1. Robert Joseph Beckham was an American country music publisher based in Nashville, who mentored generations of songwriters as head of Combine Music Publishing from 1964 to 1989.
18 Facts About Bob Beckham
1. 2.
Bob Beckham played a pivotal role in the career of Kris Kristofferson and guided other artists including Dolly Parton, Larry Gatlin, Tony Joe White and Billy Swan.
3.
Bob Beckham was a gruff but supportive father figure to his staff songwriters, whom he truly loved.
4.
Bob Beckham was given the Mentor Award by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
5.
Bob Beckham died in 2013 in a Nashville hospital at age 86.
6.
Bob Beckham was a Hollywood movie actor for a while but returned to Oklahoma in 1940 to attend school.
7.
Bob Beckham served in the US Army as a paratrooper during World War II and then worked as an electrician.
8.
Bob Beckham got a job on the radio with Arthur Godfrey before signing a record deal with Decca Records.
9.
On tour, Bob Beckham was the opening act for Brenda Lee.
10.
Bob Beckham's starting job in publishing was in 1961 as the Nashville liaison for Atlanta's Bill Lowery, helping nurture the careers of Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed and Joe South.
11.
In 1964, Foster asked Bob Beckham to run Combine Music, the publishing arm of the developing juggernaut, which was struggling when Bob Beckham signed on.
12.
Bob Beckham was shrewd in pioneering deals for song exposure in commercials, placing Combine's copyrights in advertising jingles.
13.
Bob Beckham found Fred Foster who signed her on Monument Records.
14.
Bob Beckham signed her to a publishing deal at Combine.
15.
Bob Beckham said, "he works real hard on our behalf".
16.
Bob Beckham had just bought a set of drums for his home studio and was learning to play them when the song came to him.
17.
Bob Beckham played all the parts himself and made a demo.
18.
In 1990, Bob Beckham established HoriPro Music, a subsidiary of Taiyo Music, Japan's largest music publisher.