The soul and blues legend with the unforgettable voice, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland passed away on Sunday, June 23, 2013. According to is son Rodd, the 83-year-old golden voiced balladeer died from complications of an ongoing illness. While Bland’s early contemporaries soaked up all the shine from the spotlight, Ray Charles with the piano and B.B. King with his guitar (named Lucille), Bland is remembered for his anointed vocal ability, and if you asked any of this writer’s late aunts, the man oozed sex appeal.
Pop artists and Hollywood are fond of Bland’s hits. Jay-Z’s ”Heart Of The City (Ain’t No Love),” produced by Kanye West on his 2001 The Blueprint album, samples Bland’s 1971 single “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.” So does the hard rock band Whitesnake. It’s also featured in the the films Fighting and the The Lincoln Lawyer.
“I’d like to be remembered as just a good old country boy that did his best to give us something to listen to and help them through a lot of sad moments, happy moments, whatever,” Grammy Award-winning Bland said in an interview with the syndicated “House of Blues Radio Hour” back in 2009.
“Whatever moments you get of happiness, use it up, you know, if you can, because it don’t come that often.”
Bland was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
SOURCE: ROLLINGOUT.COM
