Senate Concurrent Resolution 505

(As Adopted by Senate)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION MOURNING THE LOSS OF MALACO RECORDING ARTIST AND ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND.

WHEREAS, Bobby "Blue" Bland was not from Mississippi, but blues fans across the state had adopted him as their own. He was a distinguished singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs that would become classics, such as "Turn on Your Love Light" and "Further On Up the Road"; and

WHEREAS, Bland passed away June 20, 2013, in his Memphis-area home at the age of 83. He had been slated to perform at the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival. Mississippi was his second home outside of Memphis; and

WHEREAS, after Bland's 80th birthday, the Mississippi Senate honored Bland for his influence on rhythm and blues. According to the resolution, he was an "unofficial ambassador" who brought "honor to his region and state"; and

WHEREAS, Robert Calvin Bland, better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an original member of The Beal Streeters and was known as the the "Sinatra of the Blues." Along with such artist as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Junior Parker, 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 nearby Town of Rosemark, Bobby "Blue" Bland had moved to Memphis by age 17. He worked in 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, however, 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." Yet 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, 11 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 black audiences, Bland placed an amazing 51 singles on the R&B Top Forty. However, he crossed over into the pop-oriented Top Forty singles chart only four times and never got higher than Number 20 with "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" in 1964; and

WHEREAS, in 1985, Bland was signed by Jackson, Mississippi's 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. One of the finest singers in post-war blues, his devoted, primarily older, African-American soul-blues fan base were content with his historic legacy. A DVD of a 1990s Memphis nightclub performance is a popular Malaco title; and

WHEREAS, despite Bland's extensive recording catalogue, his long-term success on the R&B charts, and his near-constant touring (often with longtime friend B.B. King), he rarely crossed over into the pop realm. Dozens of blues and R&B influenced rock vocalists, however, have credited Bland as a main influence. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, he continued to record, mostly for the Jackson, Mississippi, blues label, Malaco. Bland was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1981; and

WHEREAS, it is with sadness that we note the passing of this Rhythm and Blues Icon and Mississippi Recording Artist:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby mourn the loss of Malaco Recording Artist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Bobby "Blue" Bland, and extend to his surviving family our sympathy on his passing.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be transmitted to the surviving family of Bobby "Blue" Bland and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.