Bobbie Gentry

Bobbie Lee Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is a retired American singer-songwriter who was one of the first female artists to compose and produce her own material.

Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Southern Gothic narrative "Ode to Billie Joe". 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, earning Gentry Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1968.

Gentry charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and four singles on the United Kingdom Top 40. Her album Fancy brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. After her first albums, she had a successful run of variety shows on the Las Vegas Strip. In the late 1970s Gentry lost interest in performing and subsequently retired from the music industry.News reports as to where she is currently living are conflicting.

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) and Robert Harrison Streeter (November 29, 1916 – March 18, 2009). Her parents divorced shortly after her birth, her mother moved to California and she was raised on a farm in Chickasaw County 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 the age of 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 thirteen, 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 was encouraged to keep performing by Bob Hope while performing in a revue at Les Folies Bergeres nightclub of Las Vegas. 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.

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 Reynold's recording session. 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.

1967: Ode to Billie Joe

Gentry recorded a 12-song 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.

Gentry signed with Capitol Records on June 23, 1967, and staff producer Kelly Gordon was given Ode to Billie Joe as his first full-length album production for the label. All of Gentry's "demo" tracks became the album masters. It was "Mississippi Delta" that initially got Gentry signed and was intended to be the A-side of her first single. In retrospect, the track is more obviously commercial than "Ode to Billie Joe" and reflects what was on the charts at the time. Gentry's original demo of "Mississippi Delta" was the version issued, but "Ode to Billie Joe" had a string arrangement by Jimmie Haskell dubbed onto the original recording at Capitol. It was the day after the string session that Capitol's A&R team decided that "Ode to Billie Joe" would be the A-side. The single was released on July 10, 1967. It would spend four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and placed number three on the year-end chart. The single reached number eight on the Billboard Black Singles chart and number 13 on the UK Top 40. It sold more than three million copies worldwide. In 2001, Rolling Stone magazine listed "Ode to Billie Joe" among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Following the single's success, the rest of the album was quickly assembled from the 12 demos Gentry recorded, with overdubs completed in a matter of days. The result was a unique combination of blues, folk and jazz elements, that furthered Gentry's recollections of her home, and felt more like 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 history at that point. The album was in stores within a month of pressing, on August 21. 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.

1968: The Delta Sweete, Local Gentry and Glen Campbell

In February 1968, Gentry took part in the Italian Song Festival in Sanremo competition as one of two performers of the song "La Siepe" by Vito Pallavicini and Massara. her version placed ninth. Capitol released the song concurrently as a single backed by another Italian song recorded by Gentry, "La Città è Grande" by Pallavicini and De Ponti.

Gentry's second album, The Delta Sweete, was released in February 1968. The album represented a definite step forward from her debut in its musical ambition. The concept album drew inspiration from Gentry's Mississippi delta roots. Most of the album's sound comes from Gentry, who played almost every instrument on the album, including piano, guitar, banjo, bass and vibes. Producing credit, however, went to Capitol's in-house producer, Kelly Gordon. The album earned Gentry two more entries on the Billboard Hot 100. "Okolona River Bottom Band" peaked at number 54, while her cover of "Louisiana Man" made it to number 100. Although the album failed to match the success of its predecessor, only reaching number 132 on the Billboard 200, critics have called it one of the unsung masterpieces of the 1960s.

Gentry's performances on- and off-screen impressed the head of the BBC so much that in 1968 she was asked to host a variety show on BBC 2, making her the first female songwriter to host a series on the network. With help from producer Stanley Dorfman, Gentry made six half-hour episodes that aired weekly from July 13 to August 17. Dorfman told author Tara Murtha, "After a few episodes, she was pretty much co-directing the show because she had such great ideas. [But] the BBC wouldn't have it, wouldn't have an artist credited as a director or producer, so the credit went to me as producer and director. But she definitely contributed as much as I did creatively to the show. She was just full of ideas."

Following The Delta Sweete, Capitol released Gentry's third album, Local Gentry, in August 1968. The album failed to appear on any of the Billboard album charts, but did peak at number 83 on the Cashbox Top 100 Albums chart.

Gentry's third album of 1968 came in September, one month after Local Gentry. Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell is an album of duets with label mate Glen Campbell. Their chemistry made the partnership a great success. The album peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Top LP's chart and number one on the Top Country LP's chart. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA and earned Gentry and Campbell the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year. Gentry was also nominated for Top Female Vocalist.

1969: Touch 'Em with Love

Gentry produced a second series of shows for BBC2 in 1969 which aired weekly from June 18 to July 23.

Gentry's fifth album, Touch 'Em with Love, was released in July 1969. It marked a transition in her career, the album featured fewer self-penned regional song and more systematically chosen cover songs in an attempt to re-brand Gentry as a blue-eyed soul singer. Only two of the album's ten tracks were originals. The album was recorded in Nashville and produced by Kelso Herston. The album's title track was released as the first single and it failed to go any higher than number 113 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. The album fared no better, only reaching number 164 on the Billboard 200. Gentry's cover of "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" was released as the second single in the UK where it became a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached number 21 on the UK Albums Chart.

In 1969, Gentry taped four television specials for Canadian television station CFTO for North American syndication.

