What Bobby Liebling Has Been Up to Since Prison Sentence
Bobby Liebling once compared himself to the original dinosaurs saying he was among those who survived the ice age. Even if historically dinosaurs had died long before the ice age, the singer was speaking metaphorically because he has been to hell and back and still manages to have hope for a bright tomorrow.
In 2014, he was proud of being sober for over five years and planned on staying away from drugs he had been addicted to for 39 years. He was so determined that he said those who were waiting for the other shoe to drop and see him mess up his life had a surprise coming.
Well, he spoke too soon because three years later he ended up in jail. Here is what Bobby Liebling has been up to since his prison sentence.
Woes That Led to His Prison sentence
In April 2017 Metal Injection published an article detailing that Pentagram would no longer be performing with Liebling due to his actions. Liebling is the only member of the original lineup since the band was founded in 1971.
Despite being around for all those years, by the time it was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary it had never really known the taste of success. All he had to show was Liebling’s thin arms from the addiction to heroin and the many scars in the skin because he could not help but keep scratching himself, thinking parasites were crawling under his skin.
Last Rites” became his first sober album ever and he was quite proud of his achievement. He was so excited that he said it was the right way to record especially because he felt the best performance from his voice.
Unfortunately, the excitement was enough encouragement to keep him sober and when the members of Pentagram announced they would not be performing with Liebling for four dates of the Royal Thunder tour, it was only logical to assume he had relapsed.
The statement read that the circumstances leading up to the decisions were the direct result of Liebling’s personal actions and were beyond anyone’s control. In May 2017, he was arrested for first-degree assault.
The band members avoided the subject altogether stating that their colleague was in a Maryland detention facility waiting for a preliminary hearing. However, everything soon came to light when it was discovered that Liebling was being charged with one count of physical abuse of a vulnerable adult and two counts of abuse against a vulnerable adult who turned out to be his then 87-year-old mother.
As a result, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he pled guilty.
Life after Prison
Pentagram’s Greg Turley said that the sunset success of the band got to Liebling since 2015 and 2016 were the busiest years. Liebling got back to his old ways and Turley thought the singer would die but he did not.
After being imprisoned, the bassist hoped that Liebling would spend time reflecting on the bad decisions and bad habits. It seemed that the sentence is what Liebling needed to get his life back on track because, in March 2019, Pentagram welcomed him back with open arms.
According to Blabbermouth, he would join the other members in the 10-city U.S. tour they had planned from March 14 to March 24, 2019. He had his calendar booked because according to an interview with My Global Mind, Liebling wanted to do a second installment of “Sub-Basement.”
He said it would be a two-man album with only him and Joe Hasselvander. Liebling remarked that Sub-Basement is his favorite album with Pentagram hence his decision to do part two of it.
Besides recording an entire album with Hasselvander he also hoped to have time to finish writing three songs for Dead Boys. He disclosed that he had done one song with them and they were hoping he could sing and write the other three songs. Apart from also doing radio interviews, Liebling added he planned on recording an album with Sonny Vincent whom he described as legendary.
Living Up to His Word
Liebling has always loved heavy metal music and the prospects he had had of recording albums came to pass. In April 2021, Liebling’s dream of recording with Vincent was fulfilled.
The two men along with Jimmy Recca, Hugo Conim and Joao Pedro joined forces to form The Limit, a new heavy metal rock band. They even released their debut album “Caveman Logic.”
Liebling disclosed they had to learn the entire album within three six-hour rehearsal sessions and the entire rehearsal took three and a half days. Their proper mix took two months but given the pandemic, the post-production had the entire album took another three months.
The reaction to the album was positive which was much to Liebling’s surprise although he added that he did not have any vision for the band except to do good music.
He thinks being jailed was a blessing in disguise because it helped him to stay sober. Liebling admitted to loving drugs and if they did not threaten his life, he still would be doing them unapologetically.
By being locked up he saw life in a new dimension and after noticing even his health improve and gaining weight from 100 pounds to 150 pounds, he was glad he quit. Most importantly for him, the change in his singing voice was the best result of being sober.
He disclosed he could not stand being off-key all the time and had to wear earplugs when practicing.
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I’m so happy to hear that Bobby Liebling is doing well still and I wanted to pass on some encouragement to him: You should be proud of what you’re accomplishing and I truly hope that you keep it up. Not only for your true fans that wish you well and want you around as long as we can have you, but also because you deserve to have the good life that you’re now earning.
We met at your SLC, UT show in 2014 and it’s one of my favorite show memories and set of photos with the band. I’d love a chance to see you perform again and get another of your strong hugs. I wish you well, Bobby Liebling, and you’ll always be in my rock n’ roll hall of fame!
<3, Amanda