Bobby Whitlock
Encyclopedia
Robert Stanley 'Bobby' Whitlock (born 18 March 1948 in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

) is a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 and performer, best known as a member of Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos were a blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends...

.

Biography

Most notably known for his involvement with "Derek & The Dominos" co-founder and co-writer of many of the songs that appear on "Layla and other Assorted Love Songs".
Raised in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Whitlock began his musical career while still a teenager at Stax, his first recording was hand claps on Sam & Dave's "I Thank You." Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...

 were readying the very talented young Whitlock for pop success when Delaney & Bonnie, heard Whitlock perform at a club and invited him to join them in California and record on their record Home. in early 1970. His friendship with Clapton began when Whitlock was touring with Delaney & Bonnie, along with Carl Radle and Jim Gordon, whom Clapton admired greatly.

After the other band members left to join Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Mad Dogs and Englishmen (album)
Mad Dogs and Englishmen is Joe Cocker's 1970 live album, featuring a fusion of rock and soul. The album title is drawn from the 1931 Noël Coward song of the same name. Mostly Cocker's album is made up of covers, drawing equally from rock and soul...

 with Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...

, Whitlock collaborated with Eric Clapton in England. They played sessions together, most notably on George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

's All Things Must Pass
All Things Must Pass
All Things Must Pass is a triple album by George Harrison, recorded and released in 1970. The original vinyl release featured two LPs of rock songs as well as Apple Jam, a third LP of informal jams...

, where Whitlock and Clapton sang background (as the "O'Hara Smith Singers"). Whitlock remained uncredited on certain tracks of All Things Must Pass, where he played pump organ (Harmonium), Electric Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, tubular bells and piano on various songs.

Whitlock is credited as a writer or co-writer on six tracks from the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is a blues-rock album by Derek and the Dominos, released in November 1970, best known for its eponymous title track, "Layla"...

. He and Clapton shared a friendship and would write together on their guitars. During the recording, the tape rolled non-stop for the entire album, with the exception of "Key to the Highway
Key to the Highway
"Key to the Highway" is a blues standard first recorded by blues pianist Charlie Segar in 1940. The song was also recorded by Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy in 1940–41, and it was later a R&B record chart success for Little Walter in 1958...

". Whitlock explains that this is why you hear this cut fading in. Originally, Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...

 was to be the drummer, but Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon (musician)
James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...

 intervened when he heard that Clapton was looking for a drummer and Keltner was busy finishing up his session with Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...

 the jazz guitar player. The album saw little play for the first year, and by the time "Layla" became a hit, the band had already split up.
Whitlock recorded his first solo album Bobby Whitlock/Bobby Whitlock. It included Clapton, Radle and Gordon. Essentially it was Derek & the Dominos last recording together. His second solo record Raw Velvet came immediately after. When Whitlock tried in vain to get Clapton to come out and play, realizing it was not going to happen (it took two years of waiting), he went back to the United States.

Whitlock went to England again after a short stint in the United States then moved to Ireland, where he lived for many years and became friends with Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...

. Whitlock had his own television show there and brought in Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper
Steve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...

. Returning to the United States, he initially financed his own tour and has slowly made his way back into the music scene.

During the 1970s, Whitlock released four solo albums: the first, self-titled, was released in 1972. Raw Velvet
Raw Velvet
Raw Velvet is the second solo album by American songwriter and musician Bobby Whitlock, released in 1972. The appearance of Eric Clapton, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominos was only indicated by the representation of 'dominoes' on the original inner sleeve.-Side one:#"Tell the...

featured Eric Clapton and Rick Vito
Rick Vito
Rick Vito is a guitarist and singer. He was part of the band Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991.Vito and Billy Burnette took over as guitarists after Lindsey Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac....

 on "Dearest I Wonder". After his 1976 album Rock Your Sox Off, Whitlock lay low for most of the 1980s and 1990s, living on a farm in Mississippi, raising his children, and doing session work.

