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Sunny (song)
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"Sunny" is the name of a song written by Bobby Hebb. It is one of the most covered popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".
Hebb wrote the song after suffering a double tragedy - a national loss followed by a personal one: On 22 November 1963, the day after U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Hebb's older brother Harold was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub.
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Encyclopedia
"Sunny" is the name of a song written by Bobby Hebb. It is one of the most covered popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".
Hebb wrote the song after suffering a double tragedy - a national loss followed by a personal one: On 22 November 1963, the day after U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Hebb's older brother Harold was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and many critics say that those events inspired the tune. Others claims Bobby wrote the song for God. Certainly, events influenced Bobby's songwriting, but his timeless melody, crossing over into R&B (#3 on U.S. R&B chart) Country and Pop (#2 on U.S. Pop chart), together with the optimistic lyrics, came from the artist's desire to express that one should always "look at the bright side" - a direct quote from the author. Hebb has said about "Sunny":
"All my intentions were just to think of happier times – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low tide. After I wrote it, I thought "Sunny" just might be a different approach to what Johnny Bragg was talking about in 'Just Walkin' in the Rain'".
"Sunny" was originally part of an 18-song demo recorded by producer Jerry Ross, also famous for Spanky and Our Gang, Keith's "98.6" and Jay and the Techniques (Hebb was the first artist to cover "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie", in fact, but didn't want to be considered a novelty act and let the song go to Jay Proctor). "Sunny" was first recorded in Japan by Mieko "Miko" Hirota - the "Connie Francis" of Japan, where it was said to have done well on the charts. In America it was released by vibraphonist Dave Pike on Atlantic Records in 1965 on the "Jazz for the Jet Set" album, a full year before Philips released the 45 version produced by Ross and arranged by Joe Renzetti. This information was made public - as well as sounds from the first two versions of "Sunny", on the BBC's celebrated "Songlines" program in early 2006.
"Sunny" was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City and released as a single in 1966. It met an immediate success, which resulted in Hebb touring in 1966 with The Beatles.
Boney M. version
"Sunny" is a cover version of Bobby Hebb's 1966 hit, recorded by German disco group Boney M., produced by Frank Farian and arranged by Stefan Klinkhammer in a disco arrangement. It was taken from their 1976 debut album Take the Heat Off Me, following their breakthrough single "Daddy Cool" and was another major hit single that topped the German charts. It has been remixed in 1988 and 1999 (it was a minor hit single early 2000) and was sampled by Boogie Pimps for their 2004 version. While Liz Mitchell sang the original lead vocals on Boney M.'s version, original member Maizie Williams recorded a solo version in 2006. Hebb himself released a disco version of the song in 1976, and had minor success on Billboard's R&B chart.
The single was backed by a non-album track "New York City", a reworked version of Farian artist Gilla's 1976 hit single "Tu es!" / "Why Don't You Do It" with an intro borrowed from the album track "Help Help", issued only in some territories instead of "Baby Do You Wanna Bump".
2000 Remix
The final single off Boney M.'s unsuccessful remix album 20th Century Hits stalled at a disappointing #80 in the Swiss charts and failed to chart elsewhere. The CD single was released with 8 mixes. A "London Mix" was released on the promotional double-12" single.
CD
- Boney M. 2000: "Sunny (Remixes)" (BMG 74321 73824 2, 2000)
- "Sunny" (Radio Edit) - 3:31
- "Sunny" (Radio Remix - Disco Club) - 3:35
- "Sunny" (Extended Version) - 4:47
- "Sunny" (Disco Club Mix) - 5:46
- "Sunny" (Club Mix) - 4:45
- "Sunny" (House Mix) - 4:55
- "Sunny" (London Vocal Mix) - 3:34
- "Sunny" (Space Mix) - 4:51
Promotional 12" Single
- Boney M. 2000: "Sunny (Remixes)" (BMG 74321 73823 1, 2000)
- A1. "Sunny" (Extended Version) - 4:47
- A2. "Sunny" (Club Mix) - 4:45
- B. "Sunny" (Space Mix) - 4:51
- C1. "Sunny" (Disco Club Mix) - 5:46
- C2. "Sunny" (House Mix) - 4:55
- D1. "Sunny" (London Mix)- 5:56
- D2. "Sunny" (London Vocal Mix) - 3:34
Mousse T. Remix
A download-only single from the group's 2006 compilation The Magic of Boney M.
- "Sunny (Mousse T. Remix)" (digital download, Sony BMG)
- "Sunny" (Mousse T. Radio Mix) - 3:21
- "Sunny" (Mousse T. Sexy Disco Radio Mix) - 3:27
- "Sunny" (Mousse T. Extended Radio Mix) - 4:17
- "Sunny" (Mousse T. Sexy Disco Club Mix) - 5:48
Other cover versions
- Many other artists have recorded versions of the song. Georgie Fame's and Cher's issues both charted in the UK Top 75 in 1966. Other covering artists include James Brown and Marva Whitney, Robert Mitchum, the Classics IV, the Electric Flag, Jose Feliciano, Luis Miguel, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, The Four Seasons, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Jamiroquai, Stanley Jordan, Mina, Jimmy Smith, Johnny Mathis, Les McCann, Chris Montez, Leonard Nimoy, Wilson Pickett, Buddy Richard, Del Shannon, Oscar Peterson with Joe Pass and Ray Brown, Dusty Springfield, Helge Schneider, War, and the Twinset featuring Barnaby Weir.
- Frank Sinatra covered "Sunny" with Duke Ellington on their collaborative album, Francis A. & Edward K..
- Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass made an instrumental version of "Sunny" on the LP album "The Brass Are Comin'" launched in 1969 (A & M SP 4228).
- There are two compilations of versions of Sunny released on the Trocadero label in Germany.
- Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz wrote an essay about the tune for Allmusic and Bobby Hebb has released two duets (one with Pat Appleton) on the Tuition label out of Germany (2006) re-released in America on Allegro in 2007. Jerry Ross is thinking of releasing the original 18 song acoustic tape which contains the demo version of "Sunny", this would be on his Heritage label. Bobby Hebb performed a double-sided disco version of "Sunny" which was released on Laurie Records in 1975 co-produced and arranged by Joe Renzetti. The original 1966 version was #1 in Cashbox and should have been #1 in Billboard, just as "Louie Louie" was a legitimate #1 that lingered at #2 for some unknown reason.
- Cris Barber recorded a version of the song on her 2008 album This Moment to Be Free.
- Christophe Willem covered the song in 2006 (#3 in France, #9 in Belgium (Wallonia), #17 in Switzerland).
- Mark Ronson did a live cover with Candie Payne at the Electric Proms
- Saxophonist Stanley Turrentine also covered the song on his album "The Spoiler."
- Guitarist Pat Martino covered the song in 1972 on his first live album.
Mexican ska band Panteon Rococo covered this song and renamed it "Sonia"
Charts
Cher version
| Chart (1966) | Peak
position |
|---|
| Norway | 2 | | Netherlands | 2 | | Sweden | 4 | | UK | 32 | | Japan | 86 | | world wide sales | 1,200,000 | |
1976 Boney M. version
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