Rob Meurer: Overlooked by The Recording Academy but Remembered by Music Lovers

When the 59th Annual GRAMMY Awards broadcast reached their “In Memoriam” part of the show Sunday night, I had hoped to see one name in particular, that of songwriter Rob Meurer, an immensely talented, gifted musician and lyricist from San Antonio, Texas. Sadly, his photo and name were not included on the broadcast. If you know the music of five-time GRAMMY winner Christopher Cross, chances are good that you know the name Rob Meurer. Anyone from “back in the day” in San Antonio and Austin certainly know the talented lyricist and musician.

Rob was the ‘other’ side of the ampersand in the frequent songwriting duo—Christopher Cross & Rob Meurer—on the credits of some of the best songs Cross ever released. On Rob’s official web site, it is noted:

“In terms of pop songwriting, though, my closest and most frequent collaborator by far has been my old friend Christopher Cross, with whom I’ve written nearly 50 songs that are in release throughout the world. When we began writing together I often joined in on the music, but in recent years my concentration with Chris has been as lyricist.”

You likely know “Back Of My Mind,” “Alibi,” “Deputy Dan,” “In The Blink of An Eye,” “Open Up My Window,” “Love is Calling,” “Walking in Avalon,” “Rendezvous”—most of which were early in Cross’ performance years following the multi-Grammy winning album “Sailing” that skyrocketed Cross and his touring career. Although the highly respected GRAMMY winner Michael Omartian played most of the songs he co-arranged and produced, Rob Meurer contributed synthesizer and keyboards to “Sailing,” the album that went 5x Platinum status. Then, too, Rob was Cross’ most prolific coauthor of songs on his subsequent albums.

So, as I watched the 55 photos go by on the late-in-the-show “In Memoriam” segment, seeing Keith Emerson and Greg Lake jammed into one slide for economy’s sake, I kept searching for Rob. Not there. Ones I did see showcased included many I knew had not been part of music careers of over 30 years. In fact, the omission of many far more relevant names patently clear. Those not qualifying for a 3-second TV photo image/name include Gary Loizzo (American Breed founder, and early Styx Producer), Maurice White (Earth Wind & Fire), Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf), Tommy Allsup (Buddy Holly & The Crickets), Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Al Caiola (guitarist on film/TV themes and scores), and Julius La Rosa (singer, mainstay on Arthur Godfrey’s show) just to name a few. Although their names were on the official Grammy list, but they belonged on TV as well, in my opinion.

Not seeing Rob’s name on the “In Memoriam” segment, I quickly abandoned watching the GRAMMY program (a better use of time) and went online to learn how a recording artist, record executive or member of the NARAS foundation gets on the consideration list. Turns out that Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair had asked Ken Ehrlich, the executive producer of The GRAMMYs, that exact question early. Quoting Ehrlich’s response to Bradley’s question in her story:

"…the research stage takes far longer than actually putting together the video itself. Out of the hundreds of artists and industry professionals who may have passed away, only about 50 can make it into the montage itself—and each can only be displayed onscreen for a few seconds. Who makes it in is decided by a committee of about 12 or 13 people from the recording academy, just one more way that the ceremony tries to make the system democratic and objective—and driven primarily by musical influence. “There are people that I would put in there, but it’s not about me,” Ehrlich told the A.P.. “It’s about the music industry as a whole and all of its parts: classical and rock and pop and Latin and jazz. So it’s a difficult process.”

Clearly, it’s a difficult process, and only the top 50 make the slates on the broadcast. I hoped that at least the head office would have Rob’s name listed on the official complete list of the “hundreds of artists and industry professionals” who’d died this past year.

Sadly, Rob Meurer’s name is also currently missing from that official list (click here). Their introductory remarks explain:

“The 59th GRAMMY Awards telecast on CBS will feature an In Memoriam segment highlighting some of these individuals via a video tribute, and all of these individuals who died prior to Jan. 11 are included in the official 59th GRAMMY Awards program book. The Recording Academy salutes each individual for their respective talents and contributions to our culture and community.”

To be fair, given the vast nature of the music industry, and those who pass away during the course of a calendar year, it’s invariable that some names will escape notice. But then, it’s on the shoulders of their friends and colleagues in the music business to submit their names to The Recording Academy just to make certain they’re not omitted, one would think.

