soundlounge Presents An Evening with ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris

‘Whispering’ Bob Harris OBE will play host to a series of eight events running monthly from October, discussing the power of music and its relationship to advertising and branding.

The event series called ‘An Evening with Bob’ will focus on a different part of the music or advertising industry each month. Bob will meet with experts in particular areas of music, advertising, behavioural economics and even neuroscience and ask them to share their understanding and insights on the way in which music affects people. 

The series will also feature live music, with Cassa Jackson and 10cc’s Graham Gould playing at the launch event on October 29th.

The event will be run by music supervision leaders soundlounge – the first company in Europe to set up as a rights clearance company and later to found a dedicated creative music research division – to celebrate their new partnership with the music legend. 

Bob has recently recovered from a major health condition, which forced him to take a break from presenting his BBC Radio 2 country show and has now decided to move into the world of music supervision. He got in touch with soundlounge a year ago. 

Bob says: ‘‘I wanted to explore the world of music supervision because I believe that the experience of my fifty years in the music industry will bring constructive thought and creative insight to the intersection of pictures and sound. I have been building radio programmes, running orders, documentary soundtracks and soundscapes all my working life and have a huge multi-genre library of music I’ve collected through the years. More than any other medium, music helps me express my creative ideas and I’ve acquired a keen sensitivity to the mood and atmosphere that imaginative music placement can create”.

With a BBC broadcasting career spanning almost fifty years – most famously on Sounds of the Seventies, the legendary Old Grey Whistle Test TV show and as a staple at BBC Radio 2 – as well as a genre-rich record collection hand-built since the early days of Rock 'n' Roll, Bob Harris has plenty to bring to the partnership and had his pick of partners. 

He says: “I chose soundlounge for the simple reason that I love the soundlounge team. I am new to music supervision and it was important to me to find the right people to help guide me into this exciting creative world. I could not be working with a more knowledgeable, well connected and lovely team."

The events will take place at the Century Club in London, with which soundlounge has partnered to provide a stylish but relaxed atmosphere for the conversations. The Century Club is known as one of London’s best-kept secrets with four floors of exclusive club rooms hidden behind a modest front door on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Guests will include: Les Binet, head of effectiveness at adam&eveDDB, Tara Austin, chief strategy officer at Kindred, Rory Sutherland, founder at Ogilvy Change, Will Page, former chief economist at Spotify and PRS For Music, Ian Neil, director of music for film and TV at Sony Music, Dr Daniel Müllensiefen, reader in psychology at Goldsmiths and many more.

Donations will be raised throughout the event series for Nordoff Robbins, the UK’s largest independent music therapy charity, helping to enrich the lives of people with life-limiting illnesses, disabilities and feelings of isolation with the power of music. 

Highlights of each evening will be published at the dedicated website for the series here, along with video interviews of the host, guests and the experienced team at soundlounge. The website also shows you how to make a donation to the Nordoff Robbins charity.