Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942)[1] is an American retired singer-songwriter. She was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material.[2][3]
Gentry charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and four singles on the United Kingdom Top 40.[7] Her album Fancy brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[6] After her first albums, she had a successful run of variety shows on the Las Vegas Strip.[8] In the late 1970s, Gentry lost interest in performing, and retired from the music industry. News reports conflict on the subject of where she lives.
Early life
Gentry was born Roberta Lee Streeter on July 27, 1942, near Woodland in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, to Ruby Lee (née Shipman; November 28, 1920 – April 2, 1989)[9] and Robert Harrison Streeter. When her parents divorced shortly after her birth, her mother moved to California, leaving Gentry to be raised on a farm by her paternal grandparents. She grew up without electricity or plumbing. Her grandmother traded one of the family's milk cows for a neighbor's piano, and, at age seven, Gentry composed her first song, "My Dog Sergeant Is a Good Dog". Gentry lived in Greenwood, Mississippi, with her father for a few years and learned to play the guitar and banjo.
At age 13, Gentry moved to Palm Springs, California, to live with her then-remarried mother. They performed as a duo, Ruby and Bobbie Meyers, for a short time. Gentry took her stage name from the 1952 film Ruby Gentry, which she had seen on television. In the film, Ruby (played by Jennifer Jones) was a poor but beautiful girl from the backwoods, who ended up marrying the town tycoon.
After graduating from high school, Gentry moved to Los Angeles to enter UCLA as a philosophy major. She supported herself with clerical jobs, occasionally performing at nightclubs and country clubs, and when she appeared in a revue at Les Folies Bergeres nightclub in Las Vegas, Bob Hope encouraged her to keep performing. She worked as a fashion model, and on June 29, 1962, United Press International circulated a wire photo of Gentry that included Cheryl Crane, daughter of Lana Turner.[10] Gentry transferred to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, where she took classes in composition, music theory and arranging. While attending a Jody Reynolds concert at a club in Palm Springs in 1966, Gentry asked if she could sit in on one of Reynolds' recording sessions. This led to an invitation to sing on two duets with Reynolds: "Stranger in the Mirror" and "Requiem for Love". The two songs were released in September 1966 by Titan Records, but failed to chart.
Career
1967: Debut
Gentry recorded a demo at Whitney Recording Studio in Glendale, California, in February and March 1967. Her sole ambition originally was to write songs to sell to other artists, telling The Washington Post that she only sang on the recording of "Ode to Billie Joe" that she took to Capitol because it was cheaper than hiring someone to sing it.[11]
Gentry signed with Capitol Records on June 23, 1967, where staff producer Kelly Gordon would produce Ode to Billie Joe as his first full-length album for the label. But it was "Mississippi Delta", intended as the A-side of her first single, that initially got Gentry signed. Her original demo of "Mississippi Delta" was the version issued, but "Ode to Billie Joe" acquired a string arrangement by Jimmie Haskell, dubbed onto the original recording at Capitol. The day after the string session, Capitol's A&R team decided to make "Ode to Billie Joe" the A-side.[12] The single was released on July 10, 1967. It would spend four weeks at number one on the BillboardHot 100 and, on the year-end chart, place number three. The single reached number eight on the Billboard Black Singles chart and number 13 on the UK Top 40.[7] It sold more than 3,000,000 copies worldwide.[2] In 2001, Rolling Stone magazine listed "Ode to Billie Joe" among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Following the single's success, the producers quickly assembled the rest of the album from the 12 demos Gentry had recorded, completing overdubs in a matter of days. The result was a unique combination of blues, folk, and jazz elements that rounded out Gentry's recollections of her home, coming across more as a concept album than a hastily assembled collection of songs. Capitol pre-ordered 500,000 copies—the largest pressing of a debut album in the label's prior history. The album hit stores within a month of pressing, on August 21.[12]Ode to Billie Joe replaced the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at the top of the Billboard 200 and reached No.5 on the Billboard Black Albums chart. Gentry won three Grammy Awards in 1967, including Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She was also named the Academy of Country Music's Most Promising Female Vocalist.[13]
1968: The Delta Sweete, Local Gentry and Glen Campbell
In February 1968, Gentry took part in the Italian Song Festival in Sanremo competition, as one of two performers of "La Siepe" by Vito Pallavicini and Massara. Capitol released the song concurrently as a single, backed by another Italian tune also recorded by Gentry, "La Città è Grande" by Pallavicini and De Ponti.[14]
Gentry in 1968
Gentry's second album, The Delta Sweete, was released in February 1968. In its musical ambition, the album represented a decisive step beyond her debut. This concept album drew inspiration from Gentry's Mississippi Delta roots. Most of its sound comes from Gentry, who played almost every instrument on its tracks, including piano, guitar, banjo, bass, and vibes. Nonetheless, Capitol's Kelly Gordon, producer of Gentry's first work for the label, also received the entire producing credit for The Delta Sweete. The album earned Gentry two more entries on the Billboard Hot 100. "Okolona River Bottom Band" peaked at number 54, while her cover of "Louisiana Man" made it to number 100. Although the album failed to match the success of its predecessor, only reaching number 132 on the Billboard 200, critics have called it one of the unacclaimed masterpieces of the 1960s.[15]
Following The Delta Sweete, Capitol released Gentry's third album, Local Gentry, in August 1968. It failed to appear on any of the Billboard album charts, but did peak at number 83 on the Cashbox Top 100 Albums chart.[16]
In September, one month after the release of Local Gentry, the artist's third album of 1968 came out. Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell features duets with label mate Glen Campbell. Their chemistry made the partnership a great success. The album peaked at number 11 on the BillboardTop LP's chart and number one on the Top Country LP's chart. It was also certified Gold by the RIAA and earned Gentry and Campbell the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year.[17] Gentry was also nominated for Top Female Vocalist.
