Rob Bowman (born 21 June 1956) is a Canadian Grammy Award-winning professor of

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

and a music writer. Formerly the director of

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and sta ...

's Graduate Program in Ethnomusicology and Musicology in Toronto, he has written many

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are descen ...

, studies and books on popular music. He has been nominated six times for Grammy Awards.

Early life and education

Bowman was born and grew up in Toronto. He earned an Honours B.A. in musicology in 1978 at York University, and in 1982 completed an M.F.A. in ethnomusicology, also at York. In 1983 he began his PhD studies at the University of Memphis, completing these in 1993."Rob Bowman"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', by Durrell Bowman, 29 March 2009

Career

Bowman began writing for a music magazine in Toronto in 1971 at age 15."Rob Bowman: Canada’s rock ‘n’ roll professor"
''

CityNews ''CityNews'' (corporately styled City''News'') is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as ''CityPulse'' as a standalone loc ...

'', by Lindsay Dunn, 23 January 2019 In 1979 Bowman began teaching part-time at

in Toronto, where he introduced the study of popular music. He also taught part-time at Brock University and George Brown College, beginning in 1987. In 1993 he became an assistant professor at York University; three-year later he served as an adjunct professor. By 1998 he was director of York's graduate music program. Bowman studied the history of the

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

label and its artists; he created liner notes for boxed sets of ''The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles''. In 2003 he wrote a book, ''Soulsville, U.S.A. – The Story of Stax Records'', about the history of the Memphis-based record label. Bowman won the 1996 Best Album Notes

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for his 47,000-word monograph accompanying the 10-CD boxed set of ''The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972–1975''."Grammy-nominated Rob Bowman on the 'extraordinary life' of transgender soul pioneer"
''CityNews'', by David Friend, The Canadian Press, 6 February 2019. Also published in the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'', 7 February 2019. His fifth Grammy nomination came in 2002 for Best Album Notes for the 4-CD box set ''The Stax Story'', which he also co-produced. In the 2000s and 2010s Bowman created the programs for each year's Rock‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, after interviewing the inductees. Bowman was once again nominated for a Grammy award for his profile of the 1960s transgender R&B and soul singer Jackie Shane, which was included with the double album ''Any Other Way'', a collection of her lesser-known recordings, which was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Historical Album The Grammy Award for Best Historical Album has been presented since 1979 and recognizes achievements in audio restoration. Since this category's creation, the award had several minor name changes: *In 1979 the award was known as Best Historical Re ...

in 2019. He also co-produced the album.

Film

Bowman was one of many musical figures to appear in the 2005 Canadian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

'' The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico'' and in the 2010 documentary on singer-songwriter

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...

, '' Love Shines''. He also appeared in the 2017 CBC documentary film ''Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas''.CBC documentary Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas has heft and beauty"
''The Globe and Mail'', John Doyle, 6 December 2017

Publications

Books

*''Soulsville, U.S.A. – The Story of Stax Records'', Music Sales Group, 2003 *''The Flyer Vault'' – 150 Years of Toronto Concert History, Dundurn Press, 2019

Liner notes

*''The Complete Stax'' / Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 3: 1972–1975 : Various Artists : Concord Music Group, 2011 *''Any Other Way'', Jackie Shane, 2017. *''The Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (50th Anniversary) '', Rolling Stones, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Rob Date of birth missing (living people) 1957 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) York University faculty Canadian music academics Canadian writers about music Canadian music historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Musicians from Toronto Writers from Toronto Ethnomusicologists Grammy Award winners