Birthdate: October 5, 1954

Indigo Bob - The Early Years

Indigo Bob was born Robert Mullen in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and grew up singin' and playin' guitar at home, in school then private parties and eventually the bar circuit, county fairs and other venues across the North East United States.

"I grew up in a cold water flat where the kitchen AM radio ran 24 x 7. Later in life I learned that dairy farmers ran radios 24x7 to keep the cows settled. I guess it worked for me too. I was a happy kid ... and I had a dream".

"At eight years old I liked to walk my dog on cold, snowy winter nights holding my portable AM radio up to the telephone pole guy wires to get the best stations. I'd sometimes fall asleep in that snow bank listening to R&B and Motown. The dog had more sense than I and usually woke me up to take him home. But the mold was set.  And the dog knew it".

"As time passed I taught myself to sing harmonies to Motown, R&B and then Rock. I learned what worked - but not why it worked. My ear told me and I believed it. I didn't know what an interval was and still have to think about terms like that before I use them".  

I worked as a club musician until my late twenties. When the nightclub/drug/booze scene began to turn me off, I turned the music inside me "off" as well. For fifteen years.