Tim & Bob

Tim & Bob
Tim Kelley (left), Bob Robinson (right)
Background information
Also known as	Tim Kelley & Bob Robinson, Funktwons
Origin	Peoria, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Hip-hop R&B pop
Occupation(s)	Record producers, songwriters
Instrument(s)	Piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, drums (Tim Kelley) Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, Hammond B3 (Bob Robinson)
Years active	1993–2014 (as a duo) 2014–present (as solo artists)
Labels	DreamWorks Def Jam BMG SoNo
Members	Tim Kelley Bob Robinson

Tim & Bob (Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson), also known as Funktwons, were an American songwriting and production duo from Peoria, Illinois. The duo has been credited on the Billboard Hot 100 top ten-singles "Thong Song" by Sisqó, "Slow Down" by Bobby V and "They Don't Know" by Jon B., as well as the top 40-singles "So Into You" by Tamia and "Come See Me" by 112. They discovered the latter act in Atlanta during the late 1990s, and have since worked extensively with acts such as Bobby V, Boyz II Men, Donell Jones and Monica to produce one or more of their albums, respectively. They disbanded in 2014 to separately pursue solo work.

Tim & Bob have won three Grammy Awards from 12 nominations.^[1][2]

Growing up in Peoria, Illinois, Tim was raised on R&B through his father's band. His father was a trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist so Tim learned trumpet, piano, guitar, drums and bass at the age of 10. From elementary school through college, Tim played the trumpet and piano in school band.

Bob played in his church as an organist and piano player from the age of 9, so he brought an understanding of gospel music to the duo. Tim met Bob through a mutual friend at the local mall. The two worked together at Tim's house in the basement, recording music on equipment purchased by Tim's mother. They moved to New Orleans for a year then went to Chicago and Detroit where they established a small production company with a studio.^[3]

In Atlanta, Tim & Bob met Dallas Austin who signed them to his company D.A.R.P. and stamped them as "Tim & Bob". The duo began working with artists TLC, Boyz II Men, Madonna, 112 (whom they discovered) and Monica (who they developed).^[4] Tim & Bob brought from Detroit their friends Tony Rich and Mario Winans. Tim & Bob won two Grammy Awards, including one in 1995 for Best R&B Album for Boyz II Men's II and one in 1996 for Best R&B Album for TLC's Diamond certified CrazySexyCool. Tim & Bob produced and wrote five songs on the Boyz II Men LP II which eventually became the biggest selling album in history by an R&B group. Upon winning consecutive Best R&B Album Grammy awards, the duo worked on songs for the films Def Jam's How to Be a Player, The Players Club, Poetic Justice, Wild Wild West, and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.^[4]

Tim & Bob were frequently brought in by producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to work on some of their projects.^[4]

Tim & Bob relocated to Los Angeles and signed a publishing deal and a label deal through executive and rock guitarist Robbie Robertson with the now defunct DreamWorks Records, soon scoring a No. 1 hit with Jon B. ("They Don't Know"), and a top 5 hit for Tamia ("So into You"). Tim & Bob were also instrumental in getting the rock group Papa Roach signed to DreamWorks^[4] while inking a production deal with Capitol Records. The duo signed Athena Cage from the group Kut Klose and produced a full album of songs, but the project only produced a single for the movie Save The Last Dance.

In 1999 Tim & Bob produced Sisqó's hit "Thong Song". The single was awarded Song of the Year Hip Hop/Rhythmic at the 2000 Radio Music Awards. It peaked at No. 1 on the New Zealand charts, No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, No. 1 Billboard on Rhythmic top 40 and Rhythmic top 40 Airplay and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.

