Bobby Bland

Life and career Early life Bland was born Robert Calvin Brooks in the small town of Barretville, Tennessee. His father, I. J. Brooks, abandoned the family not long after Robert's birth. Robert later acquired the name "Bland" from his stepfather, Leroy Bridgeforth, who was also called Leroy Bland.

With his mother, Bland moved to Memphis in 1947, where he started singing with local gospel groups, including the Miniatures. Eager to expand his interests, he began frequenting the city's famous Beale Street, where he became associated with a circle of aspiring musicians, including B.B. King, Rosco Gordon, Junior Parker and Johnny Ace, who collectively were known as the Beale Streeters.

Early career In 1951, talent scout Ike Turner recorded Bland for Modern Records at Tuff Green's house in Memphis. Because Bland was illiterate, they first recorded the one song he knew, "They Call It Stormy Monday." Between 1951 and 1952, Bland recorded commercially unsuccessful singles for Modern and Sun Records (which licensed its recordings to Chess Records). Bland's recordings from the early 1950s show him striving for individuality, but his progress was halted for two years while he served in the U.S. Army, during which time he performed in a band with the singer Eddie Fisher.

When Bland returned to Memphis in 1954, several of his former associates, including Johnny Ace, were enjoying considerable success. He joined Ace's revue and returned to Duke Records, which was then being run by the Houston entrepreneur Don Robey. According to his biographer Charles Farley, "Robey handed Bobby a new contract, which Bobby could not read, and helped Bobby sign his name on it". The contract gave Bland just half a cent per record sold, instead of the industry standard of 2 cents. He began recording for Duke with the bandleader Bill Harvey and the arranger Joe Scott, asserting his characteristic vocal style and, with Harvey and Scott, beginning to craft the melodic big-band blues singles for which he became famous, often accompanied by the guitarist Wayne Bennett. He suffered from depression and became increasingly dependent on alcohol,

The first single released from His California Album, "This Time I'm Gone for Good" took Bland back into the pop Top 50 for the first time since 1964 and made the R&B top 10 in late 1973. The opening track from Dreamer, "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City", was a strong R&B hit. A version of it was released in 1978 by the hard-rock band Whitesnake, featuring the singer David Coverdale. Much later, Kanye West sampled it on Jay-Z's hip-hop album The Blueprint (2001). The song is also featured on the soundtrack of the crime drama The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), starring Matthew McConaughey. The follow-up, "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog", was his biggest R&B hit for some years, climbing to number 3 in late 1974, but it reached only number 88 on the pop charts. Subsequent attempts at adding a disco flavor were mostly unsuccessful.

In 1985, Bland signed a contract with Malaco Records, He also included a previously unreleased version of a March 2000 duet of Morrison and Bland singing "Tupelo Honey" on his 2007 compilation album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3.

In 2008 the British singer and lead vocalist of Simply Red, Mick Hucknall, released the album Tribute to Bobby, containing songs associated with Bland. The album reached 18 in the UK Albums Chart.

Death Bland died on June 23, 2013, at his home in Germantown, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis, after what family members described as "an ongoing illness." He was 83. He is interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. He is survived by his wife, Willie Martin Bland, and his son Rodd, who is also a musician.

He received the following honors:

Blues Hall of Fame – inducted 1981 Rhythm and Blues Pioneer Award – 1992 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – inducted 1992 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award – 1997 Grammy Hall of Fame – "Turn On Your Love Light" (1999) Memphis Music Hall of Fame – inducted 2012

