Bobbie Gentry
Singer-songwriter
1
Vocals, guitar
1966–1982
- Titan (1966)
- Capitol (1967–1972)
- Brunswick (1975)
- Warner Bros. (1976–1978)
Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Southern Gothic narrative "Ode to Billie Joe".[4] The track spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was third in the Billboard year-end chart of 1967,[5] earning Gentry Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1968.[6]
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[edit]
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[edit]
1967: Debut[edit]
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 Billboard Hot 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[edit]
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]
Personal life[edit]
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.[20] However, she married Thomas R. Toutant on August 17, 1976, whom she divorced 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.[34][35][36]
Gentry also had partial ownership of the Phoenix Suns NBA team from the team's inception in 1968 until 1987.[37]
Legacy[edit]
Gentry charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100[2] and four singles in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.[7]
Beth Orton recorded a song titled "Bobby Gentry" featured on her The Other Side of Daybreak album. Jill Sobule recorded "Where Is Bobbie Gentry?" for her album California Years. Gentry's 1969 composition "Fancy" provided a top 10 country hit for Reba McEntire in 1991.
In 2011, producer and singer Joe Henry said Gentry's writing influenced him early in his life.[38]
On May 14, 2012, BBC Radio 2 in the UK broadcast a documentary titled Whatever Happened to Bobbie Gentry? presented by country music artist Rosanne Cash.[39]
In September 2018, an eight-disc box set titled The Girl from Chickasaw County: The Complete Capitol Masters featuring all of Gentry's recordings for Capitol was released.
In February 2019, Mercury Rev released Bobbie Gentry's the Delta Sweete Revisited, which was called a "reimagining of Bobbie Gentry's forgotten masterpiece".[40]
In 2020, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.[41]