Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne)

Bob Stanley
Stanley in Essex, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Robert Andrew Shukman
Born	(1964-12-25) 25 December 1964 (age 52)
Origin	Horsham, Sussex, England
Genres	Pop, dance, Indie
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, journalist, dj
Instruments	keyboards
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Heavenly Icerink EMI Disc
Associated acts	Saint Etienne
Website	Bob Stanley website

Bob Stanley (born 25 December 1964 in Horsham, Sussex, England) is a British musician, journalist, author, and film producer. He is best known as a member of the indie pop/dance group Saint Etienne. He has had a long parallel career as a music journalist, writing for, amongst others, NME, Melody Maker, Mojo, The Guardian and The Times, as well as writing two books on music and football. He also has a career as a DJ and as a producer of record labels, and has collaborated on a series of films about London. His second publication, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, was published by W.W. Norton and Company in 2014.

Stanley is best known as a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne for which he co-writes songs and produces. Live on stage, he normally plays keyboards.

After leaving school, Stanley worked in various record shops. While working at Virgin Records in Peterborough he met Andrew Midgley (with whom he would later create the group Cola Boy). The two produced a fanzine called Pop Avalanche in 1986. Stanley also wrote four issues of Caff, a fanzine created with childhood friend Pete Wiggs (with whom he would later create Saint Etienne).

In 1987, Stanley sent an issue of Caff to James Brown, then live reviews editor for NME. This led to Stanley's first commissioned work, a review of a Johnny Cash show in Peterborough. After two years he moved to Melody Maker, where he wrote regularly until Saint Etienne became a full-time occupation in 1991.