In 1999, Bobby Whitlock returned to music with It's About Time and in 2000 appeared on the BBC's Jools Holland with Clapton. In 2001 he appeared on the Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...

 album Sweet Tea. Also in 2001, Whitlock and CoCo Carmel collaborated on Other Assorted Love Songs, consisting primarily of Whitlock's songs from the original Derek and the Dominos album. Whitlock and Carmel are married and live in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 and have travelled extensively throughout the United States and abroad. Their newest release, a live recording titled Metamorphosis, features David Grissom
David Grissom
David Grissom is a US session guitarist who has played and toured with several of America's leading bands and recording artists.- Professional Biography :...

 and Stephen Bruton
Stephen Bruton
-Background:Born in Wilmington, Delaware as Turner Stephen Bruton, he moved with his family to Texas at the age of two. He fell into the Fort Worth music scene after graduating from Texas Christian University when he joined Kris Kristofferson's band as the latter's career was about to take off;...

 on guitar, Brannen Temple on drums, and James Fenner
James Fenner
James Fenner was an American politician who served as an United States Senator as well as the seventh, 11th and 17th Governor of Rhode Island . He was the son of Arthur Fenner, the fourth governor of Rhode Island.Fenner was born in Providence, Rhode Island...

 on percussion. Guest Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 plays on CoCo Carmel's True Love
True Love
-Film:* True Love , directed by Nancy Savoca* True Love , starring Maggie Cheung* True Love , an LGBT-related film* True Love , directed by Kim Mah, -Literature:...

. Bobby Whitlock continues to write and has had several major artist cuts, including Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

 (Slip Away), Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

 (This Time There Won't Be No Next Time), and George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 (He's Not Entitled to your Love). Numerous artists have recorded his material, including Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...

 (Keep on Growin) and Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks
Derek Trucks is a Grammy Award-winning, American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded The Derek Trucks Band and worked as a session musician when he was still in his early teens. Throughout those teenage years, he toured with The Allman Brothers Band primarily as a slide...

 (Anyday).
Whitlock is currently working on his autobiography with music historian Marc Roberty (writer of over 30 books, twelve on Eric Clapton); the book is due out in 2010.
In 2009 Whitlock and CoCo were invited by Billy Bob Thornton to cameo on a documentary of the life and times of Willie Nelson (release date unknown).
During this year's Golden Globe Awards, "Layla" was played at the interlude during the lifetime achievement awards exposition of Martin Scorsese's film excerpts. It worked in a grand manner to enhance the sentimental footage from Martin's work.

Discography

  • Bobby Whitlock
    Bobby Whitlock (album)
    Bobby Whitlock is the debut album by American songwriter and rock musician Bobby Whitlock, released in 1972. The album includes at various points all of the members of Derek and the Dominos , though never all together...

    (1972)
  • Raw Velvet
    Raw Velvet
    Raw Velvet is the second solo album by American songwriter and musician Bobby Whitlock, released in 1972. The appearance of Eric Clapton, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominos was only indicated by the representation of 'dominoes' on the original inner sleeve.-Side one:#"Tell the...

    (1972)
  • One of a Kind (Bobby Whitlock album) (1975)
  • Rock Your Sox Off (1976)
  • It's About Time (Bobby Whitlock album) (1999)
  • Other Assorted Love Songs, Live from Whitney Chapel (Bobby Whitlock and CoCo Carmel album) (2003)
  • Lovers (Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel album) - release date: February 14, 2008
  • Lovers The Master Demos (Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel album) - release date: June 2009
  • Vintage (Bobby Whitlock album) - release date: August 2009
  • My Time (Bobby Whitlock album) - release date: October 14, 2009
  • Metamorphosis (Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel album) - release date: December 2009

External links and sources

The Official Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel Website
http://www.bobbywhitlockandcococarmel.com/
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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