Another favorite Cross & Meurer co-write is "Alibi":

Rob had been a vital part of new music for well over 30 years. It’s not like anyone is asking for something undeserved; his work deserved remembrance, if not recognition. After a 12-year hiatus from making a studio album, Cross would return with “Doctor Faith.” As a May, 2011, promotional YouTube video notes Cross reflected:

“This album has 13 new songs that were written by myself and my good friend and collaborator, my long-time collaborator, Rob Meurer. Rob and I met each other when we were about 16 and we were in San Antonio playing in bands and he was the keyboardist in the early band, the early records, and then he and I started collaborating as songwriters first in 1988 with “Back of My Mind.” It’s a relationship and a friendship that I feel very blessed to have and I just look forward to continuing the work that Rob and I do.”

Arguably one of Cross’s most successful tours was for the “Dr. Faith” album, and a DVD/CD recording of “A Night in Paris” was released. Rob remained at home in California, and singer-songwriter Kiki Ebsen handled keyboards and vocals on that Dr. Faith tour, as she’d toured frequently with Cross over the years.

Cross’ stock rose from that tour and it wasn’t long before he was destined for revisiting classic rock favorite-type Yacht Rock tours and enjoys continued popularity on the road today. Good music lives forever and audiences want to hear it.

Although Rob was not on the road for “Doctor Faith,” he was busy with one of his most important passions, writing musical theatre and working with promising young musicians in the Rising Star group that his wife, Beth, founded. Of the Los Angeles-based Rising Star, Rob described on his web site “…kids age 8 to 18 learn the art of Musical Theatre and have a whole lot of fun in the process. I also participate, and have found it to be more rewarding than I ever could have imagined.”

Rob remained steadfastly creative, as he also worked with individual promising young musicians, some the progeny of his former Texas colleagues and friends. For one musical theatre project, Rob was again lyricist on a production called ‘Helldrivers of Daytona,” and it was well received. He was a frequent contributor of time and talents to their church home, and his work Rising Star proved to be among the most fulfilling of all his achievements.

Even though he was living in Studio City, Rob and Christopher continued to work together on Cross’ 12th album, “Secret Ladder.” Yet, this time it was working across the Internet, rather than in person, as the duo would send files back and forth over the Internet as they worked on the songs.

Eleven of the 13 tracks on this album were billed as “Music & Lyrics by Christopher Cross & Rob Meurer.” Cross released this album in September, 2014, on his own label. A modest offering, still it was given a great launch with a national broadcast of the CBS “Sunday Morning” program prior to release.

One or more songs should have naturally found their way to radio play, but the state of terrestrial radio is almost as sad as some of last evening’s GRAMMYs segments. Even if they have a string of GRAMMY awards on their mantle, a solid artist can’t seem to catch a break. It’s up to the artist to tour, play every venue they can book, and provide the PR for their own music, but Cross didn’t tour with “Secret Ladder.”

At Rob’s memorial service in Studio City, Christopher Cross delivered an emotional eulogy that included humor, honesty, and truth:

“Rob was so many things but most of all a devoted friend, he forgave all my trespasses….we were brothers. We were also very dedicated to our work. It’s a rare gift to meet somebody so young in life to be able to sustain that kind of kinship for 40 years. We shared the mystical journey of songwriting. It was like God let us in on a secret no one else knew about. I got a much-needed chuckle out of Beth and Anne the other night at the house when I told her about a conversation I’d had with Rob after our “Secret Ladder” had come out, and had sold 12 copies. I said to Rob, ‘Why do we keep doing this?’ And he answered in a very reverent tone, ‘It’s because it’s what we do.’ And I was humbled to think that he could feel like that. And then he followed that immediately with ‘You didn’t think that we were doing this for the money, did you’?”

Scrolling back on Rob’s Facebook page back last summer and early fall, 2016, whenever visitors would comment, even if not his personal Facebook friends, frequently they’d post a thank-you to Rob for writing lyrics for several of their favorite Christopher Cross songs that they had just heard in concert the night before.

