Bobby Bland secured his lasting position as a blues luminary through persistent effort alone, lacking any ability to rely on guitar, harmonica, or supplementary instruments. His sole resource remained an extraordinary vocal talent, an exceptionally forceful asset throughout his formative prime, suffused with plentiful charisma and melismatic embellishments. His extensive following of female admirers, for instance, continued to view him as a sex symbol well into his later years.
Despite evident potential, Bland’s path in music developed gradually. He helped establish the Beale Streeters, the renowned Memphis collective whose members also encompassed B.B. King and Johnny Ace. Releases on Chess in 1951, overseen by Sam Phillips, and on Modern the following year failed commercially, yet this did not deter local disc jockey David Mattis from recording Bland for two 1952 singles on his emerging Duke imprint.
Bland’s anguished, tearful approach still lacked polish prior to his enlistment in the Army near the end of 1952. Upon returning in 1955, however, his advancement proved striking; supported by the fiery playing of saxophonist Bill Harvey’s ensemble, which included guitarist Roy Gaines and trumpeter Joe Scott, Bland delivered a confident performance on the bold “It’s My Life Baby” that suggested a transformed artist. Duke had by then come under the direction of the tough-minded Houston businessman Don Robey, who supplied superior ensembles for his roster. Scott soon assumed the role of Bland’s guide, methodically instructing him in the nuances of phrasing for more refined material; by 1962 Bland could convincingly interpret “Blue Moon,” far removed from his Beale Street origins.
The majority of Bland’s intense Texas blues recordings from the middle to late 1950s spotlighted the incisive guitar work of Clarence Hollimon, heard to particular effect on “I Smell Trouble,” “I Don’t Believe,” “Don’t Want No Woman,” “You Got Me (Where You Want Me),” and the fiery “Loan a Helping Hand” and “Teach Me (How to Love You).” The driving guitar figures that propelled Bland’s initial national success, the propulsive 1957 single “Farther Up the Road,” were instead supplied by Pat Hare, another formidable player who ultimately perished in prison following the murder of his girlfriend and a police officer. Wayne Bennett later assumed guitar duties, his refined phrasing featured prominently across much of Bland’s Duke output throughout the 1960s.
The gospel foundations underlying Bland’s commanding style emerged most vividly on the 1958 recording “Little Boy Blue,” a vocal showcase that extracts maximum feeling from the deliberate ballad. As the decade concluded, Scott directed his protégé toward more polished selections; the foundational blends of blues, R&B, and early soul found in “I Pity the Fool,” the Brook Benton composition “I’ll Take Care of You,” and “Two Steps From the Blues” exerted considerable influence on numerous aspiring Southern soul artists. Gathered on the 1961 album Two Steps from the Blues, these tracks yielded one of the enduring masterpieces of contemporary blues.
Scott’s dynamic horn charts heightened the intensity on Bland’s urgent up-tempo numbers “Turn on Your Love Light” in 1961 and “Yield Not to Temptation” the subsequent year. Yet the singer absorbed his training so thoroughly that he navigated soul-inflected R&B rhumbas such as 1963’s “Call on Me” and refined ballads including “That’s the Way Love Is” and “Share Your Love With Me” with equal assurance, even scoring an improbable pop success in 1962 with an after-hours blues treatment of T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday Blues.” Through “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do,” “Ain’t Doing Too Bad,” and “Poverty,” Bland maintained momentum into the mid-1960s without any erosion of his preeminent standing.
When Robey transferred ownership of his labels to ABC Records in 1973, Bland’s contract moved with the deal. Deprived of Scott’s guidance and accustomed environment, Bland’s subsequent releases grew uneven artistically, although His California Album in 1973 and Dreamer the following year contained several strong passages, including a full set of country standards. He rejoined his longtime associate B.B. King for two mid-1970s collaborations that introduced no innovations yet raised Bland’s visibility further, while his solo MCA efforts edged increasingly toward middle-of-the-road territory, reflecting his frequently stated regard for the ultra-smooth pop singer Perry Como.
Bland commenced sessions for Jackson, Mississippi’s Malaco Records during the mid-1980s. Although his voice clearly betrayed the effects of age, he persisted as a blues figure of the highest rank, returning in 1998 with Memphis Monday Morning and five years afterward with Blues in Memphis. Bland passed away in Memphis during June 2013 at the age of 83.
