OT: Happy 78th Birthday to the GREAT Bobbie Gentry - wherever she is...
- Thread starter MtNittany
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Lovely lady.
From the comments on youtube (I've read similar before):Lovely lady.
Glen Campbell quote "Bobbie was my buddy" Tom Jones quote about Bobbie Gentry "She was great looking, fantastic, outspoken ." But she was more like one of the guys" "A star in her own right". Indeed: she had talent beauty and brains. She purchased a 10% stake in the N.B.A ,1968 expansion Phoenix Suns basketball team for less than 100k. She sold out in 1986 for millions. For the film adaptation of Ode to Billie Joe, she demanded and received 10% of the net box office and 15% of all future income from the film. Box office alone was over 30 million for a film that cost just 1.1 million to make. In 1976, she personally negotiated a contract with The Howard Hughes Organization to headline his string of casino's for 2.5 million dollars for 16 weeks of work. She was truly business savvy. Loretta Lynn took no points on the film adaptation of Coal Miners Daughter. She and her husband opted for a one time payment of 250k upfront. If she would have had Gentry's Warner Brother 's contract, she would have earned over 30 million dollars. Instead she made less than 1 million (on a film that generated over 250 million dollars in revenue) with the 250k fee and royalties from the song writing and soundtrack.
I googled her a couple of years ago and read everything. There is an article where someone tracks her down and she actually answers the phone. There is an akward moment where it’s obvious she’s been found with the encounter then terminated. I’d love to hear her story.
Bringing Up Bobbie
Stumbled upon this incredible photograph today of 69-year-young Bobbie Gentry from 2014 – seemingly her only public photo taken since 1985. The pic arrives from this dull article at Boyd Gaming, a naff Casino company, promoting the latest signee to its “Corporate E-Commerce team” Robert Streeter (pictured right), Gentry’s band guitarist and production manager in the 70s. She receives a fleeting mention in the article with the photo tacked on insignificantly at the bottom – perhaps the boys at Boyd weren’t aware that even a mere glimpse of her these days for music fans is akin to witnessing Elvis rise from the grave.
Unlike her contemporaries Gale Garnett and Margo Guryan (whose ‘Sunday Morning’ track Gentry covered with Glen Campbell), who similarly canned their music careers but continue to give interviews and connect with their fanbases, Gentry has been unrelenting in her reclusiveness since the 80s, refusing interviews, appearances and even denying her own existance. Did Boyd upload the photo without realising the significance? Did Streeter provide it to them by some mistake? Who knows, but it’s heartening to see her alive and well.
Gentry is most known for her ’67 bluesy folk hit ‘Ode to Billie Joe’, but I prefer her 1971 swansong LP ‘Patchwork’ – a blissful hodgepodge of brassy Bacharach, clip-clop country and soaring soft rock ballads.
Stumbled upon this incredible photograph today of 69-year-young Bobbie Gentry from 2014 – seemingly her only public photo taken since 1985. The pic arrives from this dull article at Boyd Gaming, a naff Casino company, promoting the latest signee to its “Corporate E-Commerce team” Robert Streeter (pictured right), Gentry’s band guitarist and production manager in the 70s. She receives a fleeting mention in the article with the photo tacked on insignificantly at the bottom – perhaps the boys at Boyd weren’t aware that even a mere glimpse of her these days for music fans is akin to witnessing Elvis rise from the grave.
Unlike her contemporaries Gale Garnett and Margo Guryan (whose ‘Sunday Morning’ track Gentry covered with Glen Campbell), who similarly canned their music careers but continue to give interviews and connect with their fanbases, Gentry has been unrelenting in her reclusiveness since the 80s, refusing interviews, appearances and even denying her own existance. Did Boyd upload the photo without realising the significance? Did Streeter provide it to them by some mistake? Who knows, but it’s heartening to see her alive and well.
Gentry is most known for her ’67 bluesy folk hit ‘Ode to Billie Joe’, but I prefer her 1971 swansong LP ‘Patchwork’ – a blissful hodgepodge of brassy Bacharach, clip-clop country and soaring soft rock ballads.
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https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/bobbie-gentry-now-facts-where-age-songs/
Here is an article that mentions the investigation but not the details. It would be nice for her to surface and receive the accolades she so richly deserves. Ode to Billy Joe was one of those haunting songs that never left you. Simple, but the hook, lyrics, and story kept you fascinated in it.
Here is an article that mentions the investigation but not the details. It would be nice for her to surface and receive the accolades she so richly deserves. Ode to Billy Joe was one of those haunting songs that never left you. Simple, but the hook, lyrics, and story kept you fascinated in it.
Tyler Coe (David Allen Coe’s) kid has an exhaustive podcast about this lady if anyone is interested. Coe’s podcasts about classic country artists are really good.
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