That was Bob Hinkle. Played lots of music and managed many well knowns.
Bob toured with the legendary Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, singing backup vocals for Ryder and opening the shows with his own group, The Good Earth. One night in Cleveland in 1966, Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding were hanging out backstage. Hendrix borrowed Bob's guitar and sat in. It wasn't a great guitar but Hendrix was so incredible he didn't seem to notice or care. He was happy just to play. In those days, an artist did live television shows in the afternoon and played the concert at night. Bob has remarked that he was at times the only one on the tour bus who wasn't high, and that convinced him to earn a BA in Broadcasting from the University of North Carolina.
After training at advertising giant Young & Rubicam, he became Co-Director of Ampex Records and recorded for the label as an artist. From 1972 to 1974, Bob consulted for Capitol Records, The Band, Albert Grossman (manager of Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin) and Audio Fidelity Records.
In 1975, he co-founded Hart & Hinkle Management with partner Jeb Hart. Over the next fifteen years, they successfully managed the J. Geils Band, Harry Chapin, Manfred Mann, Naked Eyes, Patti Lupone, Etta James and many others. As partners in Kragen & Co, they managed Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and Dottie West. They had more than fifteen albums in the Billboard Top Ten and five #1 singles. Under their direction, Kenny Rogers sold 20 million records; the J. Geils Band, 5 million; and Harry Chapin, 3 million. In 1982, the J. Geils Band opened for the Rolling Stones world tour and Bob went around the globe on a private jet, often with Mick, Keith and the rest of the band. Bill Wyman nicknamed him "Puccini" after the famous composer. From then on, every time Bob spoke, one of the Stones would say, "Ah, Puccini begs to differ." Bob was also a member of the Carltones, a spin-off doo-wop band composed of members of the Stones and J. Geils Band. Named after the Carlton Towers Hotel in London, a favorite hangout, they rehearsed in Keith's bathroom for its acoustic quality. Their only gig was in a posh London restaurant disrupting Mick Jagger and Jerri Hall's "private" birthday celebration.
Bob's accomplishments already included sales of more than 35 million records when he convinced then-child actors Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson to make albums and videos. He conceived their game plan, executive produced and released their first several videos and LP's; the rest is billion-dollar history. In 1990, he became a founding partner of the Children's Group and launched the very successful Classical Kids audio and video series. In 1992, Bob founded Zoom Express, a co-venture with BMG/RCA. The company grossed over $5 million in the first 20 months and Bob became VP of Creative for BMG Video/Kidz. Throughout his career, he has negotiated recording and publishing contracts, optioned literary works for film and stage, managed worldwide concert tours, negotiated licenses for feature films, television and merchandising, and administered relationships with major talent agencies. Today he has a consulting company, Not Management, notmanagement.com, based in Brooklyn, New York. He advises the Smithsonian Institution, Hallmark Entertainment, BMG, Coat of Many Colors, Inc., Meltzer Media and individual artists. A friendly email will often get a friendly reply.
Bob has always been ahead of his time and so is his new company, Healing Rain. Healing Rain is a record label focused on sound healing music. Bob is producing a series of releases to explore this new landscape, as well as acting as an A&R source and advisor for Infidel Records. He lives in Brooklyn near his two sons who work the door when his band plays.
