Bob was a hefty child. Born during the Great Depression era, he was picked on and tormented by his fellow students and teachers. Bob's only refuge was eating. Little Bobby loved to eat. He would eat a car tire if it had a little mustard on it.

Bob's only friend at the time was a little no named blues musician named Leadbelly Pete. Pete was old, chubby and a drunk, but took to little Bobby knowing the pressures of being picked on. Everyday after school Bob would run home and get his hand crafted guitar he created out of old used car parts and piano wire, and head over to Pete's shack. There, Pete would teach Bobby the blues and slap him over the head whenever Bobby mentioned food. In return, Bobby would steal liquor for Pete from the hootch that his father made in their bathtub.

And that is how Bobby grew up. After many years of lessons and headslaps, Bobby was thin and wailing on the guitar. In Bob's last year of high school, Leadbelly Pete died. A distraught Bobby took to the road armed with only Pete's guitar, a satchel full of clothing and nudie mags, and a dream to one day make Pete proud of him.

He worked playing in bars and on street corners for pennies at a time, but it all paid off when a record producer heard him and helped him get his break on the Ed Sullivan show. Unfortunately, the act he was a last minute replacement for (Mojo, the magical chain smoking monkey) awoke from his smoking coma and was able to perform after all. Poor Bobby was crushed.

Years of drinking and depression followed, until his final breakdown left him in an institution. There, he met a young spunky lad whom he became good friends with. Years later, this young lad would call on him to join him in a rock band. Bobby happily accepted. He needed booze money.