Hi! And welcome to the ONLY shrine on the internet that worships the musical genius of Bobby Goldsboro! We at The Unofficial Bobby Goldsboro Page had been waiting so long for a page dedicated to Bobby we decided to do it ourselves. So here it is, filled with information about Bobby, what he is up to now, sound clips, pictures and lyrics to your favourite songs in FULL. Enjoy...
To find out more about the people who run this page, go to the sites of Tom Damms and Dave Hathaway.
Born in 1941 in Florida, Bobby Goldsboro was first influenced by country music; his first instrument a ukulele, quickly gave way to guitar. When Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins burst on the scene Goldsboro caught the rock and roll bug and formed a band called The Webs. Dropping out of Auburn University in his second year to pursue a career in music, Goldsboro auditioned with The Webs for rockabilly great Roy Orbison. Orbison hired the band; for two years The Webs travelled with Orbison. Goldsboro gained invaluable experience during this period; the band opened for the Rolling Stones on their first US tour and toured Great Britain with The Beatles.
In 1962 Goldsboro signed a recording contract with Laurie Records as a solo act. The moderate success of Molly, his debut single, won him a contract with United Artists; his first single with that label, See The Funny Little Clown, made it into the top ten on the pop charts. In 1965 Little Things made it to the top fifteen, and between 1965 and 1968 Goldsboro had steady, moderate success on the pop charts with such originals as Voodoo Woman and It's Too Late.
But it wasn't until 1968 that Goldsboro broke into the number one spot with Bobby Russell's poignant Honey. The record was an enormous success. The top selling single of 1968, Honey sold eight million copies. It stayed at number one on the pop charts for five weeks; crossing over to the country charts, it was the number-one country hit for three weeks.
This crossover to country represented a significant transition in Goldsboro's career. His next release, an original entitled Autumn of My Life, made the top twenty on both the pop and country charts; from then on, country audiences would be at least as important to Goldsboro's success as pop audiences. His rendition of Mac Davis's Watching Scotty Grow, for example, hit the top ten on the country charts in 1971.
Summer (The First Time), which Goldsboro wrote about the film Summer of '42 [sic-ED NOTE: incorrect], was an international hit. And although he enjoyed many other country hits, much of Goldsboro's later success was based on film, television and other media; he hosted a syndicated television show; he wrote the song Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore for the film of the same name [sic-ED NOTE: incorrect]; and he released a book/cassette package.
During the years of his major pop and country hits, Bobby Goldsboro not only performed but also wrote an enormous number of popular songs - songs which went against the grain of prevailing trends and successfully embodied an old-fashioned pop sentiment.
This is a show in which Bobby adds the voices to all the characters, with such wonderful names as Billy Bob Possum and Joe Raccoon. Bobby also supplies the music for the show which has been going since 1995. We here in England don't even get to see it, so all you British fans write to the BBC to ensure they buy the rights and get it shown ASAP. Hey, maybe the BBC could trade the Teletubbies for Swamp Critters!
Summer (The First Time) - Number 9 - 4th August 1973 - In Top 40 for 10 weeks.
Hello Summertime - Number 14 - 3rd August 1974 - In Top 40 for 10 weeks.
Honey (re-issue) - Number 2 - 29th March 1975 - In Top 40 for 12 weeks.
Total weeks in British Top 40 - 47.
If you would like to be added to the Fans Page then drop us a line and we will be glad to add you, include some information about yourself (where you are from, email address, why you love Bobby etc) and we will add you to the list.
Also, if anyone out there has any information on where we can purchase Bobby albums, or has any to sell, PLEASE get in touch. Thanks.
Last updated - 23rd March 1998
