Bob Welch (July 31, 1945, Los Angeles, CA - June 7, 2012, Antioch, TN) was… Read Full Bio ↴Bob Welch (July 31, 1945, Los Angeles, CA - June 7, 2012, Antioch, TN) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best remembered for his time with the immensely successful rock band Fleetwood Mac and for his own platinum solo albums and top-ten hits such as Sentimental Lady and Ebony Eyes from his album French Kiss on Capitol Records.

Welch started his career with a show band, the Seven Souls, playing night clubs around the country. Las Vegas lounges, and chic European resorts after having a Top-20 hit on the L.A. R&B charts. While living in Europe , where he was majoring in French at the Sorbonne, he was chosen to fill the guitar spot in Fleetwood Mac . He flourished with the band as a songwriter and guitarist, and wrote and sang 22 of the 50 songs on five albums.

Welch left Fleetwood Mac to form the group Paris with Soupy Sales' son, Hunt Sales, and Jethro Tull's bass player, Glenn Cornick.. After two albums with Paris , Welch's solo career took off in 1977 with a series of albums that generated 8 top-ten singles. During this time, he appeared and often guest-hosted on TV shows like Dick Clark's New American Bandstand, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, Solid Gold and Bert Sugarman's Midnight Special.

This led to Welch hosting his own pre-MTV syndicated weekly music variety TV series Hollywood Heartbeat for Gold Key Media. His two-hour live TV musical special, "Bob Welch and Friends" was an MTV first. He continued on, recording more solo albums for RCA Records, and the worldwide sales of Welch's Fleetwood Mac and solo career record output continued to soar into the tens of millions.

During his career as a solo artist, Welch received numerous awards including Billboard's "Favorite debut artist" award and the North American Rock Radio's "#1 Pop singlenew male artist" award, as well as playing in front of the largest rock concert audience ever (over 300,000 people) at California Jam II. Both Rhino Records and Curb Records have recently released collections of Welch's solo material, and Fleetwood Mac has released a 25th anniversary boxed set, "The Chain," which includes some of Welch's work with that band, as well as re-releasing on CD all his former recordings with Fleetwood Mac.

Welch helped found AFTRA'S "Singer's Night" at the famous Bluebird Cafe, when he served on the their Board of Directors. He is currently a member of ASCAP (32 years), NSAI and is a voting member of NARAS. Bob's songs have been cut by Sammy Hagar, The Pointer Sisters, Bruce Channel, Don Nix, and most recently, by Kenny Rogers. Bob has had his material used in HBO movies, like "Tough and Deadly," and one of his compositions is featured in the Dreamworks.Steve Spielberg production directed by Cameron Crowe, "Almost Famous."

Welch has music compositions with various production music libraries such as DSM Producers in New York.

As an endorsee of Gibson guitars, Welch performed at guitar clinics at different cities in the area, such as Chicago, Memphis, and Birmingham. Welch was one of the first on-line interviews and one of the first endorsees for Compuserve's Music Forum, Bob performed on the "First Virtual Guitar Lesson" on CD ROM in conjunction with Gibson guitars for Compuserve Magazine. He continued to do the multiple interviews and rock bios for TV networks like the Disney Channel and the BBC.

Welch received an award from A.S.C.A.P commemorating over 25 years of consecutive airplay for his compositions Sentimental Lady and Hypnotized.

In 1999 Welch released a new CD , "Bob Welch Looks At Bop", a tribute to the "BE BOP" music of the 1940's. He also wrote a column for the music professionals website and magazine "artistpro.com", and is an audio consultant for A.M.D computers and for Steinburg Gmbh, the audio production specialists.

Welch was featured in a July 2002 Wall Street Journal article spotlighting "songwriting by e-mail collaboration."

Welch's song , "Sentimental Lady" featured in the November 2002 release, About Schmidt," starring Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates.

On July 8th 2003, One Way Records released Welch's CD; "Bob Welch; His Fleetwood Mac Years And Beyond"

Welch died on June 7, 2012 of an apparent suicide. He had been having health issues prior to his death.

Secrets
Bob Welch Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Welch

Well my imagination
Is gettin' way too strong
In my imagination
She's already gone
'Cause last time we went drivin'
Somewhere in the dark

I started in to hold her
Then we broke apart
(Chorus)
She's got secrets, she's got someone
The only girl I can't stop loving
Has a secret love
She's got secrets, I know she's got someone
The only girl I can't stop loving
Has a secret, secret love
Oh I should have seen it coming
All those little lies
The times that I felt her body
Was not completely mine
Then there was that party
I had to leave alone
'Cause she was bein' too cute with someone
I did not want to know
(Repeat Chorus)
Now my little lover
Has a secret love
And I'd like to get her
'Cause I can't get enough
Now my little lover
Coudn't be so bad
It ain't really worth it

You know I'm bein' had
(Repeat Chorus)

Overall Meaning

The song "Secrets" by Bob Welch is an emotional tale of a man who knows that his lover is hiding something from him. He begins to fear that she has someone else and that he is not enough for her. In the first verse, Welch explains how his imagination is getting the best of him and that he believes she has already left him. He reminisces about a time they went driving in the dark and he tried to hold her, but they ended up breaking apart. The chorus reiterates that she has secrets and that he knows she has someone else, but he cannot stop loving her.

In the second verse, Welch describes how he should have seen the signs that led to the revelation that his lover had a secret. He felt as though her body was not entirely his and that she was being too cute with someone at a party he had to leave alone. The chorus repeats the same sentiment as before, with Welch unable to let go of the woman he loves despite the secrets she keeps. The final verse sees Welch admitting that he wants his little lover and that he cannot get enough of her, but he knows that she has a secret love. He acknowledges that pursuing her is not worth it and that he is being had.

Overall, "Secrets" is a song that speaks to anyone who has ever been in a relationship where one party is keeping secrets. Welch sings about the pain and heartbreak that comes with suspecting your lover of infidelity or hiding something from you, but also about the difficulty of letting go of someone that you love deeply.

Line by Line Meaning

Well my imagination
I'm thinking too much

Is gettin' way too strong
My thoughts are overpowering me

In my imagination
In my thoughts

She's already gone
She's already left me in my mind

'Cause last time we went drivin'
The last time we went out together

Somewhere in the dark
At night, in a dark place

I started in to hold her
I tried to touch her

Then we broke apart
But we stopped and separated

She's got secrets, she's got someone
She's hiding something from me, she's seeing someone else

The only girl I can't stop loving
She's the only girl I can't get out of my head

Has a secret love
She has a hidden romantic relationship