Bob Beckham

Robert Joseph Beckham (July 8, 1927 – November 11, 2013) was an American country music publisher based in Nashville, who mentored generations of songwriters as head of Combine Music Publishing from 1964 to 1989. He played a pivotal role in the career of Kris Kristofferson and guided other artists including Dolly Parton, Larry Gatlin, Tony Joe White and Billy Swan.

As a young man, he had stint of acting in motion pictures in Hollywood and he himself became a recording artist with some fleeting success — but Beckham turned to music publishing in 1961 as his primary career. In the 1970s, Beckham became a major power on Music Row, and nurtured many great songwriters who wrote classic hits like "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Kris Kristofferson), and Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" (Dennis Linde). Beckham was a gruff but supportive father figure to his staff songwriters, whom he truly loved. He was given the Mentor Award by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Beckham died in 2013 in a Nashville hospital at age 86.

Early years

Bob Beckham Beckham was born in Stratford, Oklahoma. Beginning at age 8, he got into entertainment as a child actor with a traveling show. He was a Hollywood movie actor for a while (Junior G Men, Starmaker ) but returned to Oklahoma in 1940 to attend school. As a recording artist, three of his records charted in 1959-1960: "Just as Much as Ever" peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959; "Crazy Arms" peaked at No. 36 in 1960; "Mais Oui" charted at 105. Beckham composed Vic Dana's 1963 chart song "Danger". On tour, Beckham was the opening act for Brenda Lee. When his performing career waned, he settled in Nashville in 1959, where producer Owen Bradley suggested song publishing as a possibility. He then worked for Shelby Singleton Music. In 1964, Foster asked Beckham to run Combine Music, the publishing arm of the developing juggernaut, which was struggling when Beckham signed on. After two years, Beckham was made president of Combine. According to historian Michael Kosser, "Beckham was one of those rare publishers who truly loved songwriters, and he quickly established his reputation as a gruff but very supportive father figure to his staff writers." Beckham was also shrewd in pioneering deals for song exposure in commercials, placing Combine's copyrights in advertising jingles. Parton said, "I went down on Music Row to get my contract or an audition. I tried two or three places and they all were filled up with girl singers". She found Fred Foster who signed her on Monument Records. Beckham signed her to a publishing deal at Combine (she had written hundreds of songs). They were unsure of what genre would be best for her voice. "They recorded me as a rock singer", Parton said; " I really came to do country because I always sung country. That's what I was and what I wanted to be". Parton was then allowed to try country music and she recorded "Dumb Blonde" which was a hit. In 1967, she released her first full album, "Hello, I'm Dolly " on which Parton had written (or co-written with her uncle) all the songs. It peaked at No.11 on the country albums chart. This album caught the attention of Porter Waggoner and shortly after, Parton gained national attention joining the syndicated weekly "Porter Waggoner Show". Both Beckham and Foster immediately realized what they had when Kristofferson sang for them. Foster said, "My God, there's never been a writer of this caliber here that's come to my office". The answer was "you can communicate". Kristofferson came up with "Me and Bobby McGee" and sang it for her in the office. Kristofferson said, "You know, somebody would give you a title and then bet you couldn't write a song to fit it". The song began to take off, first recorded by Roger Miller in 1969. Kristofferson's own version was released on his first Monument album in 1970 Joplin's version changed the gender of "Bobby McGee" into a male. In 1970 Linde had a couple of hits, one by Roy Drusky and another by Roger Miller. Coincidentally, Linde met Beckham's daughter Pam— eventually the two fell in love and were married. The following year Linde wrote a song called "Burning Love". He had just bought a set of drums for his home studio and was learning to play them when the song came to him. He played all the parts himself and made a demo. The first singer to record it was Arthur Alexander on the Warner Brothers label in late 1971, but soon the song reached Elvis Presley who released his own version. This eclipsed Alexander's version quickly— Presley's making the top ten in both the U.S. and Europe and scarcely missed becoming No. 1 in the U.S.(1972). It was Presley's last major hit and the song's worldwide success greatly increased Combine's profitability; for example, the song was featured on the soundtracks of five motion pictures. Linde's stature as a songwriter was also increased, allowing him to do other projects, and make solo albums. Elvis recorded two more of Linde's compositions, "I Got a Feelin' in My Body" and "For the Heart".

Later years

Combine's success peaked in the early 1970s largely due to the Kristofferson and Linde hits so big that they became country standards. In 1986, Combine was sold to Swid, Bandier, and Koppleman (SBK Entertainment). In 1990, Beckham established HoriPro Music, a subsidiary of Taiyo Music, Japan's largest music publisher. He advanced to chairman of "HoriPro Entertainment Group" in 2001, and remained as president until he retired in 2006.