Who is Windsor musician Bobby Sproat?

By Travis Conant

At the  age of 13 and full of passion, one Windsor musician realized music was something he wanted to pursue full time.

Twenty-four-year-old Bobby Sproat, is a singer-songwriter and since his break-out into music in 2010, he garnered success in the Windsor music scene.

Some of his local accolades include being voted “Best Solo Male Musician” by readers of Windsor independent Magazine in 2014, and in 2016, sold out his first CD release show for his album New Romantics.

Sproat first became interested in music when he was six. His teacher asked him to write what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said, opera singer.

“I’m pretty sure at the time I just thought it was cool because they sang in a different way than what you would hear on the radio,” said Sproat.

He was eight when he began learning to sing and picked up his first guitar when he was 13.

“That was around the time I got my first guitar, a red GK acoustic guitar that I still own and play occasionally to this day,” said Sproat.

The music industry can be tough and has taken a toll on some artists. Luckily, Sproat never had an issue with that and when it came to playing an instrument, Sproat said he has never had anything happen in his life that made him want to quit playing guitar or singing.

“I’ve had to alter the way I sing to protect my vocal chords long-term since when I was younger and in bands, I wasn’t as protective or aware of what range I was comfortable singing in,” said Sproat.

Like any other musician out there, he had an inspiration and a goal when he started out  as a young musician. Some of his biggest influencers were Green Day, Creed, Switchfoot and Hoobastank.

“Creed was the band that taught me how to sing in the first five years I sang before taking lessons,” said Sproat. “I remember taking the lyric insert of their greatest hits album to school with me just so I could read it.”

Sproat said he has a hard time thinking of a reason he stands out more than other artists because there is such a large abundance of talent in Windsor. He said if he had to pick one thing that made him stand out more and other artists, he would pick his song writing.

“That’s something I’ve always been complimented on since I started writing music ten years ago,” said Sproat. “I’ve always felt that my songwriting has been consistent and enjoyable.”

Sproat said he always aims to put every ounce of passion into his shows, whether that means playing for three hours straight or unleashing all of his energy into his songs at a show.

Sproat’s inspiration for his songs comes from personal life.

“When I first started writing, my main inspiration behind my songs was a lot of my own personal events and feelings,” said Sproat. “When it comes to writing a song, I’ve always been someone who writes the lyrics and music together simultaneously if I can. I’ll start with either a small lyric or melody I have saved somewhere or a guitar part I’ve saved, and I’ll build off it.”

Jacob McLean, guitarist and vocalist for the Windsor band Mellodraw, has known Sproat since high school when they were in a band called HelloAudio. The band split after roughly two and a half years.

“We grew out of the music we were making and then we also had multiple people wanting to be the leader of the group,” said McLean.

McLean added, “Once other people got more involved in the songwriting process it got a little contentious. I would say and then we didn’t all trust each other fully — we were all young and immature, so we took things personally instead of seeing what was best for the music. We kind of outgrew the music and each other a little bit.”    

McLean said both Sproat and himself have helped one another get into the industry. McLean also said he believes the thing that makes Sproat stand out from other musicians in Windsor is his work ethic.

“I think he puts a lot of effort into having consistent material,” said McLean. “Whenever he plays a show he is always very prepared, he puts effort into talking to the other acts.”

Sproat has been the sub-in guitarist for the band Mellodraw since early January of 2018 and is leaving the group to continue working on his solo career.

Sproat said he has lots planned and new music is on its way.

“I intend making up for all the lost time since we released New Romantics. Much love,” said Sproat.