Samuel Robert Gibson (November 16, 1931 – September 28, 1996) was an American folk singer and a key figure in the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His principal instruments were

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

and

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

. He introduced a then-unknown

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

at the

Newport Folk Festival Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade from 1956 to 1965. His best known album, ''Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn'', was released in 1961. His songs have been recorded by, among others,

The Limeliters The Limeliters are an American folk music group, formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb (bass violin/bass), Alex Hassilev (banjo/baritone), and Glenn Yarbrough (guitar/tenor). The group was active from 1959 until 1965, and then after a hiatus of s ...

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of ...

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole con ...

, The Smothers Brothers,

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. His career was interrupted by his addiction to drugs and alcohol. After getting sober he attempted a comeback in 1978, but the musical scene had changed and his traditional style of folk music was out of favor with young audiences. He did, however, continue his artistic career with albums, musicals, plays, and television performances. In 1993, he was diagnosed with

progressive supranuclear palsy Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a late-onset degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain. The condition leads to symptoms including loss of balance, slowing of movement, difficulty ...

(PSP), and died of that disease on September 28, 1996, at the age of 64.

Biography

Gibson was born on November 16, 1931, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, United States, between his older sister, Anne, and younger brother, Jim. He and his siblings grew up in various communities outside New York City – Tuckahoe,

Yorktown Heights Yorktown Heights is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. History Yorktown Heights is in the town of Yorktown, New York, in northern ...

, and Tompkins Corners. His early interest in music was, primarily, vocal. He left high school in his senior year and

hitchhiked Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads have ...

around the country. Back in New York City in the late 1940s, Gibson took a job at a firm that taught speed reading, where he was responsible for sales and public relations. In 1952, he met and married his wife, Rose, who quickly bore three daughters – Barbara (who changed her name to

Meridian Green Meridian Green is a California-based folk musician, and one half of Parsons Green, a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Gene Parsons, former drummer with The Byrds. History Green was born to folk musician Bob Gibson in Greenwich Village. Sh ...

), Pati, and Susan. In 1953, he met

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

, and helped him rebuild his house. So impressed was Gibson with Seeger and his music that he "took the money I had set aside for rent" (to Rose's chagrin) and bought a

. He quit his job, became immersed in the study of folk music, and taught himself to play the banjo over the next year. At the age of 22 he began performing at schools, ladies' social clubs, lounges, and cabarets in New York, Miami,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

, and aboard cruise ships traveling to various Caribbean islands. Eventually he was hired at the Green Door in

Michigan City, Indiana Michigan City is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City- La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan statistical area, which is included in the Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City Combined st ...

, 50 miles east of Chicago. In 1955, he was booked into the Off-Beat Room in Chicago, where he met

Albert Grossman Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk an ...

. In 1956, Grossman opened the folk club Gate of Horn on the near north side of Chicago, where Gibson performed for eleven months, starting as an opener for many of the acts, and later becoming the headliner. Grossman booked numerous talented performers into Gate of Horn, including

Josh White Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names Pinewood Tom and Tippy Barton in the 1930s. White grew up in the Sout ...

Glenn Yarborough Glenn Robertson Yarbrough (January 12, 1930 – August 11, 2016) was an American folk singer and guitarist. He was the lead singer (tenor) with the Limeliters from 1959 to 1963 and also had a prolific solo career. Yarbrough had a restless ...

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

Hamilton Camp Hamilton Camp (Born Robin S. Camp, 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a London-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He became an American folk singer during he 1960s, and ev ...

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

, and

. Gibson brought Baez to the 1959

and introduced her, for the first time, to a national audience. Gibson steadily gained recognition in Chicago in the early 1960s, aided by Camp. In 1961 their debut album, ''Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn'', was released on Elektra Records. A watershed album, it influenced singers from

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 ...

and

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1 ...

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

. Lightfoot's " Canadian Railroad Trilogy" was patterned more or less opposite to Gibson and Camp's "Civil War Trilogy". Art D'Lugoff opened the iconic

Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...

in New York City in 1958, and Gibson and Camp became regular performers there. After they rejected D'Lugoff's suggestion that they add a female voice to their duo, he gave the same recommendation to

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...

and

Paul Stookey Noel Paul Stookey (born December 30, 1937) is an American singer-songwriter who was famous for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary; however, he has been known by his first name, Noel, throughout his life. Nowadays, he continues to ...

