In Memoriam: Bob Heil

Audio pioneer Robert "Bob" G. Heil died on February 28. He was 83 and lived in Belleville, Illinois. The cause of death was cancer.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Heil group in Marissa, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois at Champaign before transferring to St. Louis to study music. A student of the organist Stan Kann, at 15 he began performing on the Wurlitzer at St. Louis' Fabulous Fox Theatre. In his 20s, he began designing and building theatre pipe organ installations. He opened Ye Olde Music Shop, a professional music store in Marrisa, which later became Heil Sound.

Heil became well-known for conceiving the modern rock-and-roll audio system. His career jumped-started when, in 1970, the Grateful Dead arrived at the Fabulous Fox without a sound system. Heil provided one of his own; the band asked him to join them on the road. He subsequently designed sound and toured with the Who on the 1971 Who's Next Tour.

Heil's next invention, the Heil Talk Box, was the first high-powered talk box on the market that could reliably be used on high-level rock stages. It was frequently used by Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, and Richie Sambora; it is still in use today. Among Heil's other inventions were the first modular mixing console (the Mavis) and his custom quadraphonic mixer (originally used on the Quadrophenia tour).

An avid engineer, Heil became an amateur radio operator at the age of 13. He spent much of his teen years designing and building homemade transmitters, amplifiers, and antenna systems, including his elaborate "moon bounce" antenna, which he used with NASA to transmit a signal to the moon and back.

In the early 1980s, Heil left the pro sound industry to focus exclusively on the amateur radio market. A few years later Heil Sound entered the home theatre movement becoming popular in the United States. In the early 2000s, following a request from Joe Walsh to develop a new vocal microphone, he re-entered the pro sound industry and introduced a new line of professional microphones and accessories, which Heil Sound continues to manufacture today. In 2006, Heil Sound became the only manufacturer featured in a display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

He was a fixture in St. Louis through his "High Tech Heil" educational segments on KMOX radio plus KSDK and KTVI television. He frequently lectured at major electronic and satellite conventions, including CES and NAB shows in Las Vegas, Trebas Institute in Toronto, and Blackbird Academy in Nashville. He recorded four albums as a musician and published five books on music and sound technology.

Heil was named International Amateur Radio Operator of the Year in 1982 and USA Satellite Dealer of the Year by the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association in Las Vegas. In 1995, he received the first Live Sound Pioneer Award at AES in San Francisco. In 2007, he received the Audio Innovator Parnelli Award. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in Music and Technology from the University of Missouri.

In recent years, Heil remained active in the amateur radio community by giving presentations to ham radio clubs across the world. He also continued to play the Wurlitzer Organ at the Fabulous Fox Theatre and enjoyed spending time with Gracie, his malshi.

Heil was a member of Belleville Union United Methodist Church, a 50-year member of Marissa Lodge #881 AF and AM, and a 50-year member of Ainad Shrine.

Heil was preceded in death by his parents Robert (Bob) George and LaVerna (Bills) Heil. He is survived by his wife Sarah (Benton) Heil of Belleville, his sister Barbara (Bob) Schneidewind of Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, his daughters from his marriage to Judy Mortensen Heil, Julie (Mark) Staley of Springfield, Illinois, and Barbara (David) Hartley of St. Louis, a son by marriage Ash (Michelle) Levitt, of Belleville, and seven grandchildren: Jonathan, Cate, Lizzie, Charlie, Alex, Luke, and Julian.