Check Out Bobby Monroe’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobby Monroe.

Hi Bobby, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.

    I grew up in the middle of Long Island New York influenced by my Louisiana born Father’s love of country music.  I started playing and writing music at about the age of five or six.  As long as I can remember I wanted to be an entertainer. My Dad had a country band called Tex Davis and The Rhythm Rangers and at the age of eleven I used to get up on stage and sing and play with them, old Hank Williams tunes, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard.  These were the songs that I loved. 

During my teenage years I was blessed with a close friendship with Hank Cochran’s sons Jimmy and J.R. and Danny. One of the most memorable summers of my life was spent with them in Nashville on the farm with Hank Cochran and Jeannie Seely. They both treated me like family.  Jeannie Seely was performing as a duo with Jack Greene in those days and they took me and J.R. to Gatlinburg with them for some Opry shows.This left an incredible impression on me.  

I had been writing songs for a few years by then, playing them around San Diego which at the time wasn’t that huge of a country market, so when Hank Cochran’s Cousin Cliff took me down to Tree Publishing in Nashville I was thrilled.  Hank Cochran was there and Cliff introduced me to Buddy Killen.  They took me downstairs to the studio and I recorded a couple of my songs with both Buddy and Hank looking on.

             Country music wasnt my only love. When I was a young boy I watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and as many musicians my age, was heavily influenced by them.  When we moved to San Diego in 1968 I started playing in a number of bands, mostly with schoolmates.  I was in a band that got asked to do a couple of songs on a local morning TV show and from then on I was hooked.  This led to many fine musical relationships with some incredible artists such as Rick Elias, an incredible songwriter and singer, and Craig Bartock of Heart fame.  Rick, Craig and I were offered our first music publishing deal with Lawrence Welks Vogue Music in 1978. It was a great band with two keyboardists, Ron Pitner, Mike Palazzola and Mark Spriggs on drums. Lawrence’s Vice President was Dean Kay who took us under his wing and really was a mentor to us. Dean gave us some money to transform our rehearsal space into an 8-track recording studio which in those days was an incredible place to write and record. This led to my first record deal when we signed with Russ Regan’s Parachute records.  We recorded a song penned by Craig and I which got some significant airplay in a few markets.

           In 1980 I met a great keyboardist named Eric Denton and the two of us started recording some of the songs I had written. We formed The Monroes with some talented musicians, Jesus “Tony” Ortiz and Jonnie Gilstrap and a very talented writer and guitarist named Rusty Jones. A friend of mine took me to Los Angeles where I played our demos for a gentleman named Jon Devirian. Jon was vice president for MAM Publishing at the time and really loved the tunes.  He brought them over to David Anderle at A&M Records and they expressed a desire to hear the band. So we packed up our gear and headed up the great stage at A&M.  We played in the actual room where the old Superman television series was filmed. That was a great experience for sure. Although we didn’t sign with A&M, there were two very well known gentlemen there that really loved the band. Lorne Safer and Bob Fead were at A&M Records for many years and were starting a new record company called Alfa Records distributed by CBS. In a few short weeks we were signed to Alfa along with some great talent such as Burton Cummings from Guess Who fame and some some other great bands such as Billy and the Beaters. 

Alfa was really excited about one of our songs, a song I wrote called What Do All The People Know? Sure enough the song became a hit for us hitting the Billboard charts at 80 with a bullitt before moving up the charts. We started getting some Television exposure on Merv Griffin and others. I was fortunate to experience all the success that came along with this, including performing with great artists such as Rick Springfield, The Motels, Toto and many others traveling the country playing our music.  

           I have continued to write and produce through the years both rock and my beloved country music. In 2019 I introduced The New Monroes with a new lineup of talented musicians such as Chrysalis artist Barry Scott and Atlantic Records artist Ronny Jones, brother of the original Monroes member Rusty Jones, Keyboardist Dave Hart and on drums Bobby Sale. We released an album entitled The Monroes 2.0.  

          Not forgetting my country roots, over the last few years I’ve recorded a few country songs signed to Rock the Rock Records. 

Recently I have formed a songwriting partnership with the very talented Eddie Leroy Cunningham in Nashville along with a new publishing company called Better Together Music Publishing. We are very excited for what’s to come.   

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve enjoyed almost all of my experiences along the way. What can be difficult is integrating your personal life with your professional life. Performing and the arts require all of a person inside and out and personal struggles can affect you.

When What Do All The People Know became a hit we had an upcoming tour to prepare for as well as television appearances. It was at this time I lost my dear Mother after her long painful struggle with heart attacks and strokes.

It’s difficult to put all this aside and concentrate on your profession. We move on however we take a bit of the pain with us along the way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Rather than compete with the current trends in music I stay true to who I am and what I hear in my heart and soul.

For me, uniqueness is much more interesting than attempting to predict what the next trend in music will be and consequently filling that gap.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I believe we create our own luck. If we do the things that make ourselves and others happy we will find that it will come back to us. When we experience bad luck, perhaps it is an indication that we are traveling down a path that isn’t right for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: themonroesband.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.davismonroe/

Image Credits
Bob Sale and Ronny Jones