Seger started his musical career in the 1960s in his native Ann Arbor, Michigan, soon after playing in and around Detroit as a singer and as the leader of Bob Seger and the Last Heard, and then later the Bob Seger System. Best known for his work as Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, a group he formed in 1974. Seger was known as a workhorse midwestern roots-rocker who dealt with blue-collar themes and toured constantly in support of his frequent album releases, spanning five decades. In April 1976, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band had an even bigger commercial breakthrough with the album Live Bullet, recorded over two nights in Detroit’s Cobo Hall in September 1975. The album stayed on the Billboard charts for 168 weeks, peaking at #34, easily Seger’s highest charting album to that time. It also contained Seger’s hit rendition of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits” (#69 US) as well as Seger’s own classic take on life on the road, “Turn the Page”, from Back in ‘72. It also harkened back to his late 1960’s successes with both “Heavy Music” and “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” making appearances. Critic Dave Marsh later wrote that “Live Bullet is one of the best live albums ever made … In spots, particularly during the medley of ‘Travelin’ Man’/’Beautiful Loser’, Seger sounds like a man with one last shot at the top.” An instant best-seller in Detroit, Live Bullet quickly began to get attention in other parts of the country — although perhaps not as quickly as Seger would have liked. In June 1976 he was a featured performer at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in front of nearly 80,000 fans. Yet three nights before in Chicago, Seger had played before 50 people in a bar. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2004; close friend and fellow Michigander Kid Rock gave the induction speech during which he called Seger, “The Hardest Working Man in rock n roll”, and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm proclaimed that date Bob Seger Day in his honor. With the single exception of Smokin’ O.P.’s, re-released on compact disc by Capitol in 2005, all of Seger’s albums prior to Beautiful Loser (the pre-Silver Bullet Band releases) have long remained out of print and command extremely high prices if offered for sale. |