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Live albums Year Album Peak chart positions Label US US R&B 1951 "Crying All Night Long" "Dry Up Baby" Modern – –1952 "Good Lovin'" "Drifting from Town to Town" – – "Crying" "A Letter from a Trench In Korea" Chess – – "Lovin' Blues" "I.O.U. Blues" Duke – – 1953 "Army Blues" "No Blow, No Show" – – 1955 "Time Out" "It's My Life Baby" – – "You or None" "Woke Up Screaming" – – 1956 "I Can't Put You Down" "You've Got Bad Intentions" – – "I Learned My Lesson" "I Don't Believe" – – 1957 "Don't Want No Woman" "I Smell Trouble" – – "Farther Up the Road" "Sometime Tomorrow" 43 1 "Teach Me (How to Love You)" "Bobby's Blues" – – 1958 "You Got Me Where You Want Me" "Loan a Helping Hand" – – "Little Boy Blue" "Last Night" – 10 1959 "You Did Me Wrong" "I Lost Sight of the World" – – "I'm Not Ashamed" "Wishing Well" – 13 "Is It Real" "Someday" – 28 "I'll Take Care of You" "That's Why" 89 2 1960 "Lead Me On" "Hold Me Tenderly" – 9 "Cry Cry Cry" "I've Been Wrong So Long" 71 9 1961 "I Pity the Fool" "Close to You" 46 1 "Don't Cry No More" "Saint James Infirmary" 71 2 "Turn On Your Love Light" "You're the One (That I Need)" 28 2 1962 "Ain't That Loving You" "Jelly, Jelly, Jelly" 86 9 "Who Will the Next Fool Be" "Blue Moon" 76 12 "Yield Not to Temptation" "How Does a Cheating Woman Feel" 56 10 "Stormy Monday Blues" "Your Friends" 43 5 1963 "That's the Way Love Is" "Call on Me" 33 / 22 1 / 6 "Sometimes You Gotta Cry a Little" "You're Worth It All" 56 28 "The Feeling Is Gone" "I Can't Stop Singing" 91 / 106 N/A 1964 "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" "Honey Child" 20 "Share Your Love with Me" "After It's Too Late" 42 / 111 "Ain't Doing Too Bad (Part 1)" "Ain't Doing Too Bad (Part 2)" 49 1965 "Blind Man" "Black Night" 78 / 99 "Ain't No Telling" "Dust Got in Daddy's Eyes" 93 / 125 25 / 23 "These Hands (Small but Mighty)" "Today" 63 4 1966 "I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)" "If You Could Read My Mind" 62 8 "Good Time Charlie" "Good Time Charlie (Working His Groove Bag)" 75 6 "Poverty" "Building a Fire with Rain" 65 9 "Back in the Same Old Bag Again" "I Ain't Myself Anymore" 102 13 1967 "You're All I Need" "Deep in My Soul" 88 16 "That Did It" "Getting Used to the Blues" – 6 "A Touch of the Blues" "Shoes" – 30 1968 "Driftin' Blues" "You Could Read My Mind" 96 23 "Honey Child" "A Piece of Gold" – – "Save Your Love for Me" "Share Your Love With Me" – 16 "Rockin' in the Same Old Boat" "Wouldn't You Rather Have Me" 58 12 1969 "Gotta Get to Know You" "Baby, I'm on My Way" 91 14 "Chains of Love" "Ask Me 'Bout Nothing (But the Blues)" 60 9 1970 "If You've Got a Heart" "Sad Feeling" 96 10 "If Love Ruled the World" "Lover with a Reputation" – 16 / 28 "Keep On Loving Me (You'll See the Change)" "I've Just Got to Forget About You" 89 20 1971 "I'm Sorry" "Yum Yum Tree" 97 18 "Shape Up or Ship Out" "The Love That We Share (Is True)" – – 1972 "Do What You Set Out to Do" "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" 64 6 "I'm So Tired" "If You Could Read My Mind" – 36 1973 "This Time I'm Gone for Good" "Where Baby Went" Dunhill 42 5 1974 "Goin' Down Slow" "Up and Down World" 69 17 "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" "Twenty-Four Hour Blues" 91 9 "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog (The Way You Treated Me)" "I Ain't Gonna Be (The First to Cry)" 88 3 1975 "Yolanda" "When You Come to the End of Your Road" ABC 104 21 "I Take It On Home" "You've Never Been This Far Before" – 41 1976 "Today I Started Loving You Again" "Too Far Gone" 103 34 "It Ain't the Real Thing" "Who's Foolin' Who" – 12 "Let The Good Times Roll"Bobby Bland & B. B. King "Strange Things Happening" ABC Impulse 101 20 1977 "The Soul of a Man" "If I Weren't a Gambler" ABC – 18 1978 "Sittin' on a Poor Man's Throne" "I Intend to Take Your Place" – 82 "Love to See You Smile" "I'm Just Your Man" – 14 "Come Fly with Me" "Ain't God Something" – 55 1979 "Tit For Tat" "Come Fly with Me" MCA – 71 1980 "Soon As the Weather Breaks" "To Be Friends" – 76 1981 "You'd Be a Millionaire" "Swat Vibrator" – 92 1982 "What a Difference a Day Makes" "Givin' Up the Streets for Love" – – "Recess In Heaven" "Exactly, Where It's At" – 40 "Here We Go Again" "You're About to Win" – – 1983 "Is This the Blues" "You're About to Win" – – "If It Ain't One Thing" "Tell Mr. Bland" – – 1984 "Looking Back" "You Got Me Loving You" – – "Get Real Clean" "It's Too Bad" – – "You Are My Christmas" "New Merry Christmas Baby" – – 1985 "Members Only" "I Just Got to Know" Malaco – 54 1986 "Can We Make Love Tonight" "In the Ghetto" – – 1988 "Get Your Money Where You Spend Your Time" "For the Last Time" – – "24 Hours a Day" "I've Got a Problem" – – 1989 "You've Got to Hurt Before You Heal" "I'm Not Ashamed to Sing the Blues" – – "Ain't No Sunshine" "If I Don't Get Involved" – – 1990 "Starting All Over Again" "Midnight Run" – – "Take Off Your Shoes" "If I Don't Get Involved" – – 1992 "She's Putting Something in My Food" "Let Love Have Its Way" – – 1993 "There's a Stranger in My House" "Hurtin' Time Again" – – 1994 "I Just Tripped on a Piece of Your Broken Heart" "Hole in the Wall" – – 1995 "Double Trouble" "Double Trouble (long version)" – – "–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.