In 2001, Tim & Bob produced Case's "Missing You", which was his only number one song, and Dave Hollister's "Take Care of Home".^[4]

In 2003 Tim & Bob worked with the Isley Brothers album project Body Kiss, and with Earth, Wind And Fire on the song "Hold Me" which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Vocal by an r&b group. Both projects were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Tim & Bob discovered Bobby Valentino and produced his self-titled album which spawned the hit songs "Tell Me" and "Slow Down" in early 2005. The latter song was No. 1 for four consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In 2006, Tim & Bob signed a publishing deal with Dimensional Music Publishing and began working on Bobby Valentino's second album Special Occasion, on which they produced six tracks.^[5] Subsequent projects include Jennifer Lopez' Platinum certified album Rebirth ("Cherry Pie" and "I, Love"); Brian McKnight's Ten ("Used to Be My Girl", "Unhappy Without You", "Again", "Can't Leave You Alone"); Donell Jones' Journey of a Gemini ("I'm Gonna Be", "Feelin' You", "Can't Wait", "I'm Gonna Be"); Hilary Duff's Dignity ("I Wish"); Nas, Joe, Musiq Soulchild, Ron Isley, Brandy, Tyrese, Amerie, Mýa, Usher, LeToya, Slim of 112, Busta Rhymes, Jamie Foxx ("Life Is Good");^[6] The Black Eyed Peas, Bobby Valentino's The Rebirth ("Make You the Only One," "3 Is the New 2," "On The Edge," "You're Not Alone," "Give Me Your Heart," and "Your Smile"); Day 26's Forever in a Day ("Think of Me" and "Reminds Me of You"); and their artists Mahagani and Chico.^[4] In 2011, Tim & Bob produced half of Bobby V's project Fly on the Wall and reunited with Boyz II Men to produce four tracks including a remake of "Motown Philly" on their album Twenty.

The city of Peoria, Illinois declared November 18, 2011 "Tim & Bob Day" and gave the producers a ceremonial key to the city.

Tim & Bob scored the 2010 film Lottery Ticket.

Tim & Bob quietly split in 2014. According to Tim Kelley, the decision was mutual, as it was over creative differences in the duo's sound. Kelley said "Bob is like my brother, I love him man. I think creatively, everything changed. Times have changed now that everybody has access to all of the technology. He started doing stuff that just wasn't sounding like the Tim & Bob sound. I was doing all of the drum patters and sampling. I'll give you an example, 'Slow Down' by Bobby V is constructed of chopped up samples I put a beat over with Bob playing guitar which created a style I came up with called 'Asian R&B'. Skip up years later Bob started doing production on his own without me present which I urged him too, but the sound was more smooth Jazz where as together we were known to be aggressive with the sound, creative drum samples and minimal chord progressions on uptempos. Me and Bob had a conversation and we decided creatively, he wanted to try it on his own".^[7]

After their split, Kelley became President of Urban Music and Head of A&R for record label, SoNo Recording Group, where he signed and produced albums for acts like Brian McKnight, Take 6, Shawn Stockman, Raheem DeVaughn and his longtime collaborator Bobby V.

In 2017, Bob Robinson produced "My Man" for Tamar Braxton.^[8] "My Man" debuted at number 29 on the Adult R&B Songs Billboard chart for the week of May 13, 2017, and peaked at number three in August. It remained on the chart for 22 weeks.^[2] The track also reached number 21 on the Hot R&B Songs Billboard chart for the week of August 26, 2017.^[9] Meanwhile, Kelley has eight songs currently in the top 50 Adult R&B Billboard chart, two in the top 20 with Brian McKnight "When I'm Gone" sitting at number 13 and Raheem DeVaughn's "Just Right" which is currently number 20.

The American Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony created by Dick Clark in 1973.

The Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards are sponsored by Billboard magazine and is held annually in December.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is one of three United States performing rights organizations that holds a series of annual awards shows.

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States.

The Juno Awards is a Canadian awards ceremony presented annually by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV.

The Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards, established in 1995 by Kanya King MBE and Andy Ruffell, are held annually in the UK to recognise artists of any race or nationality performing black music.

The NAACP Image Awards is an award presented annually by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature.

The Radio Music Awards was an annual U.S. award show that honors the year's most successful songs on mainstream radio.

The Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, first airing in 1995, celebrated top achievements by female performers.

The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual award show which previously aired in national television syndication that honors the best in Black music and entertainment.

• NeKo LX (Gen3)^[10]
• Akai Pro MPC Series / MPC X^[11]

• Tim & Bob on Myspace
• (in French) French group dedicated to Tim & Bob on SoulRnB.com Archived July 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine