Peter Knobler (born 1946) is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on fifteen books, ten of them best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of ''

Crawdaddy The Crawdaddy Club was a music venue in Richmond, Surrey, England, which opened in 1963. The Rolling Stones were its house band in its first year and were followed by The Yardbirds. Several other notable British blues and rhythm and blues acts a ...

'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.''Very Seventies''

Writing

Knobler specializes in collaboration, having written best-selling books with

James Carville Chester James Carville Jr. (born October 25, 1944) is an American political consultant, author, and occasional actor who has strategized for candidates for public office in the United States and in at least 23 nations abroad. A Democrat, he is an ...

and

Mary Matalin Mary Joe Matalin (born August 19, 1953) is an American political consultant well known for her work with the Republican Party. She has served under President Ronald Reagan, was campaign director for George H. W. Bush, was an assistant to Preside ...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

William Bratton William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016). He previously served as the Commissioner of the ...

, Texan Governor

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson (born March 1, 1953) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Oilers, and Miami Dolphins. He played college football at Langston U ...

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian Americans, Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Ass ...

Daniel Petrocelli Daniel M. Petrocelli (born August 15, 1953 in East Orange, New Jersey) is a partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and the Chair of the firm’s Trial Practice Committee. Petrocelli is known in part for his work in a 1997 wrongful death civil suit ag ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

, and

Sumner Redstone Sumner Murray Redstone ( Rothstein; May 27, 1923 – August 11, 2020) was an American billionaire businessman and media magnate. He was the founder and chairman of the second incarnation of Viacom which was dissolved in 2019 (a year before Redsto ...

, among others. He worked with

David Dinkins David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office. Before enterin ...

on the former New York City mayor's memoirs. His second book with Bill Bratton, ''The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of American Policing,'' was published by Penguin Press in June 2021 and was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. His magazine work has appeared in ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', ''

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' sports and Guest Essay pages, and been collected in ''The Bob Dylan Companion'', ''Racing in the Streets: The Bruce Springsteen Reader'', and ''The Subway Series Reader''. His piece "Dancing in the Dark," about Alzheimer's disease, klezmer music, and his mother, was published by the ''

New England Review The ''New England Review'' is an American quarterly literary magazine published by Middlebury College. It was established in 1978 by Sydney Lea and Jay Parini. From 1982 till 1990, the magazine was named ''New England Review & Bread Loaf Quart ...

''. His autobiographical piece examining implicit bias, "Walking While White," was published by the

Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000; ...

, as was his first piece of published fiction, the short story "The Right Side of the Diamond". Knobler has co-written songs with

Chris Hillman Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of and one of the original members of the Byrds, which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby and Michael Clarke. With frequent ...

, Steve Miller,

Freedy Johnston Freedy Johnston (born Frederic John Fatzer in 1961) is a New York City–based singer-songwriter originally from Kinsley, Kansas. Johnston's songs are often about troubled loners, and cover topics like heartbreak, alienation, and disappointm ...

, and the

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band si ...

. His songs have been recorded on Hillman's solo albums, by

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman McGuinn, Clark & Hillman were an American rock supergroup consisting of Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman, who were all former members of the band the Byrds. The supergroup formed in 1977 and was partly modeled after Crosby, Stills, N ...

, and the

Desert Rose Band The Desert Rose Band was an American country rock band from Los Angeles, California, founded in 1985 by Chris Hillman (formerly of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers), with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson. The original lineup included Bi ...

. The Hillman-Knobler song "Running the Roadblocks" reached the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart. The title song of the

Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was change ...

' '' Step on Out'' album was a Hillman-Knobler composition. Knobler received a 2008-2009

Sports Emmy Award The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports ...

nomination for his work on the program ''

Baseball's Golden Age ''Baseball's Golden Age'' is a television program that chronicles the history of baseball focusing mainly on the 1920s through the 1960s, the " golden age of baseball". It is broadcast on Fox Sports Net Sunday nights at 8 p.m. and is produced by F ...

''. He has written championship films for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

and the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

''Crawdaddy''

Knobler first wrote for ''Crawdaddy!'' under its original editor Paul Williams in 1968. (''Crawdaddy!'' briefly suspended publication in 1969, then returned in 1970, with its title unpunctuated, as a monthly with national mass market distribution, first as a quarterfold newsprint tabloid, then as a standard-sized magazine.) He became editor-in-chief in 1972. Under Knobler the magazine included contributions from

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, Tim O'Brien,

Michael Herr Michael David Herr (April 13, 1940 – June 23, 2016) was an American writer and war correspondent, known as the author of '' Dispatches'' (1977), a memoir of his time as a correspondent for ''Esquire'' (1967–1969) during the Vietnam War. The ...

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In he ...

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'' ...

P.J. O'Rourke Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for ''Th ...

and

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, for wh ...

, plus a roster of columnists including at times

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...

, The Firesign Theater, and sometimes Paul Williams himself. While on the run from the law,

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponen ...

was ''Crawdaddys travel editor. ''Crawdaddy'' was a generational magazine known for its profiles particularly of musicians, but also actors, athletes and other celebrities prominent in 1970s popular culture. Knobler's profiles included

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He has released twenty-six studio albums, four live albums, and six compilations. Some of his best-known songs include "The Swimmin ...

