Discover Bobby Hebb
Everyone starts somewhere! Long before Bobby Hebb wrote his hit song “Sunny,” the Nashville native was one of the first Black performers to appear on the Grand Ole Opry. Bobby Hebb was influenced by many different types of music and created his own unique, successful sound. Use this page to discover his connection to country music.
“it was very important that one understood more than one culture of music.”
Bobby Hebb’s Nashville Roots
Best known for his hit song “Sunny,” Bobby Hebb was born in Nashville in 1938 and grew up there. Both of Hebb’s parents were blind musicians who exposed him to gospel, classical, jazz, blues, and country music. He learned to tap dance and play the spoons as a rhythm instrument. Along with his brother Harold, he performed in their family band, Hebb’s Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra. At the age of twelve, Hebb got a job on a variety show on WSM-TV. There, he was discovered by Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff, who asked him to join his band, the Smoky Mountain Boys. He was one of the first Black entertainers to play the Opry stage.
In 1960, Hebb recorded his own version of the Acuff hit song “Night Train to Memphis.” The next year, he moved to New York City and began recording on Battle Records as part of the duo Bobby and Sylvia. During this time, Hebb focused on playing R&B, but his country roots continued to influence his sound. Hebb bounced around on different record companies before he found success on the Philips Records label.
After Hebb’s older brother Harold was killed in a fight in Nashville, Hebb wrote a song called “Sunny” to help express his feelings. Not believing it would be successful, Hebb allowed others to record the song first. However, his producer encouraged him to record it himself. “Sunny” was so popular that he was the opening act for the Beatles during their final tour. It was the biggest hit of his career, and it was recorded by more than 300 artists, including Cher, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Billie Eilish.
In the early 2000s, Hebb moved back to Nashville, where he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time in forty-nine years and was featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibit Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970. Hebb passed away in 2010.
Spoons
What is spoon playing?
People from around the world have a long history of repurposing everyday materials into instruments. Before spoons were played musically, people repurposed animal bones! In American history, bones playing was an important part of minstrel music, and later, Appalachian folk music.
Left: These soup spoons were used by Bobby Hebb early in his career. In the 1950s, Hebb played spoons with Roy Acuff’s band, the Smoky Mountain Boys, on the Grand Ole Opry.
Bobby Hebb and Spoons
Bobby Hebb learned to play spoons at a young age. Along with his brother Harold, Hebb tap-danced and played spoons in their family’s band, Hebb’s Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra. For five years in the 1950s, Hebb appeared with Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys, playing spoons and tap dancing on country music’s biggest stage, the Grand Ole Opry.
Left: Bobby Hebb (center), playing spoons with Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys band, c. 1950s.
Photos
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Early Childhood photographHebb’s Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra, as the Hebb family called themselves, including (from left) Ednaearle, Helen, William Melvoid, Ovalla (holding Shirley Ann), William Marion, Harold, and (in front) Bobby Hebb, in 1942.
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Bobby Hebb on the stage of the Grand Ole OpryA Grand Ole Opry radio engineer kneels to capture the sound of young Bobby Hebb tap-dancing with the Smoky Mountain Boys: (l to r) Robert Lunn, Jimmie Riddle, Howdy Forrester, probably Jess Easterday, Lonnie Wilson, early 1950s. Roy Acuff leans in from the right.
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Bobby Hebb and the BeatlesBobby Hebb with the Beatles, c. 1966.
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“Sunny,” songbook c. 1966. -
Bobby Hebb (center), playing spoons with Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys band, c. 1950s.
Watch and Listen
Bobby Hebb performs “I Got Rhythm” on the spoons with Little Milton, Willie Mitchell, and others on local Nashville R&B show The!!!!Beat, Episode #22, 1966.
Bobby Hebb discusses “Sunny,” working with Roy Acuff, performing at the Paradise Club and other places he used to play at in Nashville during the Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970 exhibit opening at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 2004.
Bobby Hebb performs “Sunny” for the Night Tain to Nashville Volume 2 album release party at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 2005.
Bobby Hebb discusses his family, and the Hebb family performs “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” at a panel discussion for the exhibit Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 2004.
From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music, 1998.
