MISSISSIPPI MUSICIANS: Bobbie Gentry

Bobbie Gentry

Major Works

Ode to Billie Joe
The Delta Sweete Capitol
Local Gentry Capitol
Touch 'Em with Love
Bobbie Gentry's Greatest!
Fancy
Bobbie Gentry's Greatest
Patchwork
Sittin' Pretty Capitol
Tobacco Road
All I Have to Do Is Dream

Let It Be Me
Mississippi Delta
Okolona River Bottom Band #
Penduli Pendulum
Sweet Peony
Tobacco Road
I'll Never Fall in Love Again
Ace Insurance Man
Touch 'Em With Love
Glory Hallelujah, How They'll Sing
Papa's Medicine Show
Sittin' Pretty
Eleanor Rigby
Fancy

Hear Bobbie Gentry sing Ode to Billy Joe clip

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Bobbie Gentry: A Biography

Bobbie Gentry was born Roberta Streeter on July 17, 1944, in Chickasaw County, Mississippi. She was raised by her grandparents and learned to play the piano by listening to the church pianist.. Her family moved to Palm Springs, California, when she was thirteen. She taught herself the banjo, guitar, bass, and vibes while she was still a teenager and began performing in a local country club while still in high school. Later Bobbie also sang in night clubs to help pay for college. She eventually attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. After her graduation, she took the stage name Bobbie Gentry from the movie Ruby Gentry. She performed in local theater and became a dancer in Las Vegas.

Her first single Ode to Billy Joe was recorded in 1967 after she signed with Capitol Records. The song was a huge hit and stayed at the top of the pop charts for a month. The song then became a Top 20 hit on the country charts. It is by far her best- known song. In fact, the song, which tells the story of Billie Joe McAllister and a narrator who walk out on the Tallahatchie Bridge and drop something, is the basis for the screenplay of a motion picture of the same name made in 1976.

The first Country Music Association awards presentation was held in 1967 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, and was hosted by Sonny James and Bobbie Gentry. Her second song I Saw an Angel Die was not successful, but Okolona River Bottom Band made it to the Top 60. In 1968 Gentry recorded a duet with Glen Campbell called Mornin' Glory which made it on the pop charts, while Less of Me (the song on the other side of the single) became a hit on the country charts. Gentry and Campbell had hit singles with their versions of two Everly Brothers' songs: Let It Be Me, which reached 14 on the charts in 1969, and All I Have to Do Is Dream, which peaked at number six in 1970. She and Campbell continued recording together until 1979.

Although she was losing popularity in the United States, Gentry had a number one hit in England in 1970 with her cover of Burt Bacharach's I'll Never Fall in Love Again. She began appearing on numerous TV shows in Great Britain, including an appearance on the Tom Jones Show which led to a variety show of her own in Britain. She was later a popular emcee on Armed Forces Radio. Bobbie Gentry was married for a short time to singer Jim Stafford in the late '70s, but she basically retired from the music industry and became involved in television production. It is difficult to find up-to-date information about her. For awhile she lived in Atlanta with her son, who was going to a private school. She later moved to L.A. where it is reported that she owned some farms and that she was writing for the stage.

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Related Websites

Biography of Bobbie Gentry by Sandra Brennan of All Music Guide. You will have to type in her name.

Lyrics to Gentry's Ode to Billie Joe.

Chords and lyrics to Ode to Billie Joe.

Female country singers site for Bobbie Gentry.

Information about magazine article about Bobbie Gentry

List of all Bobbie Gentry's recordings and songs.

Audio and lyrics to Ode to Billie Joe.

Lyrics to Fancy by Bobbie Gentry.

Country music birthdays lists birth and place of birth of Roberta Streeter (Bobbie Gentry).