Bob started playing guitar at the age of 10. When he was a teenager Bob jammed with Andy Partridge of XTC and Chip Bailey of Duke Special in a small music shop in his home town.
Bob has recorded and worked with some great musicians including Chip Bailey, Jamie Cullum and the late Kev Wilkinson (of Squeeze and Howard Jones).He has played with Joan Davis, Eddie Martin, Jim Rodford (ex-Kinks bass player), Anto Thistlethwaite (sax player for The Waterboys), Mike D'Abo (ex-Manfred Mann), Dick Heckstall-Smith (John Mayall's Blues Breakers), Graham Walker (ex drummer from Gary Moore's band), Mick Abrams and Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull) and Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges, and opened for The Blues Band, Ben E King, Suzi Quatro, Eric Bibb, The Commitments, Chicken Shack and Otis Grand. Bob and his daughter, Caitlin, opened for Duke Special in January 2007.
Bob writes and performs his own songs. His varied solo sets also include covers of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Gary Moore, Paul Weller, Razorlight, Snow Patrol, U2, Neil Young and Stevie Ray Vaughan.Bob wrote all the songs for his first CD, Better Late Than Never, which was released independently in 2003. There's a live CD, Live at Riff's, which is a mixture of original material and covers, recorded with The Bob Bowles Band.