Bobby Sharp
Robert "Bobby" Sharp (born November 26, 1924 in Topeka , Kansas ; † January 28, 2013 in Alameda , California ) was an American musician (piano, vocals) and songwriter who wrote the song Unchain My Heart , among other things .
Live and act
Sharp grew up in Lawrence, Kansas , before moving to Los Angeles , where he lived with his grandparents during the Great Depression , while his parents Louis and Eva Sharp pursued a career as a concert tenor and athlete in New York . In 1936, at the age of twelve, he lived again with his parents in New York City . Her apartment on Edgecombe Avenue on Harlem's Sugar Hill was a meeting place for prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance ; these included Walter White, the founder of the civil rights organization NAACP , Roy Wilkins , long-time NAACP chairman, and Aaron Douglas , an African-American artist also from Topeka. Duke Ellington lived in the immediate vicinity .
In 1943 Sharp served in the US Army in the 372nd Infantry Regiment , which was stationed in New York and Fort Breckenridge (Kentucky). After his discharge from the army, he studied music at the Greenwich House Music School and then at the Manhattan School of Music harmony , music theory and piano . An important mentor during this phase was the band leader Sy Oliver , a friend of the Sharp family. In the following years Sharp tried to sell his own songs on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley ; his first success was Baby Girl of Mine in 1956 , which he recorded with orchestral accompaniment for the Wing label and which was later covered by Ruth Brown . He recorded the song Last Night in the Moonlight under his own name for the small label Destiny. In 1960 he signed a record deal with Epic Records .
In the 1950s and 1960s, his songs were a. a. Recorded by Sarah Vaughan , Sammy Davis, Jr., and especially Ray Charles . He played the first version of Sharp's best-known song Unchain My Heart in 1961 , followed by cover versions by Trini Lopez and Joe Cocker (1987). Bobby Sharp had sold the song's copyrights for only $ 50 to musician and composer Teddy Powell , who then insisted on his co-authorship. In 1963, Sharp sold his stake to Powell for only $ 1,000. In 1987 Sharp renewed the exploitation rights to the song, shortly before Joe Cocker successfully covered it.
Sharp was also active as a musician with Benny Carter and Jimmie Lunceford ; also as a session musician for songwriters such as Charlie Singleton, Leslie McFarland, Jerry Teifer, Aaron Schroeder, Mel Glazer and Dan and Marvin Fisher. The friendship with the writer James Baldwin led to the song Blues for Mr. Charlie , which addressed racism in the United States . He retired from the music business in the 1980s and lived in Alameda, California, where he worked as a drug advisor for the Westside Community Mental Health Center in San Francisco before retiring for good in 1988. In 2004 he worked with jazz singer Natasha Miller, who recorded an album of his songs, I Had a Feelin ': The Bobby Sharp Songbook . In 2005 he briefly returned to the music business to present his debut album The Fantasy Sessions at the age of 81 , on which he interpreted his songs himself.
The songwriter is not to be confused with the Cincinnati-born jazz drummer Bobby Sharp.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Obituary at All About Jazz
- ↑ Sharp recorded the song (with B-side Flowers, Mr. Florist Please ) for the Wing label (90056); see. Billboard Mar. 17, 1956, p. 39
- ^ Billboard, Jan. 19, 1959, p. 51.
- ^ Billboard March 14, 1960, p. 4
- ↑ Prolific Alameda songwriter, and occasional performer, Bobby Sharp dies (obituary)
- ↑ Bobby Sharp at Allmusic (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sharp, Bobby |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sharp, Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 26, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Topeka |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 2013 |
| Place of death | Alameda (California) |