Mann's decision to follow music came at age 5 through his dad, Sy Mann, a well-respected and versatile pianist/arranger who was an active part of the flourishing music business of New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. Bob started on piano, then at age 13 switched to guitar, studied music theory at Queens College and Manhattan School of Music before joining the USAF “Airmen of Note” in the late 1960s. Returning to NY in 1970, he quickly became an in-demand studio and “live” guitarist, and has subsequently enjoyed successful music careers in Toronto and Los Angeles before finally moving back to NYC in 1999.
Music career
A guitarist equally versed in R&B, jazz and pop, Mann has recorded and/or toured with James Taylor, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Cher, Neil Diamond, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Brecker Bros., the Crusaders, Aaron Neville, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Astrud Gilberto, Steve Tyrell, Lionel Hampton, Chico Hamilton, Melissa Manchester, Tony Orlando, BJ Thomas, Kenny Loggins, Mountain, Linda Eder and many more. Mann may be well-known for providing the guitar solo to the #1 single "Somewhere Out There" featuring Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram. Mann has arranged and/or co-produced recordings featuring Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Kristin Chenoweth, Steve Tyrell, Neal McCoy, BJ Thomas, Jamie Walters, John Stevens, and others. Yo-Yo Ma has performed several of Mann's cello arrangements with James Taylor in concert, and James featured Mann's symphonic arrangement of “Mean Old Man” with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2009. Fourplay commissioned Mann to write a symphonic chart of Chuck Loeb's "Above And Beyond" from their "Let's Touch The Sky" CD which they performed with orchestra in Japan in late 2010. Mann's TV and film scoring and arranging credits include work on Nurse Jackie, Something's Got To Give, That Thing You Do, Father of the Bride, The Five Heartbeats, Elvis-the Early Years, Flight of the Navigator, Diving In, 20 Dates, Family Prayers, T-Bone and Weasel, The Sonny and Cher Story, Matlock, Frank's Place, and more.
