tea (1972).

Weston made three solo albums, Nightlight (1980), Studio Picks (1981) and There’s a Heaven (1999). Latterly he had written and arranged music for film and television.

The dramas surrounding Fleetwood Mac did not end with Weston’s departure. Christine McVie had affairs with the band’s lighting director and the Beach Boy Dennis Wilson; Stevie Nicks, meanwhile, had affairs with both Joe Walsh and Don Henley of The Eagles. John McVie suffered an alcohol-induced seizure and was arrested for possession of firearms.

Mick Fleetwood went bankrupt after a series of disastrous property ventures; he and Jenny Boyd divorced, remarried, then divorced again.

Bob Weston, who had been due to record with the former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, was found dead in his London flat by the police after friends had been unable to contact him for several days. A post-mortem revealed that he died from a gastrointestinal haemorrhage.


Bob Weston, born November 1 1947, found dead on January 3 2012

[PenguinHead]

Are there any bootleg shows from the Bob Weston era of the band? I have shows from every era except that one! Strange, isn't it?

From the clips of Miles Away and Remember Me (from Midnight Special performances, I think), it looks they a really gave a great, strong live show.

At the very least, I'd love to know their set lists.

[michelej1]

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ob...c-6287377.html
Bob Weston: Early '70s guitarist with Fleetwood Mac


Pierre Perrone Monday 09 January 2012


Originally a British blues boom band led by Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, Fleetwood Mac were at something of a crossroads by September 1972. The founder-member and drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie – the rhythm section the group was named after – had added McVie's wife, the keyboard-player and singer Christine McVie, formerly of Chicken Shack, and Bob Welch, an American vocalist and guitarist, but felt they needed a pedigree soloist able to recreate the contrasting guitar styles of his predecessors, particularly the slide playing of Spencer, for concert engagements.

Fleetwood and the McVies recalled witnessing Bob Weston's versatility as an accompanist with both Graham Bond and Long John Baldry and recruited him, along with the singer and harmonica-player Dave Walker, an alumnus of Savoy Brown, another British blues outfit.

"Dave and I joined on the same day, we were the new boys," Weston remembered. "It looked very promising from the start. Initial rehearsals were full of energy. This was further endorsed with the initial Norwegian tour. Then the Penguin sessions began, and so did the doubts."

However, while Walker's tenure only lasted until June 1973, including the making of the Penguin album, the band's first Top 50 entry in the US, Weston was a sterling contributor to both Penguin and Mystery To Me, the next Fleetwood Mac album, released in October 1973, and seemed to be fitting in well with the smoother radio-friendly direction of the group's then primary composers, Welch and Christine McVie. "I deferred to their talents, I was the baby writer, just starting out," said Weston, who created "Caught In The Rain", Penguin's ethereal closer, and co-wrote "Forever" with Welch and John McVie on Mystery To Me.

"Both of those albums were a blast to be involved in," he said. "It seemed I'd been building up for years to hit this zenith. Bullseye! In addition, it was a wonderful opportunity to tour America on a very professional level. I learned a lot." Unfortunately, during a run of US dates in the autumn of 1973, Weston embarked on an affair with Fleetwood's wife Jenny Boyd, who confessed everything to her husband and left the tour with their children. The band tried to put this setback behind them and continue with their itinerary but eventually Fleetwood snapped and Weston was dismissed in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"I had an early morning call from the tour manager, John Courage, insisting I come up to his room," said Weston. "I was greeted with an air of hostility by the crew chiefs of lighting, sound, etc. The tour manager told me very simply that the tour was cancelled. Mick had already left for Africa, John and Christine for London. Obviously, it was a fait accompli. I was handed a plane ticket and driven to the nearest airport. I didn't see any of the band between waking up and getting on the plane." It was, he admitted, "the most expensive affair I've ever had in my life. Cost me a career, that did."

In fact, the incident nearly did for Fleetwood Mac as well, as their unscrupulous manager Clifford Davis argued that he owned the band's trademark and hastily assembled a bogus line-up to pick up the dates. This was foiled by Courage and led to a lengthy legal battle which put the real group out of commission for nearly a year.

When Welch also exited, Fleetwood reorganised the band with the addition of the singing and songwriting duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975, and Fleetwood Mac entered the multi-million selling, superstar era of Rumours and Tango In The Night that Weston had been the unwitting catalyst for. Nevertheless, Welch and Weston's contribution during the so-called "bridge era" of the group's storied career is held in high regard by their fans.

Weston, who was left-handed but played right-handed, attributed his distinctive style to the fact that he played the violin first, switching to the guitar when he was 12. "The fingers were already mobile," he said. "My influences were the great blues masters, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and sidemen such as Hubert Sumlin."

After moving to London in the mid-1960s, Weston joined The Kinetic, one of several British groups working in France, where they released an album in 1967 and supported Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry in Paris. Following his return to the UK, Weston had stints with the singers Aliki Ashman, Graham Bond and Long John Baldry, with whom he recorded the album Everything Stops For Tea produced by the Baldry acolytes Elton John and Rod Stewart in 1972.

He later worked with Dana Gillespie, Sandy Denny and Murray Head, who he backed on the Say It Ain't So and Between Us albums, and on French tours. In the early '80s Weston issued two solo albums in France and composed music for films and television. He died of a gastrointestinal haemorrhage and cirrhosis of the liver.

Robert Joseph Weston, guitarist and songwriter: born 1 November 1947; died London c. 3 January 2012.

[PenguinHead]

I just re-read the extensive Q & A Bob conducted on The Ledge. He was very articulate, and very patient and thorough in addressing and answering lengthy questions. He comes off as a genuinely nice, smart guy.

His comments about visiting with Christine and Mick during their flush of success during the Rumours era gave me some pause. The endearing qualities of their personalities he knew when he worked with them were gone. He described them as "aloof."

I find that rather sad and disappointing. I won't pass judgement on Chris and Mick, because I'm sure their circumstances - the pressure of success, responsiblites and demands - changed and hardened them. Still, I feel bad that Bob wasn't feeling a friendly vibe from his former bandmates.

[THD]

Originally Posted by michelej1

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ob...c-6287377.html
Bob Weston: Early '70s guitarist with Fleetwood Mac


Pierre Perrone Monday 09 January 2012


Weston, who was left-handed but played right-handed, attributed his distinctive style to the fact that he played the violin first, switching to the guitar when he was 12.

I an fascinated by this phenominon as I am also left handed but play right handed guitars. Though I don't consider my self in the same league as them, obviously ,so do Hughie Morgan, Noel Gallagher and Steve Cropper (does anyone know whether Peter Green might be left handed ?). In fact ,I cannot understand why a right handed person uses their precision hand -the one used for writing -to do the workman like job of strumming ,rather than the delicate work of fretting the notes!,But that's how it's evolved
RIP Bob