Tim & Bob (Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson) aka Funktwons, are Grammy Award-winning songwriting musicians and a Hip-hop/R&B pop production duo. Tim & Bob have discovered and or worked on some of the biggest artists in the music industry and has helped develop the Atlanta music scene as it is widely known for today. They have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and are among the most consistent urban producers in the last 16 years, earning a spot on Billboard's top ten list of producers almost every year since 1998.[1]
Growing up in Peoria, Illinois, Tim was raised on R&B through his father's band. His father was a multi instrumentalist so he quickly learned trumpet (his fathers main instrument), piano, guitar, drums and bass at the early age of 10. From elementary through college, Tim played the trumpet and piano in school band while learning how to read music. He was heavily influenced by pop radio as well. Bob's deep roots in the church as an organist and piano player since the early age of 9 and all through college brought a wealth of gospel music to the duo. They met through a mutual friend at the local mall right next to a music store. Tim recalls; We stepped in the music store and Bob started playing the piano, I was blown away with his skills to the point that I didn't even try and play, that's how awesome he was and I considered myself pretty good. Tim offered Bob to come by his basement studio where his mom bought enough equipment to record music. From there on, the duo exchanged chord progressions on keyboards and guitar. Bob explains; Tim had so many albums in his basement, every room was filled with em especially from artists I had never heard of. I had a gospel collection myself so we figured out a way to fuse the two together in a way no one was doing at the time, in one months time we came up with a hundred or so tracks. We were ready to take a plane anywhere to make it. Just after a year of meeting, the duo moved to New Orleans for a year then Chicago and Detroit where they found a small production company that had a studio. While working one day they met one of George Clinton's background singers Paul Hill. Impressed by they're musical skills he told them producer Dallas Austin would eventually start looking for producers because of the tragic death of partner Randy Ran. The trio worked on demos day and night until they felt the material recorded was ready to be heard and drove to Atlanta where they eventually met Dallas Austin.[2].
They initially got their start at a famous recording studio in Detroit called Sound Suite, and from there moved to Atlanta, where they met super producer Dallas Austin. Blown away by their talent, Dallas quickly signed them to his company D.A.R.P. and stamped them as "Tim and Bob". Upon signing with Austin's publishing company the duo began working with artists TLC, 112 (whom they discovered) and Monica ( which they developed).[3] While living in Detroit Tim & Bob met a host of talent and kept a tight friendship with two talented producer/artists in particular, Tony Rich and Mario Winans. Bob recalls; We would always hang out in each others studio everyday. We made a brotherly code that whoever made it big first, would pull everyone else in. We just happened to step out the camp first and everything flourished from there. The guys owned up to the promise. Soon after signing with Dallas they gave Rich a call and put him on speaker phone with Dallas and later that week Pebbles (L.A.Reid's then wife). Tim requested Tony to sing one of his songs and just like that Tony was on the next plane to Atlanta where he would eventually become a staff writer at La Face as well as an artist. He would go on to win a grammy in 1997 for "Best R&B Album" entitled "Words". Winans was to follow. In Atlanta for a gospel conference, Mario's career began with a phone call to the duo. Tim recalls; We were in a session and Mario called us and let us know he was in town. We stopped our session to pick him up and crashed Dallas session so he could meet and hear Mario's tracks. After three snippets of his joints Dallas told the duo to work with him on his overall sound and he would sign him to the D.A.R.P family. Winans drove back to Detroit and packed his truck up and drove back. We had a room for him in our then studio/house and he lived with us for a while until he scooped up a couple of projects that came thru D.A.R.P.. I remember letting him borrow my whole break beat collection, he would stay downstairs and work for days without rest until his drums were serious. Dallas and I were very impressed with how fast he picked up on R&B music because during that time he was producing gospel music, the genre didn't allow you to go too places musically back in the early to mid 90's that secular music could obviously but because of Mario and other trailblazers in gospel music, heavy beat driven tracks are excepted which allows us to come back to our roots when called upon. We're very proud of our boys accomplishments. While bringing in more talent to their camp from the midwest and discovering talent along the way, Tim & Bob continued to sharpen their signature sound and production style while developing a gifted and talented 12 year old Monica which during that time Austin was considering signing her to his Rowdy label. The duo stopped all projects they were scheduled to work on to concentrate on her debut. 