Paul Conrad Rose
October 15, 1937 - July 25, 2023
Obituary
MADISON - Paul "Biff" Rose ~ American comedian / singer-songwriter passed away at the age of 85 at his home in Madison, Wis., on Tuesday July 25, 2023.
Born in New Orleans, Rose's popularity in the Greenwich Village folk scene prompted a 1964 New York Times profile on the young singer. Biff moved to Hollywood in 1966 where he found a job working as a comedy sketch writer with George Carlin on the John Davidson show. In 1968 Rose released his first album “The Thorn in Mrs. Rose's Side,” containing his best-known composition, “Fill Your Heart, “co-written with Paul Williams and famously covered by both David Bowie on his album “Hunky Dory” and Tiny Tim on the B-side of his hit single “Tip Toe Thru The Tulips.” Rose made 10 appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show from 1968 to 1970, bringing his cherubic wit and wondrous piano playing to millions of viewers. He also performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, American Bandstand, and Hugh Hefner's Playboy After Dark. Biff emceed the Atlantic City Pop Festival of 1969 and the Atlanta Pop Festival of 1970.
Rose spent the better part of the 70s performing in every small town in America, driving his piano equipped red Volkswagen bus further off the beaten paths of the music industry and deeper into uninhibited improvisations and poetic free expression. Biff's 1978 album "Roast Beef" was produced by Monkee Mike Nesmith and all 14 songs were recorded in one continuous take.
The 80s found Rose living above a jazz club in San Francisco, before moving abroad to Germany, and teaching an English slang course to university students in Göttingen. Returning to live in New Orleans, Biff rooted back into the local culture. His album “Bone Again” (1996) paints a picture of his colorful, where face painting tourists in the streets became one of his main artistic expressions for the next 25 years.
In 2009 Biff began regular trips to Cambridge, Mass., and started Mythological Records with Apollo Sunshine singer, Jesse Gallagher. The two recorded and released numerous albums including “The Thorn 2” (2010) and in 2017, Biff and Jesse toured the United States, performing in clubs from New York to Los Angeles to celebrate Rose's 80th birthday. Mythological Records continues to release new and unreleased archived Biff Rose material. There are over 30 albums spanning his entire career available to download on www.biffrose.bandcamp.com.
Later in his life, Biff curated an "infamous" Facebook page that he operated like a tabloid newspaper, reflecting on the times with daily satirical writings and cartoons that would rouse up his readers and consistently get him into trouble with the censors. Fans knew where his heart was, and trusted some of his more far out humor would be laughed at in the future.
Biff is survived by his four children, Terry, Andy, Eben and Quicksilver Rose; and partner, Jennifer Pendur. A celebration of life is being planned for October in New Orleans, where Biff will be placed in a tomb alongside many notable jazz musicians in one of the oldest historical graveyards in the city.
Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.
Gunderson East
Funeral & Cremation Care
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(608) 221-5420