1970: Fancy

April 1970 saw the release of Fancy, Gentry's sixth album in three years. Like 1969's Touch 'Em with Love, it is made up entirely of covers, except for the self-penned title track. The majority of the album was record at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with producer Rick Hall. "Fancy" was released as the album's first single and was Gentry's biggest hit since "Ode to Billie Joe", peaking within the top 40 in the US, Canada and Australia. Born "poor white trash," the beautiful Fancy is groomed to be a hooker by her impoverished sickly mother. In the end Fancy lands a sugar daddy who gives her an "elegant Georgia mansion" and "a New York townhouse flat"—no shame and no regrets. Of the song Gentry herself said, "Fancy is my strongest statement for women's lib, if you really listen to it. I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that [it stands] for—equality, equal pay, day care centers, and abortion rights," she explained to After Dark magazine in 1974.

The album's first European single, a cover of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", peaked at number 40. The album's second North American single, "He Made a Woman Out of Me", did not reach the same heights as "Fancy", peaking at only number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The album would be nominated for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards.

1971–1974: Patchwork and departure from Capitol

In early 1971, Gentry produced a third and final series of shows for BBC 2. This third series again consisted of six episodes and aired weekly from February 1 to March 15.

Gentry released Patchwork in April 1971. It has been described as a collection of short stories in song ranging from country to pop to blues, all stitched together with cinematic interludes to make a cohesive whole. Patchwork was Gentry's first album to be entirely self-written and produced. The album's first single was a small hit, peaking at number 37 on the Billboard Top 40 Easy Listening chart and number 93 in Canada. On the album's closing track, "Lookin' In", Gentry seems to be singing about herself."I'm packing up and checking out," she sings. "I just can't bring myself to compromise." It seems to be Gentry offering a commentary on her decision to leave her recording career behind for Las Vegas. Gentry would release one more single for Capitol in August 1972, "The Girl from Cincinnati".

Around the time Patchwork was released, the entire executive board that had been at Capitol throughout Gentry's career was fired. A major restructuring at Capitol took place as parent company EMI tried to seize back control and rekindle the label's dwindling profits. This saw the artist roster slashed from 247 to 81 alongside extensive cuts to production and marketing budgets. With none of the executive board left that had known and worked with her, negotiations stalled over the renewal terms of Gentry's contract, and this failure to reach an agreement with Capitol created a stalemate. Since Gentry was unwilling to release an album with Capitol on the terms offered, she found herself unable to release an album on another label, meaning she was left with no choice but to wait out the remaining option period of her contract.

In 1974, she hosted a summer replacement variety show on CBS called The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour. The show, which was her version of Glen Campbell's hit series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, was not renewed for a full season.

1975–1977: Post-Capitol recordings

In 1975, Gentry wrote and performed "Another Place, Another Time" for writer-director Max Baer, Jr.'s film Macon County Line. Following the film's success the song was released on a promotional 7" single. In 1976, Baer directed the feature film Ode to Billy Joe, based on Gentry's hit song and starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. In the movie, the mystery of the title character's suicide is revealed as a part of the conflict between his love for Bobbie Lee Hartley and a drunken homosexual experience. Warner Bros. Records released a soundtrack of the score by Michel Legrand, including a re-recorded version of "Ode to Billie Joe", re-titled "Ode to Billy Joe" to match the film's title, with Gentry stating that the original spelling was an error. Warner Bros. released the new version as a single and Capitol released the original version, which gave Gentry two concurrent chart placings with the same song. The re-recording would go on to be Gentry's last single to chart, meaning that her first and last chart entries are the same song.

Gentry recorded an album with producer Rick Hall for the Curb Records division of Warner Bros. Records in 1977. The first single, "Steal Away", was released in February 1978 and failed to chart. The full-length album was never released. Four additional tracks from these sessions have been released: "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right" was released as the B-side of "Steal Away" in 1978, while "Slow Cookin'", "Sweet Country", and "Thunder in the Afternoon" were released on the European compilation album, Ode to Billie Joe in 1992.

1978–1982: Final performance and appearances

Gentry appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on Christmas Day 1978.

She attended the Best of Vegas Awards on March 21, 1980.

On May 10, 1981, Gentry was one of many celebrity guests to take part in An All-Star Salute to Mother's Day. During the television special she performed "Mama, a Rainbow" from the musical Minnie's Boys for her mother who was seated in the audience. This would prove to be Gentry's final public performance.

Gentry's final public appearance came almost one year later when she attended the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 30, 1982. She was 40 years old.

Since that time, she has not recorded, performed or been interviewed. One 2016 news report stated that Gentry lives in a gated community near Memphis, Tennessee.According to another, Gentry lives in a gated community in Los Angeles.

Gentry married casino magnate Bill Harrah on December 18, 1969, when he was 58 years old and she was 27. The couple divorced April 16, 1970. 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.

Gentry charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and four singles in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.

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.

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.

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."

• Ode to Billie Joe (1967)
• The Delta Sweete (1968)
• Local Gentry (1968)
• Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell (with Glen Campbell) (1968)
• Touch 'Em with Love (1969)
• Fancy (1970)
• Patchwork (1971)