ABOUT BOB
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF...
Bob was the chief pop music critic and editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 through 2005, when he left the paper to write books, which include a 2009 memoir, Corn Flakes with John Lennon and Other Tales From a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life, and four biographies. A national best-seller, Johnny Cash: The Life, in 2013, is the definitive look at one of the most complex and influential artists in pop culture. |
Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic of
the New York Times, named the biography one of her ten favorite books of the year. Kirkus called it “an instant classic that… with something to offer all generations of listeners". It was followed in 2019 by Paul Simon: The Life, which chronicled the creative process of one of America’s greatest songwriters. Rolling Stone declared the book “epic” and “essential.” A Few Words in Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman, in 2025, went past the best-known Newman songs, including “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” and “Short People,” to stress the heart of Newman’s music, which consist of a series of brilliant songs that speak about shortcomings in the American character, including racism and greed. The biography was called by critic-author Greil Marcus “a strong and invaluable work.” Author-film director Cameron Crowe described it as a “heartfelt and indispensable account of America’s finest songwriter.” Springsteen, published while Hilburn was still working for the Times, chronicled the rock star’s ascent in pop culture. |
BackgroundAs pop critic and editor at the Los Angeles Times, Bob’s reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the world via the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. His early reviews and articles have been cited by numerous artists for helping launch their careers, including, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Tom Petty, U2 and, most famously, Elton John, who has thanked him from the stage during his every performance in Los Angeles.
Bob was born Charles Robert Nelms in Natchitoches, LA, the sole child of Charles Merritte Nelms, who later owned a Ford dealership, and Alice Marie Taylor, who was primarily a housewife. The marriage was short-lived and his mother subsequently married John Edward Hilburn, an Army lieutenant, who took the new family back to his native California where he was an electronic engineer in the aerospace industry. During the early Louisiana years and when visiting his grandparents in later summers, Bob developed a deep love of music, especially the blues and country styles that gave birth to rock and roll. He graduated from Reseda High School in 1957 and California State University, Northridge(journalism degree) in 1961. He worked as a news reporter on a suburban Los Angeles newspaper (the Valley Times TODAY) for two years, but tired of daily journalism and became a public information officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District. While there he began to miss writing around the same time he fell in love with the work of Bob Dylan, especially, and the Beatles. Eager to write about music, Bob did a series of freelance pieces on such figures as Johnny Cash (his historic concert at Folsom Prison in 1968) and Janis Joplin for the Los Angeles Times before being hired full-time by the paper in 1970. |
Mug shot
by Jeff Amlotte,copyright 2009 |
The Interview Process
As the Times’ first full-time pop critic, Hilburn gained a reputation for revealing interviews with many of pop’s most notable figures, including multiple interviews over the years with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Kurt Cobain, Eminem and U2. Mikal Gilmore, author of A Shot in the Heart, labeled Hilburn “the greatest interviewer in rock & roll history.” Greil Marcus, author of the massively influential book Mystery Train, added, “You could feel as you read (Hilburn’s) conversations with everyone from Bob Dylan on down, that people trusted him, that they wanted to tell him what they didn’t want to tell anyone else.”
Personal Life
Bob and his first wife, Ruthann Snijders, had two children, Kathy and Rob, who in turn also had two children each. He and his second wife, Kathi Barr, were married in 1988 and live in Los Angeles.
Critical Philosophy“When I started writing about rock, I thought of it as an inevitable chain of events—much like thousands of dominoes in a line that fell neatly one after another once Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry helped kick things off. But I eventually realized that concept was naïve. If you took away as few as two dozen artists from that that row of dominoes, rock would have collapsed as an art form. Imagine your record collection without Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder or U2. Sensing that, I felt one of the main challenges of a pop critic was to focus on the musicians who expanded the art form.
In search of them, I have frequently ended up writing about false promises, artists who ran out of ideas, self-destructed or compromised their music in hopes of wider sales. But I was also fortunate to connect with many of the most important artists of the rock era. “Interacting with those figures, I came to appreciate the tremendous toll that rock can place on an artist's personal life; how there is often far more drama off-stage than on. In the end, all it takes to be a star is luck and a commercial sound, which explains why we have so many mediocre hit-makers. To be a true artist, you need enormous talent, fierce ambition, an original vision and an unyielding toughness. I saw some artists triumph because they were tough and others die because they weren't tough enough. |
"I've also spoken to thousands of fans about what they want from music. Some just seek entertainment; others respond to unchecked anger and rebellion or comfort and reassurance; still others follow a band because their friends do; and there are those who value artists with the insight and craft to uplift and inspire us. No single rock diet works for everybody. We all have different musical DNA and follow different musical paths. Yet there is a unifying quality about rock 'n' roll that helped instill confidence and hope in millions of fans at times when little else in their lives made sense.
What linked Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Prince and Nirvana was the old-fashioned American notion that each individual can make a difference, whether a truck driver from Memphis or a blind piano player from southwest Georgia. The impact and influence of the rock era benefited greatly from how it coincided with a golden age of singer-songwriters, who spoke about personal trials as well as social conditions. Rock 'n' roll was the promise of a better day and the best artists spread that message with an almost missionary zeal. I've always believed in that liberating message, which is probably why I responded most to artists who fought to keep that promise alive. |
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