Some even remarked ahead of attending a Cross concert: “Hope they play some of your songs, Rob,” even though that was a likely given. To all posts, though, Rob replied personally, with thanks, and the most humble and gracious remarks you’d ever hope to read. In fact, some of them bordered on slightly self-deprecating as they might include, “Thank you for even remembering these songs!” It was overwhelming to think that the collective genius he possessed was something he was entirely unaware of. He just wrote because “it’s what we do.” They were his songs, too.

At the time of Rob’s passing, Christopher Cross posted this message on his own web site:

“To try and explain how I feel, or to try to imagine how his wife Beth and daughter Anne feel at this moment is impossible, but I felt I wanted to share with you the tremendous love and respect I had for this man,” Cross said. “He was quite simply the smartest guy I ever knew, funny, kind, devoted to his family and friends, and talented beyond measure. Not just with the work he and I did, but his own solo work, and his musical theater projects. His love of the craft was as deep as anyone I’ve ever known.”

One of the best examples of Christopher and Rob in sync is their duet on “Minstrel Gigolo,” on the stage of the Galaxy Theatre. Christopher is playing guitar and Rob is playing dulcimer. Two great friends making beautiful music. That’s the way I want to remember them, like the 66,000 other people who watched this particular video, of hundreds online.

To watch this video (pictured right) click here.

Rob’s time on Earth passed far too quickly. And it would be beyond poignant that, on the other side of the ampersand, the Cross & Meurer compositions would include “Blink of an Eye”:

…'Cause it could be gone in the blink of an eye

It could be dawn in the blink of an eye

Isn't it time that you reached for the sky

And let yourself go

There's a fire deep inside

I said baby baby

Let's steal the moon and let love have its way

Burning like a falling star until we are

A million miles away"

Journal archive Music Dish noted

“Rob Meurer first came to prominence as a keyboardist and arranger on the Grammy-sweeping debut album by Christopher Cross, with whom he has since written and produced several albums. He served as Music Director for Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre and Billy Crystal's A Comic's Line and has also worked with Carole King, J.D. Souther, and Van Dyke Parks, and written with Paul Williams & Jennifer Warnes as well as Nashville hitmakers Rory Feek and Sandy Knox…Rob has written books and lyrics for four musicals…and he taught a songwriting course, Lyric Lab for the Music Talks Educational Center.”

“And” Rob Meurer, indeed.

Three separate memorial services were held for Rob: a life celebration service was held in San Antonio, Texas, hosted by Rob’s sister Margaret Ann Hill and her family in October, 2016, for family and longtime friends from the area to remember him.

A private service for family and close friends was held in November in Studio City, California, and the children of the Rising Star Musical Theatre outshined themselves and the other musicians and speakers present with their amazing gifts of music. A video of the service is also posted online.

In December 2016, in Austin, Rob’s wife, Beth, and their daughter, Anne, hosted a celebration of life which allowed so many of their Austin friends to pay their respects.

One exceptional tribute well worth the time to read is by Gregg Barrios (click name to read), a journalist and longtime friend of Rob’s from their high school days in San Antonio (Rob went to Antonian College Preparatory High School and Cross went to Alamo Heights High School as teenagers).

Anyone who wishes can make a tax-deductible contribution to the Rob Meurer Scholarship Fund. His widow, Beth, wrote a beautiful tribute to his work (click here).

Rob may well be “a million miles away” now, and he may not have made it onto the GRAMMY broadcast or even onto the official list of The Recording Academy (yet), but he is forever remembered. It’s not always easy living on “the other side of the ampersand” in any talented duo, but perhaps in the future, lyricists and musicians who are integral to the music we all love and buy will be heralded and championed during their lifetimes more prominently, so we don’t have to worry about them being forgotten upon their passing. Rest in peace, Rob…and…thank you for all the music.

Robert Alvah Meurer

September 28, 1950 - September 24, 2016

Mike Connors, star of action detective show “Mannix,” dies at age 91

I didn’t get the memo where my childhood was about to be flashing in front of my eyes at least two consecutive nights but here we are. Today, when the news came of actor Mike Connors’ death, it was sad. Sadder still was the Facebook trending topic—“Mike Conners”—as the social media millennials didn’t quite realize how his name was spelled. I’m convinced they couldn’t do a better job with Krekor Ohanian, Jr., which was his name at birth, on August 15, 1925.