Bobbie Gentry (TV series)
In 1968, Gentry was invited to host her own variety show on BBC Two in the UK, making her the first female songwriter to front a series on the channel. The initial six episodes of Bobbie Gentry were broadcast weekly from July 13 to August 17, 1968. It featured musicians from the Mississippi countryside, as well as guests such as Donovan, the Hollies, Glen Campbell, James Taylor, Randy Newman, Elton John, Alan Price, Billy Preston, and Pan's People. Two further, six-episode series were broadcast from June 18 to July 23 1969; and February 1 to March 15, 1971.
The series was produced and directed by Stanley Dorfman, who was engaged to be married to Gentry in 1970,[18] and credited Gentry as his co-director. Dorfman told author Tara Murtha, "After a few episodes, she was pretty much co-directing the show because she had such great ideas. [But] the BBC wouldn't have it, wouldn't have an artist credited as a director or producer, so the credit went to me as producer and director. But she definitely contributed as much as I did creatively to the show. She was just full of ideas."[19]John Cameron, the music arranger for her BBC shows noted, "She was pretty much the alpha female in the group – [producer] Stanley Dorfman's assistant Kate and choreographer Flick Colby were the only other prominent females in the crew. She certainly didn't have a support group like Dusty [Springfield].[20] "The series garnered widespread recognition and was syndicated globally.[21][22]
All but five of the 18 episodes were wiped by the BBC and those surviving were rebroadcast for the first time in November 2023 on BBC Four.[23]
From 1968–1971, while in the UK recording her own series, Gentry also made numerous guest appearances on other BBC shows. These included a one-hour special for the In Concert series, broadcast on October 30, 1970; and Glen Campbell's own BBC Two special, broadcast May 6, 1970.[24]
1969: Touch 'Em with Love
Gentry's fifth album, Touch 'Em with Love, came out in July 1969. It marked a transition in her career: In an attempt to re-brand Gentry as a blue-eyed soul singer, it featured fewer self-penned regional songs and more systematically chosen cover songs. Recorded in Nashville and produced by Kelso Herston, the album's 10 tracks included only two originals. The title track was released as the first single, but it failed to go above number 113 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart and only reached number 164 on the Billboard 200. Gentry's cover of "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" was released as the second single in the UK, where it became a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached number 21 on the UK Albums Chart.[25]
In 1969, Gentry taped four television specials for Canadian television station CFTO-TVToronto for North American syndication.[26]
1970: Fancy
April 1970 saw the release of Fancy, Gentry's sixth album in three years. Like 1969's Touch 'Em with Love, it contains only covers, except for the artist's self-penned title track. Most of the album was recorded at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with producer Rick Hall. "Fancy", released as the album's first single, became Gentry's biggest hit since "Ode to Billie Joe", peaking within the top 40 in the US, Canada, and Australia. Of the song Gentry herself said, "Fancy is my strongest statement for women's lib, if you really listen to it. I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that [it stands] for—equality, equal pay, day care centers, and abortion rights," she explained to After Dark magazine in 1974.[27]
The album's first European single, a cover of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", peaked at number 40. The album's second North American single, "He Made a Woman Out of Me", did not reach the same heights as "Fancy", reaching only number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Gentry released Patchwork in April 1971. It has been described as a collection of short stories in song, ranging from country and pop to blues, stitched together with cinematic interludes to form a cohesive whole. Patchwork was Gentry's first entirely self-written and -produced album. Its first single: "But I Can't Get Back", was a small hit, peaking at number 37 on the BillboardTop 40 Easy Listening chart and number 93 in Canada.[28] Gentry would release one more single for Capitol in August 1972, "The Girl from Cincinnati".
