Remembering Bob Garcia
• Bob Garcia, former Director of Artist Relations at A&M Records and West Coast President of the Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, died of natural causes at his home in Tujunga, CA on April 26, a week shy of his 82nd birthday.
As Variety reports, after serving in the U.S. Army in the mid-’60s, Garcia moved to Los Angeles, where, while doing other jobs wrote reviews of the local rock music scene. Garcia’s writing caught the attention of A&M Records, where he was hired in 1968 as a biography writer. He was quickly promoted to Director of Publicity, creating the label’s artist relations departments and developed the college rep program. Garcia was later promoted to Director of Artist Relations, the post he held throughout his tenure at A&M. In many years on the road, Garcia developed long-standing relationships with many artists, including Joe Cocker, The Police, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, Amy Grant, LTD and Jeffrey Osborne. After leaving A&M in 1997, Garcia launched his own consultancy, Shedding Dog LLC (named after the Great Pyrenees dogs he loved), serving as an advisor and consultant to Michael Kamen, Neil Young, Lady Gaga, OneRepublic and Blake Shelton, among others.
Herb Alpert, the co-founder of A&M Records, said, “Bob Garcia worked at A&M Records for many years and without exception, was liked by all. Artists and employees admired his quirkiness and original personality that didn’t change with the times. I personally appreciated his keen observations on music, and life as he saw it. I loved Bob.”
Sting, who was with A&M Records with The Police and as a solo artist, mentioned that Garcia was affectionately known as “Uncle Bob.” Sting said, “Uncle Bob was our concierge, our mentor, our protector, our confidante, and we were always assured of a warm welcome there, laced with a liberal dose of his mordant wit. You could talk film, theatre, books and music with Bob, and behind the humor of those twinkling eyes, you had a sense that he’d seen and heard everything and yet, like a true sage, had reserved judgment. He could be laconic and cryptic just as he could be compassionate and fulsome, but always equally amused by both the blandishments and trials of ‘the life,’ and nothing seemed to faze him. He was, and to me still is, the presiding spirit of that magical lot on La Brea. He will always be there for me, as he was in life.”
RAMP‘s Steve Resnik has his own fond memories of Garcia, who originally hired him at A&M Records. “I was the program director of KBLA, the college radio station at Cal State Los Angeles. Record companies started asking me to interview acts for broadcast on my station, and I was lucky enough to interview the original five Temptations, a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Bill Medley, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin and many new acts. I had done a few interviews for A&M, like Sergio Mendes and Dillard & Clark, and my contact there was Bob Garcia. He called one day and asked me to interview a new A&M artist who didn’t have a record out yet — Joe Cocker. I had been planning a career in radio until that day when Bob was impressed enough with my interview that he hired me to run the new A&M College Radio Program. Bob was my first boss and colleague at A&M during my two terms of employment there in the ’70s and ’80s and my friend ever since. He will be missed.”
In lieu of flowers, you are invited to donate to MusiCares in Bob Garcia’s name. Also, Bob’s latest rescue dog, Perseus, is now in the care of the Great Pyrenees Association of Southern California and is looking for a new home. To find out more, or to contribute to Perseus’ care, please visit GreatPyrRescue.org.