No matter how well we think we know our childhood television favorites, because they’ve been in our living rooms as our guests all our childhood, we really don’t know them at all. And yet, we feel like they’re family, or at least I perceive many of us feel that way. And yet, at age 91, it’s not entirely unexpected that we’d lose another beloved actor at this point, but seeing it happen the day after we lost Mary Tyler Moore was sad.

Sources shared that young Ohanian served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, and upon discharge attended UCLA on a basketball scholarship, majoring in pre-law. Legend has it he was discovered while on the basketball court. From the web site tvbanter.net,

"In an interview with the website Party Favors, Mike stated that after the game, Bill Wellman told the coach, "Ask the kid if he'd be interested in being an actor." When Connors replied, "Yeah, sure." Wellman promised to give him a call the next time he directed a picture." Days later, Mike was asked by the head of the UCLA drama department if he'd be interested in trying out for plays. Although a law student, Mike was soon bitten by the acting bug. He began taking acting lessons at the university and eventually gave up basketball for a career as an actor."

Ironically, the source failed to mention that Connors was playing basketball for iconic Coach John Wooden at UCLA.

This image is by Boris Yaro of the L.A. Times, at a dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in 1973. Coach Wooden and his wife were the celebrities but clearly it was Mike Connors whose presence also brought an extra special spotlight to the occasion.

Mike met his wife, Mary Lou, in the 1950s when they were students at UCLA, as columnist Bob Talbert learned when he interviewed him. They had two children, son Matthew Gunner Ohanian (1958–2007) and daughter Dana Lee Connors (1960-).

At the time of the article in 1973, Mike was 46 years old and pulling in over $20,000 for each episode of “Mannix.” Imagine the modest weekly sum compared to the millions per episode earned by actors in half-hour episodes of “The Big Bang Theory.” Today’s actors have no real concept of what little the stars of yesteryear, beloved stars, and high-caliber dramatic actors at that, had to live on and make it last.

Nor, do any of these modern-day stars know what it was like to take the Sunday newspaper TV magazine or “TV Guide” and circle the episodes you wanted to make sure and watch each week. Printed on paper, not a sequence of shows scrolled through on your smartphone. But enough about the grand old days of Baby Boomer youth. Or not. Just one more thought.

The commitment of television stars to a TV series was driven by ratings and advertising dollars, then as now, and yet just like the compensation for professional athletes over the past 40 years, the discrepancy in base pay and reward pay is absurd. And yet, it’s the nature of the business.

Fortunately for audiences in the 1960s and 1970s, viewers could count on substantially more quality back then each week than today, when we complain because there are 300 channels and “nothing on worth watching” at times. In the 1960s and 1970s, you had CBS, ABC, NBS, and eventually PBS. And you got up and walked across the room to change the channel on your black and white. Middle America didn’t have regular color TV sets with remotes in every living room until many years later.

And, while we’re comparing, an episode of “Mannix” would stand up every bit as strong as does an episode of “NCIS” or even an episode of “Murder She Wrote.” in reruns today. Crime dramas are ever as popular among audiences today.

“Mannix” was co-created by the team of Bruce Geller, Richard Levinson and William Link. TV fans should recognize those names instantly. Bruce Geller, credited as “Developer” also created “Mission Impossible as well as wrote scripts for several popular 1950s and 1960s shows including “Zane Grey Theatre” and “Have Gun—Will Travel.” Geller was also a songwriter and scored stage plays in his talent repertoire.

You probably know Levinson as a writer and producer who, with Link, co-created “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Columbo” and “Ellery Queen.” William Link also created “The Cosby Mysteries,” which lasted for 18 episodes in the mid-1990s, and he wsa co-developer of “Ellery Queen.”

Now you remember the NBC Mystery Movie rotation with “Columbo,” “McCloud,” and “McMillan & Wife? For one year, 1970, the rotation included “Ellery Queen.” Those were the days of a guaranteed prime-time mystery for at least two hours each Sunday. So, looking at Mannix, you recall Joe Campanella in the first five seasons portraying Lew Wickersham and even Robert Reed was in 22 episodes as Lieutenant Adam Tobias, which was a breakout role for him. Of course, Reed would ultimately star as Mike Brady in “The Brady Bunch.”

One of the most progressive shows at its time, when few African-American actresses were cast in lead roles, Gail Fisher portrayed Peggy Fisher, Mannix’s assistant, whose husband was a police officer killed on duty.