15 demos later 5 of them got polished and eventually landed on Monica's first full length cd entitled Miss Thang. The Rowdy imprint's first project went on to become the most successful one selling 3 million copies. Later on that year the duo hooked up with good friend Darryl Simmons who discovered a young talented female group Destiny's Child. He informed the guys that he envisioned doing most of the ballads leaving them to handle the uptempos for the first project that was scheduled to come out on his production deal with Elektra records, but after recording 10 songs for the group, creative differences came between Simmons and Elektra and eventually left the group without a label home. A call to Randy Jackson, an up and coming a&r executive at Columbia records at the time, led to a showcase for the label. Impressed by they're performance and especially a then 13 year old lead singer Beyonce, Columbia records signed the group. Tim explains; During the process of recording with the girls, Beyonce's voice changed and Columbia was so eager to put the record out that out of the 10 songs we recorded we only had time to do her vocals over on one because our schedule was crazy at the time as well, we were bummed for a while because we worked very hard to help develop Beyonce into a studio rat, she would ask about every button on the mixing board at 13 years old, we knew she was gonna be a beast so we wanted more songs on the album, but we were blessed to have one that made it and she killed it. The self tiled album "Destinys Child would eventually go on to sell a million copies. Hard work initially helped the duo establish themselves in the music industry as "A" list super producers in just a short period. During this time the two would also garner two Grammy Awards, including one in 1995 for Best R&B Album for Boyz II Men's II and one in 1996 for Best R&B Album for TLC's Diamond certified CrazySexyCool. Tim & Bob would become part of history with producing and writing five songs on the Boyz II Men lp II which eventually became the biggest selling album in history by an R&B group and TLC's CrazySexyCool becoming the biggest selling album by a female R&B group as well. Upon winning consecutive Best R&B Album Grammy's, the duo would continue to produce, simultaneously working on soundtracks, including Def Jam's How to Be a Player, The Players Club, Poetic Justice, Wild Wild West, and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.[3]
They were subsequently brought in by legendary producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to work on some of their projects. Since the early 90's, Tim & Bob has been dubbed the next Jam and Lewis and credits the legendary hitmakers for recognizing their potential and helping them define their production style,
| “ | We watched and studied their career so much, we thought all producers had to be self contained and do everything from writing the joints to playing every instrument in a song to even get a shot in the music industry so we started that way beginning with a melody first which is most important to us. We have been very fortunate to work with some of the best. One of the lessons we learned from Dallas, L.A. Reid, and Jimmy and Terry is that trailblazers always define what a radio hit is and what constitutes an album track, they encouraged us to always experiment and always keep our sound cutting edge and creative, but create our signature sound.[3] | ” |
Upon becoming a household name in the music industry, the team knew it was time to move out on their own. Soon after departing Dallas Austin, they relocated to Los Angeles and signed a publishing deal and a label deal thru executive and famous guitarist Robbie Robertson with the now defunct DreamWorks Records, instantly scoring a #1 hit with Jon B. (“They Don't Know"), and a top 5 smash for Tamia (“So Into U"). Tim & Bob were also very instrumental in getting the rock group Papa Roach signed to DreamWorks[3] while inking a production deal with Capitol Records. The duo signed Athena Cage from the group Kut Klose and produced the entire lp, but because of a shake up of executives and change of direction at the label the project only produced a single for the movie "Save The Last Dance.
In 2000 Tim & Bob would produce the biggest song of the year as well as one of Def Jam's biggest songs in the history of the music label. Sisqó's worldwide #1 hit “Thong Song” off the LP entitled Unleash the Dragon has been a summer anthem ever since its release while pushing album sales to 5× Platinum. The song received a multitude of awards including Song Of The Year Hip Hop/Rhythmic at the 2000 Radio Music Awards. It would peak #1 on the New Zealand charts, #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, #1 Billboard on Rhythmic top 40 and Rhythmic top 40 Airplay and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. They would also produce the only #1 billlboard R&B single Case’s "Missing You", off the gold album Open Letter and Dave Hollister's "Take Care of Home".[3]
2003 was a special year for the duo. While working with Ronald Isley and the Isley Brothers, Ron told the duo that he spoke with one of Earth, Wind And Fire front men Philip Bailey and was told to tell the guys they're big fans of their work and would love to work with them. Instantly Tim & Bob responded to the honor and grabbed a studio room right next to the Isley Brothers session and worked on both simultaneously. Subsequently the results were dubbing two Grammy nods for both, Best R&B Album Isley Brothers Body Kiss and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the song Tim & Bob wrote and produced entitled "Hold Me" from the LP The Promise. It was Earth, Wind And Fire's first Grammy nomination in 10 years which made it that more special for the guys. Tim stated:
