Sunny

The 50th anniversary reissue of Bobby Hebb's Sunny, originally released in 1966. No soul singer of the 1960s boasted the singular array of contrasting influences that Bobby Hebb brought to the table. Hebb came up primarily country in his hometown of Nashville, proceeded to immerse himself in the hip New York jazz and R&B scenes, and had his biggest hit in 1966 with the self-penned Sunny, a pop classic, a world hit and one of the most recorded songs of the century. Before 1961 was over, Hebb set out for New York and landed a booking at a nightspot called the Blue Morocco that lasted for more than a year. Hebb was soon ready to try out a solo singer-songwriter act on the big apple circuit. Bobby Hebb's brother Harald was murdered on the day after President Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, but contrary to legend, those tragedies weren't the primary catalysts for Hebb to write Sunny. They may have figured into it somehow, along with the civil rights struggle then in full swing. In one interview, he mentioned being lyrically inspired by a purple New York sunrise after a long night out on the town. Producer Jerry Ross conducted his Mercury sessions at New York's Bell Sound with a coterie of top session men that included guitarists Vinnie Bell and Eric Gale. Ross recruited Joe Renzetti, a former Philly session guitarist, as his arranger for Hebb's first Philips session. Surprisingly, Sunny was the last song waxed on February 21, 1966 at Bell Sound. First up was Bread, a surging soul number about filthy lucre written by Hebb. Then came the Jimmy Roach-penned rocker I Am Your Man (featuring one of Bobby's fieriest vocal performances) and a relentless Love Love Love, the work of Ross and Renzetti. Finally, they got around to laying Sunny on tape. Bobby's inspiring lyrics and riveting vocal were exquisitely supported by Renzetti's modulating arrangement, steadily building excitement from start to finish. Sunny broke out during the spring of '66, catapulting to #2 pop and #3 R&B in Billboard as it went gold. Suddenly Bobby was in high demand, appearing as one of the preliminary acts on The Beatles's last American tour. CD version comes as a digipak and with a booklet.