Bob Beckham

Robert Joseph Beckham (July 8, 1927 – November 11, 2013) was an American country music publisher based in Nashville, who mentored generations of songwriters as head of Combine Music Publishing from 1964 to 1989. He played a pivotal role in the career of Kris Kristofferson and guided other artists including Dolly Parton, Larry Gatlin, Tony Joe White and Billy Swan.As a young man, he had stint of acting in motion pictures in Hollywood and he himself became a recording artist with some fleeting success — but Beckham turned to music publishing in 1961 as his primary career. In the 1970s, Beckham became a major power on Music Row, and nurtured many great songwriters who wrote classic hits like "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Kris Kristofferson), and Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" (Dennis Linde). Beckham was a gruff but supportive father figure to his staff songwriters, whom he truly loved. He was given the Mentor Award by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Nashville Entertainment Association presented him with its Master Award in 1988 and he received the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Country Music in 2014. Beckham died in 2013 in a Nashville hospital at age 86.