Sunny – Bobby Hebb
Bobby Hebb has an incredible network of musical roots that cannot be repeated. He sang backup with Bo Diddley and headlined for the Beatles. He teamed up with Roy Acuff, the King of Country Music and Sylvia Robinson, the founder and CEO of Sugar Hill Records.
You won’t find too many artists out there who can associate themselves with the blues, the British Invasion, the Grand Ole Opry and hip hop’s first record label.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Bobby Hebb first hit the stage on his third birthday, when his brother Harold, a tap dancer, introduced him at The Bijou Theater in 1941. Hebb had music in his blood. His father, who was blind, played guitar and trombone. His mother, who was also blind, played guitar and piano. His brother Harold was a seasoned performer at a very young age. By the age of 12, Bobby Hebb was hired by Roy Acuff to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. He was one of the first African American artists to perform there.
In 1954, Bobby Hebb moved to Chicago. He got into the blues and worked with Bo Diddley, the Moonglows and Little Walter at Chess Records. He picked up some West Coast jazz flavor while playing trumpet in the Navy about a year or so later. Bobby then bounced back to Nashville and eventually moved to New York where he started playing at the Blue Morocco Club for the next two years.
It was there that he teamed up with R&B singer and future hip hop pioneer Sylvia Robinson. Bobby ended up replacing Mickey Baker in the duo Mickey and Sylvia (which then became Bobby and Sylvia). Sylvia Robinson would go on to record the number one R&B hit “Pillow Talk” in 1973. She was also the founder and CEO of Sugar Hill Records, the original hip hop label that put out such hits as “Rapper’s Delight” from the Sugar Hill Gang and “The Message” from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Bobby Hebb first released “Sunny” in 1966. It appeared on the album of the same name. It was a track that resonated with everyone. The song blasted up the Top 40, R&B and country charts. When Hebb toured with the Beatles in ’66, crowds were going bananas for the tune.
“Sunny” is a record that you just got to sing along with, because really, everyone else has. The song has been covered hundreds of times since it came out over 40 years ago. We’re talkin’ everyone from James Brown to Cher to Jamiroquai. The disco super-group Boney M. put out a sweltering disco version of Sunny in 1976 that was a smash hit in Germany (and throughout Europe). The song was also covered by Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Hell, Spock even got in on the action (the song appeared on Leonard Nimoy’s The Way I Feel in 1968).
Bobby Hebb wrote “Sunny” in November 1963. A day after JFK was assassinated, Bobby’s Hebb’s brother Harold was killed in a knife fight in Nashville. Although it’s disputed whether or not Bobby Hebb wrote this song for his brother, the tragic events that surrounded the song’s creation had to play a factor. The song does feel like a dedication. It’s an assertion of hope and happiness born in the face of rough times, a look forward to a time when things will be easier. It’s a thank you song, a song that shakes off melancholy and doubt and injects a feeling of optimistic anticipation. It’s a mood changer.
Bobby Hebb waited 35 years to put out another album, but he collaborated with plenty of artists along the way, including Lou Rawls, Sandy Cohen and others. In recent years, he’s performed in Nashville, Japan and across Europe. Hebb is known for his signature track, but his range and musical connections extend much deeper. Still, if you could only be associated with one song, “Sunny” wouldn’t be a bad choice.
Here's a link to download the track: Sunny - Bobby Hebb