Bob Rock

Payola$ and Rock and Hyde

Rock began his music career in Langford, British Columbia (a "suburb" of Victoria) as a guitarist playing with friends William Alexander and Paul Hyde in the former's household basement. After high school graduation, Rock left Victoria and became the co-founder of the Payola$, who became well known with the success of their 1980s hit, "Eyes of a Stranger", which was used as part of the soundtrack of the movie Valley Girl starring Nicolas Cage. In 1983, the Payola$ won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. Rock also worked as an assistant engineer at Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver. In 1987, the Payola$ (who had by then changed their name to Paul Hyde and the Payolas) again changed their name to Rock and Hyde and had a hit single in Canada with the song "Dirty Water". The song also charted on Billboard's Hot 100. In 2007, the Payola$ became briefly active once more as a touring and recording act, releasing the EP Langford Part One.

Production career

Rock is perhaps best known as a producer for bands such as Metallica and Motley Crue. He has also worked with Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, The Moffatts, Cher, The Cult, David Lee Roth, Skid Row, Veruca Salt, Nina Gordon, The Offspring, 311, Our Lady Peace, The Tragically Hip, The Tea Party, Lostprophets, American Hi-Fi, Simple Plan, Tonic, Nelly Furtado, Jann Arden and Ron Sexsmith.

Rock briefly returned to performing, forming the band Rockhead with ex-Payola$ drummer Chris Taylor. The band released one self-titled album and two singles before splitting up.

Rock produced the five finalist songs of CBC Sports's Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge in late 2008. He became involved with a controversy having worked with Gerry Mosby, one of the semi-finalists, thus violating CBC rules on the Anthem Challenge.

Metallica

In 1990, Bob Rock was chosen to produce Metallica's diamond certified self-titled album, Metallica (commonly referred to as The Black Album). Rock would subsequently produce Load (1996) and ReLoad (1997) as well as the new material for the band's cover album Garage Inc. (1998). After Jason Newsted left Metallica in January 2001, Rock wrote and recorded all of the bass guitar parts on the 2003 album St. Anger. He also played bass during the band's few live performances until Robert Trujillo joined the band in February 2003. Rock was featured prominently in the 2004 documentary film Some Kind of Monster. The film dealt with Metallica's internal strife and their struggles with the creative process during the recording of St. Anger.

In February 2006, Metallica chose producer Rick Rubin to produce their next album, ending the group's long-time relationship with Rock. At Metallica's 30th Anniversary Concert on 12 December 2011, Rock joined Metallica onstage and performed bass alongside Trujillo on the songs "Dirty Window" and "Frantic".

Musician

Producer

Engineer/mixer

Awards

Rock's career both as a producer and musician was recognized at the 2007 Juno Awards Ceremony in Saskatoon for his lifetime contribution to popular music. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). "Bob is a musical craftsman whose wide range of talents show no signs of slowing," said Melanie Berry, CARAS President. "He has helped to define rock as we know it today, and we are very proud to recognize him in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame."

Rock confirmed his acceptance of the award: "It is an honour to join great producers like Bob Ezrin, Bruce Fairbairn, Daniel Lanois, Jack Richardson, and David Foster in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame" said Rock. "They are all giants of the industry, and to be recognized, means that I had to have worked with truly great artists. I thank them for their confidence and inspiration."

Bob Rock has received nominations for 17 Juno Awards in various categories including "Producer of the Year", "Recording Engineer of the Year", "Composer of the Year", and "Entertainer of the Year". He has won on numerous occasions for both his production work and his work with the Payola$ and Rock and Hyde. Rock last won Producer of the Year in 2005 for Simple Plan's "Welcome to My Life". He has been nominated for 2007 Producer of the Year for his work on The Tragically Hip's album World Container. In 2014, Rock won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for his work on Michael Buble's album To Be Loved (Since 2001, the Grammy has been given to the performing artists, the engineers/mixers, as well as the producers).