Share memories of growing up with the great music of the 50s, 60s and 70s. My background includes radio and television personality as well as V.P. A&R for A&M Records, where I signed Bryan Adams. In 1997, I began Treasure Island Oldies, the Home of Lost Treasures. I play the biggies, but extensively feature hard to find rare oldies. Listen live Sundays 6 to 10 p.m. Pacific and also the show archives at www.TreasureIslandOldies.com
Let the memories flow!
Bobby Hebb, who propelled "Sunny" to #2 Pop, #3 R&B and a gold record in 1966, died of lung cancer Tuesday (August 3) in a Nashville hospital. He was 72. Born in Nashville in 1938 to musician parents who were both blind, Bobby joined with two of his seven brothers in a vaudeville act that got them on a local TV show. This was the beginning of a remarkable career that included playing trumpet in the U.S. Navy Jazz Band (performing for Madame Chiang Kai-shek in Hong Kong), singing backup for Bo Diddley at Chess Records in Chicago, a spot on country singer Roy Acuff's show (only the third African-American to perform on the Grand Ol' Opry) and singing with Sylvia Vanderpool in a later incarnation of Micky & Sylvia. The death of Bobby's brother Harold (who had a #12 R&B hit of his own with "Rollin' Stone" as part of the Marigolds in 1955) in an attempted robbery just a day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led Bobby to write the poignantly optimistic "Sunny." It was two years before Bobby's demo of the song would earn him a recording contract and a tour with the Beatles. Bobby followed up the song with "A Satisfied Mind" (#39 Pop, #40 R&B) and "Love Me" (#84 Pop). He also wrote the Lou Rawls hit, "A Natural Man"-originally intended for a Broadway musical. He later reprised his first hit as "Sunny '76," which only reached #94 on the R&B charts that year.
