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Bobby Bland

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Also known as Robert Calvin Bland, The Lion of the Blues

American soul & blues musician (1930–2013)

OverviewAI-generated

Bobby "Blue" Bland was a male artist from the United States whose work began in 1951. He is associated with the genres of blues, soul, rhythm and blues, jazz, and R&B. His musical output includes the work *Unchain My Heart* (Roots of Rhythm).

He is recognized in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame collection. Bland has been referenced by 587 other encyclopedia articles. He died on June 23, 2013.

Synthesized by Vinony from 20 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works
1

Top works

  • Unchain My Heart (Roots of Rhythm) (Roots of Rhythm)

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
United States
Active from
1930-01-27
Active to
2013-06-23
2008 universal fire victimbluessoul

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
369,468
Total plays
2,496,227

Tags

bluessoulrhythm and bluesjazzrnb

Bobby "Blue" Bland (Robert Calvin Brooks, January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013) was an American rhythm & blues singer. Bland's craft was most clearly heard on a series of early 1960s releases, including "Cry Cry Cry", "I Pity the Fool" (number 1 on the R&B chart in 1961) and "Turn On Your Love Light", all included on the 1961 album "Two Steps From The Blues". Bobby Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981 <a href="http

via Last.fm · Bobby "Blue" Bland

Key facts

Also known as
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Lion of the Blues , Sinatra of the Blues
Born
Robert Calvin Brooks , ( 1930-01-27 ) January 27, 1930, Barretville, Tennessee , U.S.
Died
June 23, 2013 (2013-06-23) (aged 83), Germantown, Tennessee , U.S.
Genres
Blues soul blues R&B soul
Occupations
Singer-songwriter arranger bandleader
Instrument
Vocals
Labels
Duke ABC MCA Malaco

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Bobby
Gender
male
Citizenship
United States
Place of birth
Rosemark
Place of death
Germantown
Occupation
singer
Languages spoken
English language
Genre
soul
Instrument
voice
Military branch
United States Army
Official website
www.bobbybluebland.com
Image
BobbyBland1996.jpg
Show 6 more facts
date of death
2013-06-23
date of birth
1930-10-27
Commons category
Bobby Bland
ethnic group
African Americans
start of work period
1951-00-00
name in native language
Bobby Bland
Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~11 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed." The inspiration behind his unique style was a Detroit Preacher, CL Franklin, because Bland studied his sermons. He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues". His music was influenced by Nat King Cole.

Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2012. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described him as "second in stature only to B.B. King as a product of Memphis's Beale Street blues scene". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Bland at number 163 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bobby Bland” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.