Around the time Patchwork was released, the entire executive board that had been at Capitol throughout Gentry's career was fired. A major restructuring at Capitol took place as parent company EMI tried to seize back control and rekindle the label's dwindling profits. This saw the artist roster slashed from 247 to 81 alongside extensive cuts to production and marketing budgets. With none of the executive board left that had known and worked with her, negotiations stalled over the renewal terms of Gentry's contract, and this failure to reach an agreement with Capitol created a stalemate. Since Gentry was unwilling to release an album with Capitol on the terms offered, she found herself unable to release an album on another label, meaning she was left with no choice but to wait out the remaining option period of her contract.
In 1974, she hosted a summer replacement variety show on CBS called The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour. The show, which was her version of Glen Campbell's hit series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, was not renewed for a full season.
1975–1977: Post-Capitol recordings
In 1975, Gentry wrote and performed "Another Place, Another Time" for writer-director Max Baer, Jr.'s film Macon County Line. Following the film's success the song was released on a promotional 7-inch single. In 1976, Baer directed the feature film Ode to Billy Joe, based on Gentry's hit song and starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. In the movie, the mystery of the title character's suicide is revealed as a part of the conflict between his love for Bobbie Lee Hartley and a drunken homosexual experience.[29]Warner Bros. Records released a soundtrack of the score by Michel Legrand, including a re-recorded version of "Ode to Billie Joe", re-titled "Ode to Billy Joe" to match the film's title, with Gentry stating that the original spelling was an error. Warner Bros. released the new version as a single and Capitol re-released the original version, which gave Gentry two concurrent chart placings with the same song. The re-recording would go on to be Gentry's last single to chart, meaning that her first and last chart entries are the same song.[30]
In 1977 Gentry reunited with producer Rick Hall in Muscle Shoals to record an album for the Curb Records division of Warner Bros. Records (unlike Gentry's 1969 Fancy album, Gentry's 1977 recording sessions with Hall were not at his FAME Studios but at the nearby Music Mill Studio). After an advance single: "Steal Away", had an unsuccessful February 1978 release, the album was shelved. "Steal Away" - a remake of the 1964 Jimmy Hughes hit which had inaugurated FAME Studios’ hit streak - had as its B-side: the Patti Dahlstrom composition "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right": these tracks plus three additional tracks from Gentry's 1977 recording sessions: "Slow Cookin'" (written by Abby Marable), "Sweet Country" (written by Gentry), and "Thunder in the Afternoon" (written by Mac Davis, Rita Grimm and Yvonne Norman), would be released on the 1992 European compilation album Ode to Billie Joe.
On May 10, 1981, Gentry was one of many celebrity guests to take part in An All-Star Salute to Mother's Day. During the television special she performed "Mama, a Rainbow" from the musical Minnie's Boys for her mother who was seated in the audience. This would prove to be Gentry's final public performance.
The last time Gentry appeared in public was when she attended the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 30, 1982. Since that time, she has not recorded, performed or been interviewed. One 2016 news report stated that Gentry lived in a gated community near Memphis, Tennessee.[31] According to another report the same year, Gentry lived in a gated community in Los Angeles.[32]
Gentry married casino magnate Bill Harrah on December 18, 1969. The couple divorced April 16, 1970.
On May 16, 1970, it was announced that Gentry was engaged to be married to Stanley Dorfman, the producer and director of her BBC television series Bobbie Gentry.[18] She married Thomas R. Toutant on August 17, 1976, and she divorced him on August 1, 1978.
On October 15, 1978, Gentry married singer and comedian Jim Stafford with whom she had a son, Tyler Gentry Stafford. Gentry and Stafford divorced in September 1980.[36][37][38]
Gentry also had partial ownership of the Phoenix SunsNBA team from the team's inception in 1968 until 1987.[39]
In February 2019, Mercury Rev released Bobbie Gentry's the Delta Sweete Revisited, which was called a "reimagining of Bobbie Gentry's forgotten masterpiece".[41]
The 10th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 29, 1968, at Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville and New York. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1967.
"Ode to Billie Joe" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry released by Capitol Records in July 1967, and later used as the title-track of her debut album. Five weeks after its release, the song topped Billboard's Pop singles chart. It also appeared in the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary and Hot R&B singles charts, and in the top 20 of the Hot Country Songs list.