| “ | "That was one of the highlights of our career..we've always had a friendship turn family working relationship with uncle Ron so he knows how we get down, he comes in and say I wanna sing about this today and we write the lyrics and do the track right there, but for two legendary iconic bands to trust in you to write, arrange and produce the entire songs and the outcome are two grammy nominations are mind blowing to us, we were probably conceived by one of they're songs plus my dad's band played most of Earth, Wind & Fire songs in every gig I even played the drums every now and then with them when i was 12, so to say God worked his magic is truly fitting, a dream come true for us." | ” |
Tim & Bob would strike again in early 2005 producing Bobby Valentino’s Asian R&B influenced, "Slow Down" (#1 for four consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) and "Tell Me" from Valentino’s Platinum certified debut album, Disturbing tha Peace Presents Bobby Valentino. In 2006, Tim & Bob signed a new publishing deal with Dimensional Music Publishing and began working on Bobby Valentino's second album Special Occasion, from which they produced six tracks.[4] Their most recent projects include Jennifer Lopez’ Platinum certified album Rebirth ("Cherry Pie” and "I, Love"); Brian McKnight’s Ten ("Used to Be My Girl", "Unhappy Without You", "Again", "Can't Leave You Alone"); Donell Jones’ Journey of a Gemini ("I'm Gonna Be", "Feelin' You", "Can't Wait", "I'm Gonna Be"); Hilary Duff's Dignity ("I Wish"); Nas, Joe, Musiq Soulchild, Ron Isley, Brandy, Tyrese, Amerie, Mýa, Usher, LaToya, Slim of 112, Busta Rhymes, Jamie Foxx ("Life is Good");[5] The Black Eyed Peas, Bobby Valentino's The Rebirth ("Make You the Only One," “3 Is the New 2,” “On The Edge,” “You're Not Alone,” “Give Me Your Heart,” and “Your Smile"); Day 26's Forever in a Day ("Think of Me" and "Reminds Me of You"); and their artists Mahagani and Chico.[3] The duo is currently hard at work on Slim's (former 112 frontman) project slated for a 2010 summer release as well as working on a TV reality series called Producers Diary, which showcases a producer's life, starting with themselves for the first 13 episodes.[1] In 2009. Tim & Bob produced half of Bobby V's latest project "Fly On The Wall and reunited with Boyz II Men and produced four new tracks including reproducing "'Motown Philly on the new double cd entitled Twenty.
Tim & Bob continue to produce hits for the music industry’s most accomplished artists. When asked why they think they have been so successful, Bob stated,
| “ | It’s a few things; we have had exceptional mentors who believed in us, we are very passionate about music and our artists – and unlike most producers; we tailor make joints for artists from scratch. We have been blessed; and although we are proud of the work we have done, we haven’t even begun to do our best work yet, we have only just scratched the surface.[3] | ” |
Tim & Bob's Producer Diary is in production after a series of test runs last year. As stated the guys will be the talent for the first 13 episodes bringing everyone into their world showing the life experiences of in demand producers. The show will take the audience on a journey into the mind of creators of landscapes carved out for artist's to possibly have a career just with one hit record. Tim explains; "We're really excited about this opportunity to show what a producers job is while introducing our process of making records. Every producer has a different creative approach. When we came into the game it was so different, it was more musicianship, mid tempos and slow joints were more excepted and played on the radio. These days it's all about tempo which is not much music in a club song, so it's causing young aspiring producers to be just beat driven which for now seems cool but everything has it's cycle, it's gonna come back to real songwriting so with the show we're gonna show the old school approach to producing as well, Most new cats that come in the game are so confused about the definition of a producer because of what's on the radio today hopefully we can teach and inspire young producers how important it is to be well rounded as a producer/ writer, you can never gather enough information."
In 2005 on the set of Bobby V's video "Slow Down", director Erik White and the Duo became friends and even more so a creative force together instantly. White became a fan of the musical direction Tim and Bob had set for Bobby V's platinum debut so much that he directed the next single, titled "Tell Me", featuring Lil Wayne as well. While on location for the video in Miami, Erik informed them that his future move would be directing films and insisted that they give his movies musical life. They talked about forming a company to do everything in house. Five years later, White kept his word by giving the duo a shot at scoring his directing debut into the film world with the movie Lottery Ticket. Instantly Tim and Bob went to work on one scene at a time eventually impressing another key person and one of the producers of the film Matt Alverez. The continuous work led to the duo's first movie score credit. When asked the difference between producing an artist as opposed to doing film scoring Tim replied: "the difference is like night and day, when we're producing an artist we're always battling for the first single in a single driven industry while walking a fine line between being as creative as we can without sacrificing our awareness of radio friendly records. While scoring a film, the musician side of us can really come to the forefront because everything we've learned about music thru out the years can be showcased without any boundaries and it allows more space to experiment with sounds, crafting and molding musical images while capturing moments of different emotions by landscaping thru creativity, there's nothing like it if your musicality is itching for a scratch, nothing like it."
