Pioneering Rock Publicist Bob Gibson Passes At 80

Bob Gibson

Within days of the death of his one-time employee BOBBI COWAN, BOB GIBSON, co-founder of GIBSON & STROMBERG, the leading music publicity firm during the late '60s and early '70s, died OCTOBER 23rd in LOS ANGELES at the age of 80. 

The company he formed with GARY STROMBERG lasted from 1969 until 1975 and represented artists including the ROLLING STONES, ELTON JOHN, PINK FLOYD, THE WHO, JAMES TAYLOR, THE BEACH BOYS, THE EAGLES, T. REX, CHEECH & CHONG, CURTIS MAYFIELD, EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, ALICE COOPER and the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND. 

BOBBI COWAN, who made her name at the firm, died just a day earlier, on OCTOBER 22nd. 

GIBSON went on to become an executive at ABC-DUNHILL RECORDS after the dissolution of his publicity firm with STROMBERG. 

GIBSON was born in L.A. in 1939, with his first job parking cars at the COCONUT GROVE for his grandfather's company, SYSTEM PARKING. He went on to open the CHEETAH nightclub on the SANTA MONICA PIER, and later, the BLACK RABBIT INN in WEST HOLLYWOOD before entering the music business.

GIBSON retired from publicity in the late ‘90s and became director of his family’s SYSTEM PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY. He traveled between MONTECITO, PALM SPRINGS and PORTUGAL, spending the last decade in the HANCOCK PARK area of LOS ANGELES.

He is survived by his three sons, COURTNEY, CHRISTIAN and BOBBY, his former wife, PEARL; and his sisters, MELINDA HALDEMAN, PATTI JAMES and CYNTHIA JAMES.

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