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Bobby Hebb wrote one of the most covered popular songs of all time. According to Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Sunny is number 25 in its “Top 100 songs of the Century.” Hebb and his older brother Harold began performing in Nashville at ages three and nine. At age 12, Hebb was playing spoons with Roy Acuff and his Smokey Mountain Boys on the Grand Ole Opry.
Hebb’s older brother Harold was stabbed to death outside a Nashville nightclub the same day that President Kennedy was assassinated. The two events put Hebb in a deep depression. Hebb reportedly wrote Sunny to express that one should “always look on the bright side”, a direct quote from Hebb. “All my intentions were to think of happier times & pay tribute to my brother – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low.”
Sunny was released in 1966 and it was so well accepted that Hebb toured the US with the Beatles.
Hebb must have been an un-politically correct kind of guy. Remember Sylvia, of Mickey and Sylvia? Hebb wrote You Broke My Heart (and I Broke Your Jaw) and recorded it with Sylvia. You can hear in on-line if you are interested.
Review Overview
What’s not to like about music? At age four, I liked to lie in front of my Dad’s huge console record player/radio and listen to the big bands of the 40’s. I have early memories of hiding under the covers with a mono earphone in my ear, sound streaming from my first transistor radio. In high school, I began collecting records from artists I had never heard of just to see if I liked the music. I usually did and still do.
