Robert Kinkel
| Bob Kinkel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Buffalo, New York |
| Genres | Hard rock, heavy metal, progressive rock, symphonic metal |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, engineer, producer, arranger |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels | Atlantic |
| Associated acts | Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Badlands |
Bob Kinkel is an American professional session keyboardist and music engineer most known for his role as a co-creator/co-producer/co-composer and touring keyboardist with Trans-Siberian Orchestra along with extensive studio work with the progressive metal band Savatage. He attended Hamilton College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in music with a minor in physics.
Kinkel was born in Buffalo, New York. Receiving his early musical training singing in a choir in his hometown of Williamsville, New York, Robert Kinkel continued his education singing in choirs and playing in Williamsville school bands until he attended Hamilton College where he attained his degree in music, studying composition, piano and organ.
His first professional music job came at the Record Plant Studios in New York City, where he assisted on productions for bands such as The Who, Badlands and uncredited work with Aerosmith. Soon afterwards, he began his career as a keyboardist and composed the music for many TV advertising campaigns, including being the producer and voice behind the 1980s "Hefty, Hefty, Hefty - Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy" commercial for Hefty trash bags.
He teamed up with producer Paul O'Neill and vocalist-pianist Jon Oliva on Hall of the Mountain King, a 1987 album from Savatage. Kinkel joined Savatage for the follow-up releases Gutter Ballet (1989) and Streets: A Rock Opera (1991), to return again with both keyboard and engineering work on Dead Winter Dead (1995), The Wake of Magellan (1998) and Poets & Madmen (2001). He provided all the keyboard orchestral arrangements while founder Jon Oliva played the standard keyboard parts, but he never performed live with the band. He also an engineer on Handful Of Rain, which featured Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick, and the live album Ghost In The Ruins: A Tribute To Criss Oliva.
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