Real name: Robert Frank 'Bob' Rowe

Effective period / Period of releases: 1973 - 1975

Robert Frank 'Bob' Rowe (12 Jan 1947 - 25 Jan 2021)
Robert Frank 'Bob' Rowe who sadly passed away on 25th January 2021.

Bob had a very full and interesting life. He spent 15 years working for BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Derby where he was a well-known interviewer and presenter of music and sports programmes. Recently he lectured for Line and Light a company specialising in training in Digital Photography and Adobe Photoshop.
At the age of 12 he took up the guitar and with school mates Kerry Robinson and Sid Duffield formed the Zephyrs group which quickly morphed into the Meteors, then Steve and the Straycats and later went on to join the Globetrotters. He also guested with Dave Kaye and the Dykons, a group well known for performing Elvis Presley hits and that is how he became one of the few people from Nottinghamshire to feature in an Elvis Presley film - "That's the Way It Is".
Bob’s ‘day job’ was with Post Office telephones 1967-75.
He ran Arrow Sound Recording Studios, where he recorded most bands working in the East Midlands including Paper Lace's first demo and 3 albums for the Nottingham Festival called Nottingham Castle Rock.
Bob had several singles and an album culminating in 1975 by writing a tune for the Red Arrows to celebrate their 10th Anniversary.
In the 1970s Bob was producing records at Lee Sound, a 16 track recording studio in Birmingham with people like Daniel Boone and Tommy Steele, and Midland Acts like Terry Mundy and the Tommy Owen Jazz Trio.
In the 1980s Bob was the Sound Controller for 3 productions of the Derby Operatic Company - Oklahoma, Sweet Charity and West Side Story.
In 1988 he joined Tom Beesley Associates as a video director and producer where he won 3 major professional awards for his work, featuring people like Andrew Sachs and Simon Mayo.
Throughout the 90's and 00's Bob revived his early interest in photography and joined Nottingham and Notts Photographic Society where he became President for 3 years. He was subsequently made Honorary Member of NNPS. He shot many covers for the Evening Post's glossy monthly magazine "Nottinghamshire Today" but his proudest moment was when Hank Marvin used one of his photographs on the cover of his "Best of ..." CD.
With the coming of digital photography, Bob travelled the UK teaching both professional and amateur photographers how to use Adobe Photoshop as their digital darkroom. This included teaching on Nottingham University MSc Biological and Photographic Imaging Course and writing and producing Photoshop 5 - 80 Little Gems - a handy guide for photographers. He had a major role in the Royal Photographic Society's (RPS) Digital Imaging Group and in 2009, the Royal Photographic Society awarded Bob its Fenton Medal and made him an Honorary Life Member.
Things came full circle as Bob returned to playing on the stage with former Globetrotting members in the newly formed Flashback UK and then most recently the Shadtones. In his digital home recording studio, he produced his own CD "Deja Vu" where he plays all the instruments and can be seen on YouTube as Multitrack Man.
A hugely important part of Bob's life began around 2007 when he began working with renowned architectural photographer Martine Hamilton Knight. Bob eventually teamed up with Martine in Light + Light to deliver Digital Photography Training workshops up until 2020. This working relationship led to a much-valued and long-lasting friendship with Martine, her husband Paul and their equally talented son, James.
The greatest thing to happen to Bob in the 1970s was the arrival of his beautiful daughter Fiona. On 29th August 1981, Bob married Melanie and they were both looking forward to celebrating their 40th Wedding Anniversary this year. In 2010, Fiona gave Bob and Melanie their grand-daughter Izzy who will no doubt soon be as tall as Bob. Bob was a multi-talented musician, photographer and lovely and loving Dad, Grandad and Husband. He will be sorely missed by all of us.