“Mannix” ran from 1967–1975 and began as the final show produced by Desilu Productions, before transitioning to Paramount Television. In all, 194 episodes were filmed and broadcast. Just like “Mission Impossible,” the catchy opening theme of “Mannix” was written by the iconic Lalo Schifrin: There are bonus points if you remember what company Mannix initially worked for. (Hint: it begins with the letter ‘I’.)

Ironically, the show was almost “killed” by the people who brought it to life.

“ At the end of its fifth season, ‘Mannix’ has climbed to sixth in the overall rating game, a superb place. Last year CBS layed it in against NBC’s Mystery Movie (that means ‘Columbo’) and the ABC movie blockbusters like ‘Patton’ and Love Story.’ It was ratings murder even ‘Mannix’ couldn’t solve.”

Ironic, then, because “Columbo” was created by two of the three people who created “Mannix,” Richard Levinson and William O. Link. Don’t you know they had to be sitting there smiling all season? Either way, they won.

Precious free time away from filming the show (per the Cincinnati Enquire (8.14.73, page 29) would find the Connors family “watching son, Gunnar, play Little League shortstop and daughter, Dana, riding in horse shows.” Mike and Mary Lou also spent much time with dear friends Marty Allen and his wife, Frenchie, and they were often spotted eating at Nicky Blair’s on Sunset Strip and playing pinball at the arcade next door.

Another weekend both the Connors’ and the French families “flying to Dallas with Bob Hope to entertain some 500 POWs in the Cotton Bowl.” We who grew up in those days know, but millennials have no idea, of what it was like to have Bob Hope’s leadership in entertaining the troops when they returned home or were away from home overseas. He was always successful in securing America’s favorite entertainers and celebrities to join him in those tributes.

Outside of his acting, you couldn’t say that Mike Connors was a high-profile celebrity. He and his family remained cloistered away from the brighter lights and followed his instincts to live conservatively and save his money. In 2009, the four-time Golden Globe winner was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly, who asked, “Did you fit in with the Hollywood mentality?” “When you first got successful in this business, most people that I started with went off the deep end with big, fancy cars and houses they couldn’t afford, and I tried to stay away from that. I tried to realize that everything comes to an end and to try to accept what was there at the moment.”

Years before “Mannix,” Connors was the character Nick Stone in the TV show, “Tightrope,” an undercover police agent who infiltrated the underworld to expose gangsters and every episode he changed his name. It aired from 1959 through 1960 and was described as “He walks a tightrope between life and death as a police undercover man!” The show’s theme was composed by the great George Duning, and you’ll see from the credits he was billed as “Michael Connors.” You’ll enjoy the vintage “Aqua Velva” commercial, too as well as Connors’ pitch for Williams ‘Lectric Shave’ as the J. B. Williams Company also made Aqua Velva!

In the late 1990s, given his deep unforgettable voice, he was selected to voice the character Chipacles in the TV series Hercules, In 2007, Connors final credited appeared in an episode of “Two and a Half Men,” and my hunch is that Chuck Lorre had been a Mannix fan as a kid and well, you know. In 2009, Connors and his wife would celebrate 60 years of marriage and he joked, “The first 59 were the toughest,” adding, “I just try to enjoy life and realize how lucky I’ve been.” In 1976, Philadelphia TV writer noted that Connors “did a pilot for a series that was to have been called ‘Ohanian,’ about a former homicide detective who ran a charter boat service.” At the time Connors recalled “ABC convinced me that they wanted more action (than Mannix) in the pilot. Then when it ran, they said, ‘It looks like Mannix on the water.” That’s often a problem with actors who make a series or character so believably lifelike that they can easily get branded for the rest of their careers. At least the TV show was to be named for Connors’ real-life name, even though it didn’t end up as a broadcast series.

Connors was most proud of his Armenian roots, and in 2014, he was honored at the ARPA International Film Festival (presented by the ARPA Foundation for Film Music and Art), celebrating independent cinema, and in the beautiful tribute material online, they shared a favorite quote by Connors:

“If nothing else…just do the right thing.”

Absolutely, the wisest thing said all day. #RIP Mike Connors and thanks for all the years of entertainment you gave us.