Bill Text: MS SC597 | 2010 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commend Bobby "Blue" Bland and declare "Bobby 'Blue' Bland Day."
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2010-02-17 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SC597 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-SC597-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Jordan, Jackson (11th), Walls, Fillingane, Albritton, Michel, Mettetal, Gollott, Simmons, Jones, Butler, Jackson (32nd), Ward, Harden, Browning, Chassaniol, King, Powell, Yancey, Kirby, Burton, Brown, Frazier, Moffatt, Carmichael, Hewes, Hopson, Montgomery, Stone, Gordon, Lee (35th), Flowers, Davis, Horhn, Clarke, Hudson, Turner, Baria, Blount, Watson, Dearing
Senate Concurrent Resolution 597
(As Adopted by Senate and House)
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING AND SALUTING THE CAREER OF MALACO RECORDING ARTIST AND ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND AND DECLARING TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010, AS "BOBBY 'BLUE' BLAND DAY" IN THE LEGISLATURE.
WHEREAS, Malaco recording artist, Robert Calvin Bland, better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is one of rhythm and blues' foremost artists. He is an original member of The Beale Streeters and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues." Along with such artists as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Junior Parker, Bobby Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B; and
WHEREAS, Bobby "Blue" Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997; and
WHEREAS, born on January 27, 1930, in the Town of Rosemark, Tennessee, Bobby "Blue" Bland had moved to Memphis by age seventeen. He worked at a garage during the week and sang spirituals on weekends. At various times, he also served as a chauffeur for B.B. King and Roscoe Gordon and a valet for Junior Parker. In the beginning he styled himself after the likes of Roy Brown. After serving a stint in the Army, Bland spent the latter half of the 1950s maturing into a masterful singer and assured entertainer; and
WHEREAS, Bobby "Blue" Bland's hallmark was his supple, confidential soul-blues delivery. As a singer, Bland projected a grainy, down-to-earth quality, punctuated with guttural growls and snorts that would come to be known as the "chicken-bone sound." His voice was simultaneously smooth as velvet, allowing Bland to bring audiences under his hypnotic spell as he walked a fine line between passionate expression and exquisite self-control; and
WHEREAS, working with bandleader and producer Joe Scott, Bland recorded straight blues such as "Farther On Up the Road" but subsequently evolved into more of an intimate soul-blues stylist. Bland's painstakingly crafted records featured his deliberate, resolute vocals set over a backdrop of dazzling horn fanfares, supple rhythm parts and Wayne Bennett's T-Bone Walker-style guitar. Beginning with "I'll Take Care of You" in early 1960, Bland released a dozen huge R&B hits in a row, eleven of which made the Top Ten. They included "I Pity the Fool," "That's the Way Love Is" and "Turn On Your Love Light," a song that went on to become an R&B standard. As a measure of his considerable appeal to audiences, Bland placed an amazing 51 singles on the R&B Top Forty, and he crossed over into the pop-oriented Top Forty singles chart four times including Number 20 with "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" in 1964; and
WHEREAS, in 1985, Bland was signed by Malaco Records, specialists in traditional Southern black music, who provided an empathetic environment and the singer turned out a series of well-crafted albums in the ensuing years while continuing to tour and occasionally appear at concerts with fellow blues singer, B.B. King. The two collaborated for two albums in the 1970s and a popular Malaco DVD of a 1990s Memphis nightclub performance; and
WHEREAS, dozens of blues and R&B influenced rock vocalists have credited Bobby Bland as a main influence. To this day, Bland remains a fixture on the concert circuit, a hard-working professional who purveys a definitive union of Southern blues and soul; and
WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we recognize this Rhythm and Blues legend who has served with distinction as an unofficial ambassador for the State of Mississippi, bringing honor to his region and state:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby recognize and salute the career of Malaco recording artist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Bobby "Blue" Bland, and declare Tuesday, March 9, 2010, as "Bobby 'Blue' Bland Day" in the Legislature.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Bobby "Blue" Bland and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.
