ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —

EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone has a story — some more well-known than others. Across Western North Carolina, so much history is buried below the surface. Six feet under. With this series, we introduce you to some of the people who have left marks big and small on this special place we call home.

Musical instrument inventor, two-time Grammy award winner and businessman Dr. Robert Arthur “Bob” Moog, 1934-2005, is buried in Lou Pollock Memorial Park in Asheville.

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Photo credit: Moogseum

The music industry underwent a fundamental transformation in the 1960s. New sounds emerged that gripped the nation, moving and grooving from coast to coast. These otherworldly auditory experiences left listeners feeling something new, something futuristic, something meaningful.

But no normal instrument could make these pitches. So, where did they come from?

A savant responsible for tuning the electrical music boom, Bob Moog thrust the genre forward with the invention and popularization of the synthesizer, the instrument instantly recognizable for a generation of sound.

Dr. Robert Arthur “Bob” Moog was born the only child to George and Shirley Moog in Flushing, New York, on May 23, 1934. Moog’s father was an electrician for New York City’s electric company, Con Edison.

Toward the end of World War II, Moog’s father began teaching him electronics through small hobby projects like building radios.

Moog flourished in the school system, according to Craig Frustaci, assistant director of the Moogseum. He was reportedly inspired by his near constant correspondence with his aunt Florence, a professor of zoology at Washington University. Moog won numerous academic awards while in grade school.

Musical instrument inventor, two-time Grammy award winner and businessman Dr. Robert Arthur “Bob” Moog, 1934-2005, is buried in Lou Pollock Memorial Park in Asheville.

In 1949, the 15-year-old prodigy built his first theremin for a science fair at his high school. Later that year, he was awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for constructing an electric organ and a Geiger counter.

Moog attended Bronx High School of Science from 1949-1952 where he created electric instruments, using them in the school’s orchestra.

Upon graduation, Bob was accepted into a dual program with Queens College and Colombia University studying electrical engineering and physics.

At age 19, with the help of his father, Moog created his first commercial product, the Ramco Model 201. Released in 1953, the build-it-yourself theremin kit was manufactured in his father’s basement.

He continued to make and sell various models of theremins throughout his undergraduate studies, graduating with bachelor’s degrees in physics and electrical engineering in 1957.

Months later, Moog began a Ph.D. program at Cornell University in engineering physics. His studies were funded by a grant from the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

Moog’s first major commercial success was the Melodia model theremin, gaining popularity from a 1961 article in Electronics World magazine. The model was one of Moog’s first implementations of transistors in musical instruments. A Melodia theremin is currently on display at the Moogseum.

Musical instrument inventor, two-time Grammy award winner and businessman Dr. Robert Arthur “Bob” Moog, 1934-2005, is buried in Lou Pollock Memorial Park in Asheville.

In 1963, the R.A. Moog Company moved out of the family home and into a store in Trumansburg, New York, about 10 miles northwest of Ithaca.

In 1965, Bob received his doctorate in engineering physics from Cornell University.

Moog’s obsession for theremins began to shift around this time. Utilizing the new transistor technology, he invented the synthesizer.

Synthesizers are instruments which warp and manipulate waveforms to generate sounds that otherwise could not have been made. First used in psychedelic and other countercultural genres, synthesizers today can be found in all genres of music including unexpected ones like classical.

Moog’s first synthesizers reached the market in 1967. Featuring a keyboard and numerous dials, the instrument could produce thousands of sounds never heard before.

On top of their successful release of the synthesizers, R.A. Moog hit it big that year when representatives from the company attended the Monterey Pop Festival.

Prior to the festival, the Moog brand was mostly confined to the east coast music scene. But at that festival, everything changed.

Artists introduced to the synthesizer at the festival included The Byrds, The Monkees and Simon and Garfunkel.

Perhaps Moog’s most famous client came from across the pond. In their iconic 1969 album, the Beatles included a Moog synthesizer in three tracks on Abbey Road, including “Here Comes the Sun.”

In 1970, R.A. Moog released the Minimoog. Apart from a few production halts, variations of the Minimoog have been in nearly continuous production for 54 years. Minimoogs can still be purchased new from Moog Music, Inc.

Moog was recognized by the Grammy’s with a Trustee’s award in 1970. Given to non-performing talent, the award honors men and women with extraordinary abilities outside the recording booth, whose contributions have progressed musical evolution.

Moog’s company had a name change in 1971. Out with R.A. Moog, Moog Music, Inc. was born.

From the 1970’s to early 2000’s, Moog Music underwent several acquisitions. Moog was not very involved in the company during these years.

After visiting a friend in Western North Carolina, Moog became enchanted with the greater Asheville area. In 1978, he left New York.

Craig Frustaci explained that Moog did not vibe with city life. Accordingly, instead of moving into a house in Asheville, Moog took a year off work to build a remote chalet in Leicester. He named the home Big Briar.

Big Briar must have been an inspirational place for Moog, reusing the name for his second company. While Moog Music was focused on delivering instruments to consumers, Big Briar would be centered on the exclusive market of custom electronic instruments for clients, although in subsequent years, it would release lines of consumer products too.

Moog spent a few years in the 1980’s in Massachusetts working for Kurzweil as a vice president but returned to North Carolina in 1989.

Upon returning, Moog took a position at the University of North Carolina Asheville as a visiting professor, teaching physics until 1993.

Despite owing much of his early career to his predecessor, Leon Theremin, Moog had not met him. Their paths finally crossed at the Bouges International Festival of Electronic Music in 1989. Theremin was the inventor of the theremin, the instrument Moog had started his business selling in 1953.

In 1993, the company Moog founded 40 years prior closed its doors. The assets of Moog Music, Inc. were auctioned off.

Moog would win a second Grammy in 2001, this time the Technical award, given to men and women who have made significant contributions to the art of recording.

Once Moog Music shuttered, Moog entered a legal battle to regain the rights of the company’s name. He won the drawn-out suit in 2002 and renamed Big Briar to Moog Music, reconnecting the legacy of the two companies that had diverted 24 years prior.

Bob Moog died in his home on Aug. 21, 2005, at the age of 71 from a brain tumor. He was buried in Lou Pollock Memorial Park in Asheville.

In place of a traditional gravestone, Moog’s resting place is marked by a bench. Engraved on it is his name, birth date, date of his passing and “Good Vibrations,” a reference to one of the first bands to popularize the synthesizer, the Beach Boys.

Moog is remembered by the Bob Moog Foundation. Funded by his children, the nonprofit organization runs the Moogseum in Asheville, a museum celebrating Moog’s life. The Foundation also maintains an archive of over 10,000 items and runs the Dr. Bob Sound School, a program that helps second graders in North Carolina learn about music.

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