11 Facts About Robert Hilburn

Robert Hilburn was born on September 25,1939 and is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host.

Robert Hilburn was a member of the nominating committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for more than twenty years, and lives in Los Angeles.

Robert Hilburn was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and lived there until he was five, mostly on his grandfather's cotton farm in nearby Campti.

Robert Hilburn worked as a news reporter on a suburban Los Angeles newspaper for two years, but tired of journalism and became a public information officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the mid-1960s.

Eager to write about music, Robert Hilburn did a series of freelance pieces on such figures as Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin for the Los Angeles Times before being hired full-time by the paper.

Robert Hilburn began writing at the Los Angeles Times in 1966, replacing Pete Johnson as rock critic in 1970.

At the Times, Robert Hilburn wrote about the new pop culture movements of punk, techno and rap.

Robert Hilburn wrote extensively about many major figures of pop-rock, including numerous significant interviews with Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and U2.

In 1985, Robert Hilburn published a Bruce Springsteen biography as one in a series of Rolling Stone Press books.

In 2013, Robert Hilburn published a biography of Johnny Cash titled Johnny Cash: The Life.

Five years later, Robert Hilburn published a biography of Paul Simon titled Paul Simon: The Life.