Bio

To say Bobby Neal's childhood was all over the map musically is a bit of an understatement. Growing up in a household full of musicians, he was immersed in everything from the classical and boogie-woogie tunes his father played on the piano to folk, pop, rock, country and jazz.

Starting on guitar at age 10, he played with garage bands throughout middle school and high school while simultaneously tackling clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, and flute in both middle and high school bands.

Attending Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education (majoring in Saxophone), following that with a Master's Degree in Music Performance. Since Neal was a multi-instrumentalist, the Winthrop faculty developed a new graduate program for a degree in Woodwind Performance that required a student to meet demanding performance standards on three woodwind instruments—in his case Saxophone, Clarinet, and Flute. Neal was the first Winthrop student to earn the Master's Degree in Music Performance on Woodwind Instruments. While at Winthrop, Neal taught in the Winthrop Music Study program, which gave college students a chance to teach junior high and high school students. He also taught in the studios at Tillman Music in Rock Hill, SC.

After college, Neal played saxophone for a year with Mid Knight Maddness, a Pop/Rock/R&B/Beach band from Salisbury, NC while teaching at The Music Box in Charlotte, NC. Following that, he moved to Nashville, TN where he gigged in clubs and played two seasons at Opryland USA, a theme park which featured live musical shows. At Opryland, Neal played in the 50's Rock and Roll show, the 80's Rock and Roll show, and in pit orchestras for various musical theatre productions.

In the 90's, Neal moved to Spartanburg, SC, playing saxophone and writing horn arrangements for Main Attraction (Beach/Top 40) and the East Coast Band, a popular Beach, Boogie, and Blues band. With ECB, he recorded two CD's and gigged in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. He also taught woodwinds at Express Music in Spartanburg and was invited back to Winthrop University as an Adjunct Instructor of Music where he spent a semester teaching applied music lessons to freshman music majors.

Through the late 90's and early 2000's, Neal pursued his other passion—computers. Working as a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer/Analyst for several large companies in the software industry, he developed a broad range of computer skills. Taking that knowledge home at night, he applied it to his rapidly growing computer-based recording studio.

In 2010, Neal embarked on a new journey by launching his own multi-faceted music business. His current projects include writing and recording new music, starting a record label and music publishing company, and forming several performing groups to play music ranging from Southern Soul to Smooth Jazz.