Bob Hallett

Who is Bob Hallett?

Robert Bruce "Bob" Hallett is a founding member of Canadian folk-rock band Great Big Sea.

Hallett was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador on May 23, 1968, making him the only native St. Johnsman in Great Big Sea. Born to a musical family, Hallett learned to play the saxophone while in school, and taught himself guitar and tin whistle while a teenager. He would later learn to play both the accordion and the fiddle.

Hallett attended Memorial University, where he met Séan McCann, with whom he founded the Newfoundland Republican Army, an 8-man musical group. After this group collapsed, he and McCann founded a pub act called Rankin Street. After the band's split-up in 1993, it evolved into Great Big Sea, in an attempt to bring more of a Newfoundland sound to their music.

Hallett has also produced a handful of recordings by other musicians, including Vince Collins's "Lifting Out the Stove," and Shanneyganock's "Fling out the Flag". He has also produced an album for the Moncton-based band, Banshee, and Janelle Dupuis, another Moncton based artist.

Bob writes a semi-regular blog on the band's website called "Bob's Journeys". With the rest of Great Big Sea, he finished working on their tenth recorded album "Safe Upon The Shore", released July 2010. He was seen at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia; at the Victory Celebration on February 26, 2010, Great Big Sea headlined Newfoundland-Labrador Night. As Great Big Sea arrives at its twentieth anniversary as a band, Hallett has transitioned from a clean-shaven look to a goatee and moustache.