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'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.''Very Seventies''
Knobler is the journalist who discovered Bruce Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion.

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 a ...

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 served under President Ronald Reagan, was campaign director for George H. W. Bush, an assistant to President Geo ...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

William Bratton William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American businessman and former law enforcement officer who served two non-consecutive tenures as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016) and currently one of ...

Texas Governor The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constitut ...

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,

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

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 ...

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

, 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, chairman of CBS Corporation (both companies m ...

, 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. Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marine Associa ...

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 Policing in America,'' published by Penguin Press, 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. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'', ''

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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'', ''

More More 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 Shade, ...

'', ''

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

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, ...

''. 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".

Songwriting

Knobler has co-written songs with

Chris Hillman Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his w ...

, Steve Miller,

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

, and the

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

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 the bass player and a founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing ...

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

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

and the Desert Rose Band. 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 vocal quartet. The classic and most well-known lineup of the group, which performed together for over 40 years, consisted of William Lee Golden (baritone), Duane Allen (lead), Richard Sterban (bass), and Joe B ...

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

Screenwriting

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 E ...

nomination for his work on the program '' Baseball's Golden Age''. He has written championship films for the

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

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 tenn ...

''Crawdaddy''

Knobler first wrote for ''Crawdaddy!'' under its original editor

Paul Williams Paul Williams may refer to: Authors * Paul Williams (Crawdaddy) (1948–2013), American music and science fiction journalist; founder of ''Crawdaddy'' and the Philip K. Dick Society * Paul Williams (Irish journalist) (born 1964), Irish journalis ...

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 activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

, 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. She was one of the seven Saturday Night Live cast members, original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series ...

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

P.J. O'Rourke Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American author, journalist, and political satirist who wrote twenty-two books on subjects as diverse as politics, cars, etiquette, and economics. '' Parliament of Whores'' ...

and

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American filmmaker and journalist. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Grammy Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. Crowe started his career a ...

, 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. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American writer and satirist. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key figure in t ...

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

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard 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 proponent of the ...

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 Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development ...

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

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

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

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

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; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...

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

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...

profiled

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for Steve Martin filmography, his work in comedy films, television, and #Discography, recording, he has received List of awards a ...

Martin Mull Martin Eugene Mull (, August 18, 1943 – June 27, 2024) was an American actor, musician, and painter. He became known on '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,'' its spin-off '' Fernwood 2 Night,'' and '' America 2 Night.'' Other notable roles included ...

interviewed

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

talked magic and mysticism with

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

. 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 the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...

, est and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

. 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. He has written twelve non-fiction books on United States politics and history of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has also written and directed three film documentaries. The featur ...

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 is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining (village), New York, Ossining, New York, United States. It is abou ...

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 the 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 exhauste ...

,'" 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 the 1965

Selma to Montgomery march The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the desire of African-Amer ...

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, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Knobler graduated in 1968 with a degree in English literature from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

. He sang bass in that school's a cappella group, the Dissipated Eight. Knobler has written for the college's alumni magazine. He attended the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

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 saxophonist. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Clemons rel ...

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. 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''
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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

Songwriting

Screenwriting

''Crawdaddy''

Bruce Springsteen

Biography

Books

Podcast

See also

References

External links