Ode to Billy Joe is a 1976 American drama film, directed and produced by Max Baer Jr., with a screenplay by Herman Raucher, and starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. It is inspired by the 1967 hit song by Bobbie Gentry, titled "Ode to Billie Joe."
"Fancy" is a song written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry in 1969. The country song was a crossover pop music hit for Gentry, reaching the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the top 30 of the Billboard country chart. It was covered in 1990 by country music artist Reba McEntire on her album Rumor Has It. McEntire's version surpassed the original on the country music charts, reaching the Top Ten on Billboard's Hot Country Hits in 1991.
Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell is a studio album by American singer-songwriters Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell. It was released on September 16, 1968, by Capitol Records.
The Delta Sweete is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on February 5, 1968, by Capitol Records. The album was produced by Kelly Gordon.
"Big Boss Man" is a blues song first recorded by Jimmy Reed in 1960. It became one of his most popular songs, although the songwriting is credited to Luther Dixon and Al Smith. Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records released it as a single, which became one of Reed's last appearances on the record charts. The song has been recorded by artists in diverse styles, including Elvis Presley, B.B. King, and Hope Sandoval, who also had chart successes with the song.
Ode to Billie Joe is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on August 21, 1967, by Capitol Records.
Local Gentry is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on August 26, 1968, by Capitol Records. The album was produced by Kelly Gordon.
Touch 'Em with Love is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on July 7, 1969, by Capitol Records. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Kelso Herston.
Fancy is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on April 6, 1970, by Capitol Records. The album was produced by Rick Hall and recorded at his FAME Recording Studios, apart from Wedding Bell Blues and Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head which were produced by Gentry herself, and recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California. The cover art for the album is an uncredited painting of Gentry, based upon a reference photograph. According to the liner notes for the 2004 compilation Chickasaw County Child: The Artistry of Bobbie Gentry, the painting is believed to have been done by Gentry herself.
"Little Green Apples" is a song written by Bobby Russell that became a hit for three different artists, with their three separate releases, in 1968. Originally written for and released by American recording artist Roger Miller, "Little Green Apples" was also released as a single by American recording artists Patti Page and O. C. Smith that same year. Smith's version became a #2 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles charts, while Miller's version became a Top 40 hit on the Hot 100 as well as the UK Singles Chart. Page's version became her last Hot 100 entry. The song earned Russell a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and for Best Country Song. In 2013, "Little Green Apples" was covered by English recording artist Robbie Williams featuring American recording artist Kelly Clarkson, which became a top 40 hit in Mexico.
"Sunday Mornin'" is a song written by Margo Guryan. It was recorded as "Sunday Morning" and appeared on her 1968 album Take a Picture as well as on the B-side to her single "Spanky and Our Gang."
Kelly Gordon was an American singer, songwriter and record producer.
The discography of American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry consists of seven studio albums, one live album, one soundtrack album and thirty compilation albums. Gentry also released a total of thirty-one singles and fifteen extended plays.
The Girl from Chickasaw County: The Complete Capitol Masters is an out-of-print 8-disc box set compilation album by singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on September 21, 2018, by Capitol and UMe. It features Gentry’s entire recording career with Capitol Records, bringing together 7 studio albums, 75 previously unreleased tracks, including demos, alternate takes and live recordings from Gentry's BBC television series.
Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited is an album by American rock band Mercury Rev. The album, which is a re-imagining of Bobbie Gentry's 1968 album The Delta Sweete, was released on February 8, 2019 through Partisan Records. Song-by-song cover version of the album with "Louisiana Man" replaced by "Ode to Billie Joe".
"I Saw an Angel Die" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on September 11, 1967, as the second single from her debut album Ode to Billie Joe. The song was produced by Kelly Gordon and features a string arrangement by Jimmie Haskell.
"Mississippi Delta" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. The song was produced by Kelly Gordon and Bobby Parris. It was originally released as the B-side of Gentry's debut single "Ode to Billie Joe" on July 10, 1967. It was released as Gentry's debut single in Japan on October 5, 1967, with "Ode to Billie Joe" as the B-side. "Ode to Billie Joe" would be issued as single in Japan in May 1968 with "Niki Hoeky" as the B-side.
The Voice of Billie Jo Spears is a studio album by American country artist Billie Jo Spears. It was released in November 1968 via Capitol Records and contained 11 tracks. The disc mixed both new recordings with original material and featured her first charting single: "He's Got More Love on His Little Finger". It was the debut studio album of Spears's career and received positive reviews from critics.
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