, the Souther Hillman Furay Band, and

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

. Under Knobler, ''Crawdaddys editors often assigned artists to write about other artists;

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

profiled

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...

Martin Mull Martin Eugene Mull (born August 18, 1943) is an American actor, comedian and musician who has appeared in many television and film roles. He is also a painter and recording artist. As an actor, he first became known in his role on ''Mary Hartman, ...

interviewed

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

talked magic and mysticism with

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

. The record reviews section, driven by editors John Swenson and Noe Goldwasser, had an iconoclastic reputationwell-known and respected by the music industry for its fierce independence. ''Crawdaddys features section regularly covered scenes from New Orleans funk to Austin, Texas' cosmic cowboys to

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. The most recent published census data indi ...

, est and

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

. Its renowned sense of humor produced the Crawdoodah Gazette, The Whole Earth Conspiracy Catalogue and "The Assassination Please Almanac". Knobler and

Greg Mitchell Greg Mitchell (born 1947) is an American author and journalist who has written twelve non-fiction books on United States politics and history of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has also written and directed two film documentaries, the award-winn ...

collected a wide range of the magazine's articles in the book ''Very Seventies: A Cultural History of the 1970s from the pages of Crawdaddy'', published in 1995.

Bruce Springsteen

In December 1972, after seeing the performer play at

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

prison and Kenny's Castaways, Knobler wrote the first interview and profile of

, with special assistance from Greg Mitchell. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by '

Like a Rolling Stone "Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted fro ...

,'" Knobler wrote. Knobler's ''Crawdaddy'' discovered Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged by giving a private performance at the ''Crawdaddy'' 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976. Knobler profiled Springsteen in ''Crawdaddy'' in 1973, 1975, and 1978.

Biography

Knobler was born and raised in New York City. He took part in 1965 in the

Selma to Montgomery march The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the ...

with Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Knobler graduated in 1968 with a degree in English literature from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

. He sang bass in that school's a cappella group, the

Dissipated Eight Middlebury's Dissipated Eight, also known as the D8, is the oldest a cappella group at Middlebury College. The group performs both nationally and internationally, at private venues, colleges, and high schools alike. Over the years, the group h ...

. Knobler has written for the college's alumni magazine. He attended the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

School of the Arts, Creative Writing Division. He briefly managed the career of saxophonist and

member

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

in the 1980s. Knobler is the father of Dan Knobler, Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter and guitarist in the bands Captain Coconut and Flearoy and co-founder of the audio/visual production company and creative collective

Mason Jar Music Mason Jar Music (founded June 2010) is an audio/visual production company and creative collective based in Brooklyn, New York co-founded by Dan Knobler and Jon Seale. Overview Mason Jar Music has produced audio and video content for artists a ...

. Dan Knobler's studio, Goosehead Palace, is located in Nashville, TN.

Books

* ''The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America'', Bill Bratton and Peter Knobler (2021) Penguin, * ''American Dreamer'', Tommy Hilfiger with Peter Knobler (2016) Ballantine, * '' A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic'', David N. Dinkins with Peter Knobler (2013), PublicAffairs, * ''Often Wrong, Never in Doubt: Unleash the Business Rebel Within'', Donny Deutsch with Peter Knobler (2005), HarperCollins, * ''Fairy Tales Can Come True: How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny'', Rikki Klieman with Peter Knobler (2003), HarperCollins, * '' A Passion to Win'', Sumner Redstone with Peter Knobler (2001), Simon & Schuster, * ''Triumph of Justice: The Final Judgment on the Simpson Saga'', Daniel Petrocelli with Peter Knobler (1998), Random House, * ''Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic'', William Bratton with Peter Knobler (1998) Random House, * ''Living the Dream: My Life and Basketball'', Hakeem Olajuwon with Peter Knobler (1996), Little, Brown * ''Very Seventies: A Cultural History of the 1970s from the pages of Crawdaddy'', Peter Knobler and Greg Mitchell (1995), Fireside/Simon & Schuster, * ''All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President'', James Carville and Mary Matalin with Peter Knobler (1994), Random House, * ''A Matter of Honor: One Cop's Lifelong Pursuit of John Gotti and the Mob'', Remo Franceschini (1993), Simon & Schuster, * ''Forgotten: A Sister's Struggle to Save Her Brother, America's Longest Held Hostage'', Peggy Say with Peter Knobler (1991), Simon & Schuster, * ''Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics & Other Places'', Ann Richards with Peter Knobler (1989), Simon & Schuster, * ''Out of Control: Confessions of an NFL Casualty'', Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson with Peter Knobler (1987), Bantam, * ''Giant Steps'', Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Peter Knobler (1983) Bantam,

Podcast

* ''Songs I Send My Son That He Sends Immediately to Spam'' episodes 1 and 2''Songs I Send My Son That He Sends Immediately to Spam''
/ref>

References

External links

https://www.peterknobler.com/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knobler, Peter 1946 births American magazine editors American male non-fiction writers American biographers Living people Writers from New York City Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Middlebury College alumni Historians from New York (state)

Writing

''Crawdaddy''

Bruce Springsteen

Biography

Books

Podcast

See also

References

External links