Bob Flick ’56

Bob Flick demonstrated his showmanship skills at an early age. While a student at Whittier Elementary, he began putting together skits and magic acts. These acts earned him a place in the Elks USO Troupe entertaining servicemen at nearby bases.

Wall of Recognition Inductee: 2000

Flick’s interest in music and performance continued as a student at Ballard High, where he was a member of the Double Quartet, consisting of eight singers.

Flick enrolled at the University of Washington in 1956. While there he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and teamed up with three fellow fraternity members, Dick Foley, Mike Kirkland and John Paine. They shared a common interest in music and began playing folk and calypso tunes for parties.

During Spring Break 1957, the group, now calling themselves The Brothers Four, performed at the Hungry I in San Francisco, a club which featured up-and-coming comedy and folk acts. Flick describes their music as popular folk, not the protest folk that arose at this time also.

Encouraged by Columbia Records, the group cut a demo tape. Columbia signed them, and they headed off to New York in 1958 at the beginning of the folk music explosion. The Brothers Four called New York their home for seven years. During that time they performed for President Kennedy’s inaugural in 1961, and they were the first American group to perform in Vietnam in 1964 and 1965. The group hung on through the “British Invasion”, opening for the Beatles at their last U.S. performance in New York.

Flick now owns his own production company in Seattle, writing and producing music for TV, films and commercials. He also occasionally tours with The Brothers Four.