Bobby Rex started writing original music on piano at age 12 and began writing for full band instrumentation at age 16. At age 14 Bobby was inspired to play blues and rock when he saw Muddy Waters live at Chicagofest on the small blues stage at Navy Pier. Growing up on the South West side of Chicago in the late 70s and through the 80s Bobby composed music and performed in a number of bands including The Men of Leisure, Panacea, Uncle Pants and the Jetson Slacks, The Remarks, and The Given. Bobby Rex's main musical influence is Chicago Blues, but offsprings of the blues, namely FM radio alternative rock, have had a broad influence over Bobby's songwriting.
Brand New Freak was the lead track and title to the EP Bobby composed and produced in 1992 after his former band, the Given (1987 to 1992) stopped performing live. With a dozen newly written songs tested out at many Chicago open mics in 1991 plus a reworking of The Given material, Rex performed in his original band Bobby Rex and the Nomads until 1995 then had some success scoring music for film and advertisement in the mid and late 90s. Between stints revisiting the band The Given in the mid and late 90s, the next long term project was Biff and the Waybacks a fun and wacky cover / party band. Bobby Rex played lead guitar and sang lead and backup for over 250 shows in the Chicago / Schaumburg area with the Biff band. Besides performing solo or duo, oher bands Bobby Rex has performed with through the late 1990s and into the 2000s were After the Fact, Montage, and The Chauffeurs, all cover bands.
As a full time musician Bobby can be seen performing acoustic shows live 3 nights a week at music venues and restaurants along Chicago's North Shore or in the near West and Southwest suburbs. Contact Bobby directly for bookings in your area. The band consists of solo, duo, etc... up to a 5 piece rockin' band, and will travel to your town!
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