Bobby Cole was born into a musical family. His father was a local singer in Newark New Jersey who would entertain in various establishments in the 1940's. He also appeared on the Major Bowes radio show and got a chance to make three 78 rpm's in 1946. He recorded, Peg of my heart, Always in my heart, and Sweet Sixteen, accompanied by pianist "Joe Pica" known as the "Wizard of the keys". By the time Bobby was three years old, he was taught the accordion, but eventually he found it easier to play the piano or the famous early 60's magnus chord organ. Throughout the early part of his life, he played just for fun and by ear, never having the desire or patience to read music. It wasn't until 1980 when he got together with a few friends and hacked around in his friends basement. The initial interest in playing with others lasted from 1980-1982, they took a six year break and got back together in 1989 and it lasted until 1992. Every time they assembled, the cassette tape machine was running and recently Bobby went back and dug up the old tapes and counted close to 500 songs or parts of songs. Those friends were Don MacArthur, Stan Partyka and John Walsh. By 1989, it was just Bobby, Don, and Stan and this time around they were a bit more serious. They found a drummer in Joe DiStaso and starting playing the club circuit starting with the infamous "Dirt Club" in Bloomfield N.J. They went by different names but when the time came to play out, they called themselves "The Distractions." Stan left the band in 1991 and they brought in Frank Ricchioli who played organ and keyboard bass. By 1992, the Distractions broke up and they went their separate ways. In discovering these hundreds of songs again, most were never played live, Bobby is considering ways to get some of these recorded and put out there for the world to hear.

After taking a few years off, Bobby was instrumental in helping to assemble a 1960's Pop Tribute cover band called "Carnaby St" in 1995. They were an offshoot of another band called "Dandelyon" playing all over New York and New Jersey. When Carnaby St broke up a few years later, Bobby got involved in two other projects. One was a duo called "Retro Pop" with guitarist friend "Scott Finter" They played in cafe's, coffee houses and Bobby even got to sing on WNBC morning show special in between Joe Witte's forecast. At that same time, Bobby also formulated another 1960's Pop Band called "The Clarke Bar 5" and they played in clubs all over New York and New Jersey The Clarke Bar 5 came to an end in 1998 and Bobby decided to put together another originals project.

So he contacted the sound man for many of the Distractions shows, Mike Hoffman an accomplished musician/singer himself, and Mike introduced Bobby to another friend Sam Mann, son of the famous pop composer, David Mann. Bobby at that time was making a two song demo and used it to get some gigs.. He decided to change his last name to 'Cole" in honor of Brian Cole, the bass player of the "Association" one of his favorite bands. Pictured above are Sam Mann, Bobby Cole and Mike Hoffman at the Montclair NJ Octoberfest.

He came up with the name "The Scene" because it sounded 60's. Never having a steady drummer, he used various friends and their friends. The two song demo got into the hands of a notable producer-engineer, John Jansen who worked with the likes of Supertramp, Lou Reed, Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper, Television, The Bongos, just to name a few. He liked something he heard and contacted Bobby. Over the course of the next few years Bobby Cole and the Scene played in many New York, New Jersey clubs and John brought Bobby into the studio to make a four song demo for promotional purposes. John had his friend, Greg Calbi master the demo. Calbi has his signature on more albums that would fit this page. As fate would have it, Bobby opened up a restaurant/ice cream parlor called 'The Soda Pop Shop" in 1999. Bobby remembers getting the call from John one day while he was scoopin ice cream that there was interest out of England. One of the hardest decisions he made was to decline the chance to go to because of the daily drudgery of owning a newly opened business. Hence, the shop completely took over his life until he sold it in 2007. He missed playing music the whole time he was opened and it was a quick blip on a local newsgroup blog that a friend posted that drove him back into music.... Here we go again

The plus side of owning the restaurant is that Bobby got to meet many celebrities that he idolized. He booked Soupy Sales for a meet and greet and autograph signing, and the highlite was going to Soupy's home to pick him up. Many musicians came through Bobby's doors. He decided to make an album and used the friends he met at the store. He got Dennis Diken from the Smithereens to play drums, Graham Maby from the Joe Jackson Group to play bass, Dave Amels on Keyboards, Jon Graboff on steel guitar, R. Stevie Moore played various instruments, Chris Bolger played guitar and produced the album. And Henry Hirsch who is Lenny Kravitz's right hand man for years was the engineer. The album is called "Between Two Worlds" and he has the name Spindles ready to go if he ever decides to formulate a band. Bobby has also released a 4 song ep called "Cycles". Two of the songs are from the original demo made in 1998 and two newer songs recorded at Kronick Studios in Rutherford NJ. in 2008.

This past April, Bobby released a CD single called "Dear John" also recorded at Kronick Studios. It is his tribute to one of the main influences in his life, John Lennon.

Bobby has tentative plans to head up to New York State later this year to record in Henry Hirsch's new studio which closed in New York City this past year. The next CD will be some brand new songs, the 4 songs recorded in 1999 with John Jansen, and he's trying to see if he can squeeze in some Distractions music while he's at it.

Stay tuned after these messages and station indentification........