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| Totals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards won | 25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nominations | 32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The American Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony created by Dick Clark in 1973.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Boyz ll Men | Favorite Soul/R&B Album | Won |
| Favorite Pop/Rock Album | Nominated | ||
| TLC | Favorite Soul/R&B Album | Nominated | |
| 2001 | Sisqo | Favorite Soul/R&B Album | Nominated |
The Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards are sponsored by Billboard magazine and is held annually in December.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Jon B. | Hot R&B Single of the Year | Nominated |
| 1998 | Jon B. | Hot R&B Single Sales | Nominated |
| 2000 | Sisqo | R&B/Hip Hop Single of the Year | Won |
| 2001 | Case | R&B/Hip Hop Single of the Year | Won |
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Boyz ll Men "II" | Favorite CD | Won |
| Favorite R&B CD | Won | ||
| 2001 | Joe "My Name Is Joe" | Favorite Male Artist R&B CD | Won |
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is one of three United States performing rights organizations that holds a series of annual awards shows.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Get It Up | TLC | Won |
| 1994 | Vibin | Boyz ll Men | Won |
| 1996 | Come See Me | 112 | Won |
| 1998 | They Don't Know | Jon B. | Won |
| 1998 | So Into You | Tamia | Won |
| 2000 | Thong Song | Sisqo | Won |
| 2002 | Missing You | Case | Won |
| 2003 | Into You | Fabolous | Won |
| 2005 | Slow Down | Bobby V | Won |
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Revealed | Deitrick Haddon | Nominated |
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | II | Best R&B Album | Won |
| 1995 | "CrazySexyCool" | Best R&B Album | Won |
| 1998 | "Tamia" | Best R&B Album | Nominated |
| 2000 | "My Name is Joe" | Best R&B Album | Nominated |
| 2001 | "Thong Song" | Best R&B Song | Nominated |
| "Thong Song" | Best Male R&B Vocal Performance | Nominated | |
| "Unleash The Dragon" | Best R&B Album | Nominated | |
| 2002 | "Missing You" | Best Male R&B Vocal Performance | Nominated |
| 2003 | "Body Kiss" | Best R&B Album | Nominated |
| "Hold Me" | Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance | Nominated | |
| 2007 | "Dignity" | Best Pop Vocal Album | Nominated |
The Juno Awards is a Canadian awards ceremony presented annually by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Deborah Cox | Best R&B/Soul Recording | Won |
| 1999 | Tamia | Best R&B/Soul Recording | Won |
The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Thong Song | Best Hip Hop Video | Won |
| Best Dance Video | Nominated | ||
| Best Viewer's Choice | Nominated | ||
| 2000 | Thong Song (Remix Feat. Foxy Brown) | Best Video From A Film | Nominated |
The Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards, established in 1995 by Kanya King MBE and Andy Ruffell, are held annually in the UK to recognise artists of any race or nationality performing black music.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | They Don't Know | Jon B. | Nominated |
| R&B Single Sales | Nominated | ||
| 2000 | Thong Song | Best Video | Nominated |
The NAACP Image Awards is an award presented annually by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Joe/ My Name Is Joe | Outstanding Music Album | Nominated |
| 2002 | Tyrese/ 2000 Watts | Outstanding Hip Hop Artist | Nominated |
The Radio Music Awards was an annual U.S. award show that honors the year's most successful songs on mainstream radio.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Thong Song | Hip Hop/ Rhythmic Song Of The Year | Won |
The Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, first airing in 1995, celebrated top achievements by female performers.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | CrazySexyCool | Best R&B/Soul Album of The Year | Won |
| 1998 | Destiny's Child | Best R&B/Soul Album of The Year | Won |
The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual award show which previously aired in national television syndication that honors the best in Black music and entertainment.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | ll | Best R&B/Soul Album | Won |
| 1997 | CrazySexyCool | Best R&B/Soul Album | Won |
| 1998 | They Don't Know | Best Male Single | Nominated |
| 2000 | J.E. Heartbreak | Best R&B Album Group, Band or Duo | Won |
| 2001 | Part lll | Best R&B/Soul Album | Nominated |
| Unleash The Dragon | Favorite Male R&B/Soul Album | Nominated | |
| 2003 | Body Kiss | Best R&B Album | Nominated |
| Body Kiss | Best R&B/Soul Album - Group, Band or Duo | Nominated | |
| 2006 | Slow Down | Best R&B Soul Single | Nominated |
(French) French group dedicated to Tim & Bob on SoulRnB.com
Tim and Bob Interview with sixshot.com