Bob Seger (born on this date 1945) and his superstar-making period / era (albums LIVE BULLET, NIGHT MOVES, AGAINST THE WIND, NINE TONIGHT)

Robert Clark Seger was born on May 6, 1945, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father was himself a musician (and Ford plant worker) who led a big band in the Forties. From the beginning, Seger was a born rock and roller. He didn’t go to college and only briefly held any job other than working musician. He wrote his first song and formed his first band, the Decibels, at age 15. Five years later, he cut his first singles, “East Side Story” and “Persecution Smith.”
The groundwork was laid by Live Bullet, recorded at Detroit’s Cobo Hall. It was Seger’s first headlining show in a large arena. This fiery double album gave the world a chance to hear what fans in the Motor City had known all along: that Bob Seger was one of rock’s most potent performers. He was backed by the Silver Bullet Band - guitarist Drew Abbott, hornman Alto Reed, bassist Chris Campbell, drummer Charlie Martin and keyboardist Robyn Robbins - which he’d formed in 1974. (Organist Craig Frost and drummer Don Brewer, late of Grand Funk Railroad, would also have lengthy tenures in the Silver Bullet Band. So would drummer David Teegarden and backup singers Shaun Murphy and Laura Creamer.) Live Bullet, which stayed on the charts for over three years, is one of rock’s greatest live albums. It became Seger’s first gold record and went on to sell 4 million copies.
It also cleared the way for Night Moves, the studio album that made a superstar out of rock’s hardest-working underdog. The title track, “Night Moves” (#4), affectingly touched on universal experiences - teenage rites of passage and adult nostalgia - which helped send the album into the Top Ten. Night Moves also included the ballad “Mainstreet” (#24) and the rockers “Sunspot Baby,” “The Fire Down Below” and “Rock and Roll Never Forgets.” From here, Seger rose still higher. One of the most eagerly anticipated albums of the Seventies, Stranger in Town (1978) took eight months to make, and Seger spoke of suffering “platinum paranoia.” The album nonetheless cemented his superstar stature, yielding four big singles: “Still the Same” (#4), “Hollywood Nights” (#12), “We’ve Got Tonight” (#13) and “Old Time Rock & Roll” (#28). The last of these, used in a memorable scene from the Tom Cruise film Risky Business, was a diehard rocker’s unapologetic defense of the old-school sound.
Against the Wind (1980), which was nearly two years in the making, emphasized midtempo ballads. Three of them became hits: “Fire Lake” (#6), “Against the Wind” (#5) and “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” (#14). The album itself became Seger’s first to top the charts. The three albums released between 1976 and 1980 - Night Moves, Strangers in Town and Against the Wind - were the cornerstones of Seger’s glory years. This charmed period was capped by Nine Tonight (1981), a live album recorded in Boston and Detroit. - See more of his biographical details at: https://rockhall.com/inductees/bob-seger/bio/#sthash.Fdf6TV5M.dpuf