🎵 2022-03-11 06:11:00 – Paris/France.
Bobbie Nelson, Willie Nelson's sister and member of his band Willie Nelson and Family for more than 50 years, died Thursday morning at the age of 91. She was described as having died "peacefully and surrounded by her family", and no cause of death was given. .
"There's just no way to explain how lucky I am to have a good musician in the family," Willie Nelson told the Austin American-Statesman in 2007. I needed a piano player, I got Sister Bobbie right there. . … Whenever our band plays, Sister Bobbie is the best musician on stage.
After five decades of playing together professionally and eight and a half years of teaming up at home, Willie and Bobbie played their last gig together at the Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, Texas on October 9.
Willie Nelson fans rarely got a good look at his face on stage, but his long, voluminous hair ensured that family was present and cared for or onstage and that whatever other changes the band might go through, he there was no separation between siblings.
Nelson's love for his sister was strong enough that he released albums and books with her, as a duo. A year and a half ago, the Nelsons released a memoir about their relationship, "Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band" (co-written by David Ritz), and promoted it in interviews.
“My little sister was always at the piano making good music,” Nelson recalled on the “Today” show in November 2020. “I would sit there on the piano stool next to her and try to understand what she was doing. … Sister Bobbie is 10 times better musician than me,” he said. When she hesitated, he added, "I'm a little better scammer, I think. »
Willie and Bobbie Nelson Courtesy of Schock Ink
The country superstar often referred to Bobbie as her "little sister," despite being a few years older. When she was 6 and he was 4, their grandparents taught them "The Great Speckled Bird," and their musical relationship was forged, though it would be decades before he surrendered. realized that it was possible to bring Bobbie into his professional life.
In the joint memoir, Willie Nelson recalled how his creative renaissance in the early 1970s coincided with the arrival of Bobbie in his band. Legendary producer Jerry Wexler had brought him from an unsatisfying stint at another label to Atlantic Records, where he was about to begin recording the series of classic 'outlaw' era albums. who defined it. When Wexler told her the shocking news that he could use whoever he wanted as session musicians from then on, “I immediately thought of Bobbie. She was the main spark I was missing.
At 42, Bobbie had never been in a recording studio before or on an airplane, but those two things changed in a hurry when he convinced her in 1972 to come and work on the first album he worked for Atlantic, a gospel album titled “The Troublemaker,” then “Shotgun Willie,” and his stardom and direction were forever fixed. “The Atlantic Records experience set me on a new path. Most importantly, it brought me back with Bobbie. Once the New York sessions were over, I made that clear. 'Sister,' I said, 'you are now a member of the group.' »
In 2017, Bobbie released her first and only solo album, "Audiobiography", an album of piano instruments. But even without stepping out on her own, she was familiar to her brother's fans for having her own showcase number on tour every night, "Down Yonder," and duet projects they did, with just piano playing that was almost as recognizable as his brother's licks with his signature guitar, Trigger.
Bobbie Lee was born into the Depression on January 1, 1931, two years and five months before Willie followed on April 30, 1933. Their parents were teenagers in the farming community of Abbott, Texas, but they were raised by their grandparents. - paternal parents, with the man they called "Dad" teaching Willie how to play the guitar and "Mama" teaching Bobbie the piano. The two played Sundays at Abbott Methodist Church, but Bobbie's talent led her to find favor playing at other local churches as well.
"I remember when I got my first piano," she told writer Michael Corcoran in a profile. "I thought, 'I'll never be alone again. « »
Bobbie Nelson Courtesy of Schock Ink
Although the early 70s marked their real bond as mature musicians, Bobbie and Willie had a very brief semi-professional stint together for five years in the late 40s and early 50s. , Bobbie was married to a musician, Bud Fletcher, who played in a local honky-tonk band with the siblings' father, Ira Nelson. Bobbie's husband died in a car accident, and with three children by then she gave up music and moved to Fort Worth to take secretarial classes.
But after going to work for the Hammond Organ Company, she began demonstrating the company's products as well as working in its music library. Bobbie eventually went to work as a piano player in Austin-area restaurants and salons. Meanwhile, her brother was finding success writing songs like "Crazy" and "Hello Walls" in Nashville, but finding less satisfaction as a solo artist, before joining her in Texas. Much of Austin's appeal to him was that Bobbie lived there; it was almost by chance that he would soon become the patron saint of a burgeoning counterculture scene developing there.
Bobbie was described as a devout Christian who, even after half a century of constant touring with her brother, did not approve of her marijuana use, although she cited health issues for her disapproval. Nevertheless, she told Corcoran, she and her brother had never argued.
Recordings that Willie and Bobbie have made as a duo include 1980's "Family Bible" and 1996's "How Great Thou Art." In 2021, the two were joined by four of Willie's children to release an album called "The Willie Nelson Family”.
When their double memoir came out in 2020, Willie told People magazine, "She's been my closest friend for a lifetime. I'm glad she's getting some recognition for what she's done with her life.
A statement from the family on Thursday said: “Her elegance, grace, beauty and talent have made this world a better place. She was the first member of Willie's band, as a pianist and vocalist. Our hearts are broken and she will be deeply missed. But we are so lucky to have had him in our lives. Please keep his family in your thoughts and give them the privacy they need at this time.
SOURCE: Reviews News
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