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Rob Reynolds is an award-winning singer / songwriter from Northern England who plays acoustic / electric guitar, lap steel, Dobro steel / slide, has opened for the likes of Midge Ure, Errol Brown, Hazel O’Connor, China Crisis, Big Joe Turner, Arthur Lee, and Love, Pete Wylie, Procul Harem, Paul Carrack, Christy Hennessey, Glen Tilbrook, Hugh Cornwell and Amos Lee.
Although born in Portsmouth, Rob grew up in Harrogate where, at the age of fifteen, he began singing in various bands, learned the guitar and commenced a songwriting career that would win him accolade in the years to come.
1995. Rob moved to London and quickly started on his first project when his manager Carl Miller introduced him to Alvin Gibbs of punk veterans UK Subs. Through Carl and Alvin, Rob came to the attention of then-fledgling London-based indie record company, Invisible Hands Music.
1996. Rob toured supporting Midge Ure throughout the year. On October 21st, a single was released through Invisible Hands; an authentic and beautiful cover of the Arlen / Koeler jazz standard ‘Stormy Weather’, considered by many aficionados to be the definitive performance of the song. It achieved single of the week at Jazz FM and won a Jukebox Jury on Surf FM. There were countless radio sessions around the country along with dozens of TV appearances and a tour date supporting China Crisis.
1997. On March 10th the single ‘Take It Easy’ was released through Invisible Hands. In summer the debut album, ‘Waiting For The Tide’, was recorded with an all-star cast featuring drummer Darren Mooney (Primal Scream), bassist Jon Noyce (Jethro Tull), keyboard player Reg Webb (Lenny Kravitz) and produced by ace guitarist Greg Bone (Seal, Sting, Prince). Even sound engineer Robin Black was a legend, having engineered albums by Wings, The Who, and Pink Floyd.
1998-2003. After a long period of travelling and writing in different parts of the world (including work in Germany with the Munich Symphony Orchestra) and releasing his second album ‘Samsara Never Sleeps’ which was Mojo magazine’s Album Of The Month, Rob was part of an extensive press campaign which resulted with him being featured in various publications such as NME, Melody Maker, Select, Classic Rock, Mojo , Blues and Soul and Time Out. In July 2003 the single ‘Sweet Mother’ hit the airwaves, staying on the BBC Radio 2 playlist for an impressive five weeks, and Radio 2 invited Rob to premier two tracks live to a massive radio audience as part of their Great British Music Debate.
In Europe, airplay and live dates took place in Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Holland and Germany. In the autumn of 2003 Rob returned to London to record ‘Sightseeing’, combining a love of soul, blues, rock and jazz, written and produced by Rob, with a band made up of some of the country’s top musicians ( previous collaborations of the band members have included Manic Street Preachers, Beverley Knight, John Martyn, Liberty X and many more) followed by playing support to Hazel O’ Connor for the rest of the year, continuing in to 2004. On the 11th December Rob supported Souad Massi at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. By the end of 2003 Sweet Mother had been play listed on over forty stations.
2004 began with a tour of radio stations around the country. March 31st heralded the start of a whirlwind and successful tour with Hazel O’Connor here in the UK and then in Holland, proceeded by an equally successful tour with Glen Tilbrook which made this a very busy year ending with an acoustic set supporting Pete Wylie at the Islington Academy in London.
2005 saw Rob play to a packed crowd at the prestigious ‘Best Of British’ at Midem showcase in Cannes, France. He then toured Canada twice, the first of which included two showcases at Canada Music Week and the second taking NXNE by storm and touring with legendary Hugh Cornwell from the Stranglers, back to the UK to play tour support to Paul Carrack, Glen Tilbrook and Amos Lee (this has followed extensive touring with the likes of; Midge Ure, Errol Brown, Hazel O’Connor, China Crisis, Big Joe Turner, Arthur Lee and Love, Pete Wylie, Procul Harem) played two sets at Glastonbury festival; and in July, winning the Baltic Song Contest for England in Malmo, Sweden. At the tail end of 2005 Rob toured Ireland with Christie Hennessey and spent 10 weeks on Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 playlist.
2006-2008. Rob attended a radio promotion in Ireland, wrote and worked performing acoustic sets throughout the year in London as well as Switzerland. The beginning of 2007 saw the fourth album released, a compilation of his work so far entitled ‘The Curious World’, drawn from his three studio albums of a fascinating creative life and some of the best music made in the last twenty years.
Towards the end of 2008 he joined long time friend and producer Tom Jackson in Switzerland and Germany to embark on writing a album for German band ‘Rauschhardt’ to be released in 2010. (Guitar: Tom Rauschhardt. Bass player: Jacki Reznicek. Drummer: Sebastian Reznicek. Keyboards: Christoph von Haniel.)
2009. This year Rob completed the album ‘Coming Home’, with Grammy nominated, Juno winning producer Brandon Friesen, in Winnipeg, Canada. Rob also made guest appearances on two songs with dance producer Boyan, and a duet with 70s psycho rockers Wally on their first album in 30 years. He played over 200 shows, including a French music festival in August, Rochefort Accords, where he performed with Piers Faccini and the legendary slide player BJ Cole, vibraphone player Roger Beaujolais and Rob Arnos on sax.
