Bennett was born in Downey, California. He picked up his first guitar at age nine and formed a rock 'n' roll band in high school. In the late seventies he converted to Christianity and his songwriting began to reflect his newfound faith.^[1]

His career was launched with the release of his 1979 folk-style debut recording First Things First. Three years later, Matters of the Heart, a recording CCM Magazine selected as 1982's "Album of the Year", and later ranked it 25th on its list of contemporary Christian albums of all time.^[2] Soon after the release of his next recording, Non-Fiction, he served as opening act on Amy Grant's Unguarded tour. Lord of the Past: A Compilation followed, which peaked at 30th position on Billboard magazine's Top Contemporary Christian chart in 1990.^[3] The album's title song reached number one on the Christian radio charts in early 1990. This was followed by Bennett's second number one song: "Yours Alone".

Later in 1990 Bob joined Michael Card on his The Way of Wisdom tour, performing in front of sold-out audiences across the country. Bob credits his tour with Michael Card as being the only reason he had a career in 1990 and 1991.^[4] Songs from Bright Avenue was released in 1991, a collection of songs he wrote while struggling with the dissolution of his marriage. Bob's most recent solo CD is Christmastide, released in 2009. The project, Jesus Music Again, a collaboration with Bill Batstone and Alex MacDougall, was released in 2011.^[5]

Bob plays a Kevin Ryan guitar.^[6]

Bob is currently signed with Signpost Communications.

Solo releases edit

• First Things First (Maranatha! Music, 1979) (04/2007: Limited Edition Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Release)
• Matters of the Heart (CBS/Priority, 1982) (May 22, 2007: Re-released on iTunes and in Mp3 format on Amazon)
• Non-Fiction (Star Song, 1985) (May 22, 2007: Re-released on iTunes and in Mp3 format on Amazon)
• Lord of the Past: A Compilation (Urgent Records, 1989) (Out-of-Print)
• Songs from Bright Avenue (Urgent Records, 1991; Re-release by Signpost Music, 2003)
• Small Graces (Covenant Artists, 1997)
• The View from Here (Signpost Music, 2002)
• "My Heart Across the Ocean" (single, 2002)
• Christmastide (Signpost Music, 2009)
• Joy Deep as Sorrow (self-released, 2012)
• Live at Judson University (self-released, 2016)

Songs in other projects edit

• "Place I Am Bound" — track 2 on Fast Folk FF708 Vol. 9 No. November 8, 1993, Los Angeles Revisited (still available from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)
• "Beautiful, Scandalous Night" — track 3 on At the Foot of the Cross: Vol. 1: Clouds, Rain, Fire
• "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name", "Born to Die", "In the Bleak Midwinter" — tracks on Christmas in Our Time (Urgent!, 2004)
• "Strange Joy" — track 3 on Music of Proclaim!, volume 3: There Is a Way
• "Hand of Kindness", "Unto the Least of These", "Our Codependent Love", and "Defiant Lamb" — tracks 3, 5, 8 and 11, respectively, on Return of the Killer B's (Live from Memphis)

Collaborations and other credits edit

• background vocals on Billy Crockett's albums: Any Starlight Night (Urgent Records, 1994) & Watermarks (Walking Angel Records, 1998)
• Six String Prayers, John Standefer (guitar) & Bob Bennett (vocals) (2007)
• co-wrote "Broken Beauty" with Jon Buller on his album: Light Up The Sky (Signpost, 2009)
• Songs for Israel with Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, and Buck Storm (Candlelight Records 2010)
• Jesus Music Again, Bill Batstone (guitars, bass, vocals), Bob Bennett (guitars, vocals), Alex MacDougall (percussion, drums) (2011,review^[7])

CCM Magazine named Matters of the Heart "Album of the Year - 1982", and among the Top 25 CCM Albums of all time. The magazine also ranked Lord of the Past among the top 100 CCM Albums of all time.

• Orange Country Register (02/10/2006)
• USA Today Online (11/18/2003)
• Orange Country Register (09/05/2003)

• Official website
• Wittenburg Door interview (02/2007) at the Wayback Machine (archived September 27, 2007)