; the resulting trio,

, was deeply influenced by Gibson's music. Yarrow later said of his friend, "When you listen to PPM, you are hearing Bob Gibson."

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before ...

, then a cartoonist at ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'', was a regular fan and captured Gibson's attention when he completed lyrics to an unfinished Gibson tune. Gibson and Silverstein became close friends and writing partners, writing over 200 songs over the next 35 years. Their last joint project, in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

in 1993, was the album ''Makin' A Mess'', produced by Silverstein and

Kyle Lehning Kyle Lehning is an American record producer whose work is mainly in the field of country music. He has produced virtually every album released by Randy Travis, who described their partnership "an interesting relationship." The only exceptions are ...

and released on

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylu ...

. The last cut, "Whistlers and Jugglers and Singers of Song," was a last-minute substitution when Silverstein realized how ill his friend was. It was written about the relationship of "the trio from out of our past", about a girl who always loved a singer, and got together with him several years prior to his death.

Drug abuse

Gibson began abusing

drugs A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

and

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

as a teenager. By the time of his rise to success in Chicago he was a heavy user of

amphetamines Substituted amphetamines are a class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substituting, one or more hydrogen atoms in the amphetamine core structure with sub ...

. "Drugs were never recreational for me," he wrote. "My use of them from the beginning was abusive." His drug use escalated when he discovered heroin. Gibson was in and out of jails in Canada, (which led to his hilarious Christmas carol "Box of Candy and a Piece of Fruit"), Chicago, and

, for various drug-related charges. In the mid-1960s, he began a three-year period of complete isolation where drugs were his only priority. From 1969 to 1978, he tried repeatedly to restart his career, but his addictions made it impossible. In 1978, he attended an

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

meeting in Cleveland and eventually regained his sobriety. A musical comeback, however, was not to be. While he had been a popular and high-profile performer in the 1960s—as well as an important influence on other musicians—by 1978, interest in his purely acoustic folk-styled music had waned significantly. Although many remembered Gibson, and he recorded several albums of new music over the next several years, he was never again to capture the mass public appeal of his early 1960s period.

Illness and death

Around 1990, Gibson began to experience loss of balance, frequent falls, and other

neurological Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

symptoms. Later, his vision and then his voice were affected. In 1994 he entered the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staf ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

where a diagnosis of

(PSP) was made. With only 20,000 PSP patients in the United States (as opposed, for example, to 500,000 with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...

), it was an "

orphan disease A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, an orphan disease is a rare disease whose rarity means there is a lack of a market large enough to gain support and resources for discove ...

" and therefore the object of little research. Gibson moved from "my favorite place to live (

Mendocino, California Mendocino ( Spanish for "of Mendoza") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. Mendocino is located south of Fort Bragg at an elevation of . The population of the CDP was 9 ...

)" to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

where PSP was being studied. As his illness advanced, Gibson invited many of his friends to a farewell "hootenanny" on September 20, 1996, in Chicago:

This may be the last chance I have to see many of you. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do the simplest things and traveling is really a challenge. I won't be able to play and sing with you, but I'm really looking forward to being an audience of one!

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral h ...

served as host for the event.Roger Ebert i
Slate.com
April 8, 1998. Retrieved June 1, 2015. Gibson tired early, struggled to rise and say goodnight, and received a standing ovation. One week later, on September 28, 1996, he died at the home of his daughter, Susan, in Portland. In 1997, Gibson was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously by the

World Folk Music Association The World Folk Music Association is a non-profit organization formed in 1983 by folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton and Dick Cerri, a radio host from Washington D. C. The first chairman of the board was Paxton and Cerri served as president. Paxton ...

Discography

Legend: CD (compact disc); CS (cassette); LP (33 long play) *''Offbeat Folksongs'' (Riverside, 1956) LP *''I Come for to Sing'' (Riverside, 1957) LP *''Carnegie Concert'' (Riverside, 1957) LP *''Folksongs of Ohio'' (

Stinson Records Stinson Records was an American record label formed by Herbert Harris and Irving Prosky in 1939, initially to market, in the US, recordings made in the Soviet Union. Between the 1940s and 1960s, it mainly issued recordings of American folk and bl ...

, 1957) 10" LP – ''Note: Released without Bob Gibson's permission'' *''There's A Meetin' Here Tonight'' (Riverside, 1958) LP *''Ski Songs'' (Elektra, 1959) LP *''Yes I See'' (Elektra, 1961) LP *''Bob Gibson and

Bob Camp Robert Frank Camp (born February 7, 1956) is an American animator, writer, cartoonist, comic book artist, storyboard artist, director, and producer. Camp has been nominated for two Emmys, a CableACE Award, and an Annie Award for his work on '' ...

at The Gate of Horn'' (Elektra, 1961) LP *''Folksongs of Ohio'' (Stinson Records, 1963 reissue of earlier 10" LP) LP – ''Note: Re-released also without Bob Gibson's permission'' *''Hootenanny at Carnegie'' (Riverside, 1963 reissue of ''Carnegie Concert'') LP *''Where I'm Bound'' (Elektra, 1964) LP *''Bob Gibson'' (Capitol, 1970) LP *''Funky in the Country'' (Legend Enterprises, 1974) LP – recorded live at Amazingrace Coffeehouse *''Gibson & Camp, Homemade Music'' (Mountain Railroad Records, 1978) LP *''The Perfect High'' (Mountain Railroad Records, 1980) LP *''Uptown Saturday Night'' (Hogeye Records, 1984) LP *''Best of Friends'' (1984, on CD, Appleseed Records, 2004), with Tom Paxton and

Anne Hills Anne Hills (born October 18, 1953) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Hills was born to a family of missionaries in Moradabad, India, and grew up in Michigan, United States. She studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she pl ...

*''Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn – Revisited!'' (B*G Records, 1986) CS *''A Child's Happy Birthday Album'' (B*G Records, 1989) CS *''Bob Gibson 5/91 – I Hear America Singing'' (Snapshot Music, 1991) CS *''Stops Along the Way'' (B*G Records, 1991) CS *''Gibson & Camp, The Gate of Horn – Revisited!'' (Folk Era Productions, 1994) CD *''Makin' a Mess, Bob Gibson Sings Shel Silverstein'' (Asylum Records, 1995) CD *''Joy, Joy! The Young and Wonderful Bob Gibson'' (Riverside, 1996) CD *''Perfect High'' (re-release of earlier album, 1998) CD *''Bob Gibson and

at The Gate of Horn'' ( Collector's Choice, 2002 – re-release of 1961 Elektra LP) CD *''Where I'm Bound'' (Collector's Choice, 2002 – re-release of 1964 Elektra LP) CD *''The Living Legend Years'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – compilation with selections from ''Funky in the Country'', ''Homemade Music'', ''The Perfect High'', ''Uptown Saturday Night'') CD *''Funky in the Country'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1974 Legend LP) CD *''Homemade Music'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1978 Mountain Railroad LP) CD *''The Perfect High'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1980 Mountain Railroad LP) CD *''Uptown Saturday Night'' (Bob Gibson Legacy, 2008 – re-issue of 1984 Hogeye LP) CD *''Ski Songs'' (Collector's Choice, 2008 – re-issue of 1959 Elektra LP) CD *''Yes I See'' (Collector's Choice, 2008 – re-issue of 1961 Elektra LP) CD * ''Live at Cornell 1957'' (Rediscover Music 2011) Triple CD.

Notes

References

*Gibson, Bob and Carole Bender. ''BOB GIBSON: I Come For To Sing''. Pelican Publishing Company: Gretna, Louisiana 2001. . *Lightfoot, Gordon, ''Gordon Lightfoot Complete Greatest Hits – CD Booklet Page 5'', Warner Bros. Records Inc. & Rhino Entertainment Company 2002

External links

Bob Gibson Legacy – Official Web SiteFolk Era RecordsThe Music of AmericaMal Bellairs radio interview December 27, 1980
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Bob American folk musicians American folk singers 1931 births 1996 deaths Burials at Rosehill Cemetery Folk musicians from Chicago Old Town School of Folk musicians Riverside Records artists Elektra Records artists 20th-century American singers American folk guitarists American banjoists American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists People from Mendocino, California Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American male singers Neurological disease deaths in Oregon Deaths from progressive supranuclear palsy