Birthday remembrance to Bobby Hebb (July 26, 1938 – August 3, 2010. He was born Robert Von Hebb in Nashville, Tennessee. Hebbs parents, William and Ovalla Hebb, were both blind musicians. Hebb and his older brother Harold performed as a song-and-dance team in Nashville, beginning when Bobby was three and Harold was nine. On November 23, 1963, the day after John F. Kennedys assassination, Harold Hebb was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and sought comfort in songwriting. Though many claim that the song he wrote after both tragedies was the optimistic Sunny. Sunny was recorded in New York City, after demos were made with the record producer Jerry Ross. Released as a single, it reached #3 on the #RnB / #Soul charts, # 2 on the Billboard Hot 100,# 12 in the UK, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Sunny has been recorded by, among others Jamiroquai, Cher, Boney M, Georgie Fame, Johnny Rivers, Oscar Peterson, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Electric Flag, The Four Seasons, Leonard Nimoy, two different versions from Frankie Valli, the Four Tops, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery, Dusty Springfield, plus many others. Bobby Hebb also had lesser hits with his A Satisfied Mind in 1966 (#39 on the Billboard chart and #40 on the US #RnB / Soul chart) and Love Me in 1967 (US # 84), and wrote many other songs, including Lou Rawls 1971 hit A Natural Man (co-written with comedian Sandy Baron). Six years prior to Sunny, Hebb reached the New York Top 50 with a remake of Roy Acuffs Night Train to Memphis. In 1972, his single Love Love Love reached #32 in the UK charts. Bobby Hebb continued to live in his hometown of Nashville until his death in 2010. R.I.P Bobby Hebb. GARY
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 10:45:39 +0000
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