Robert Lester Lord (January 6, 1934 – February 16, 2008) was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer-songwriter popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Biography

Lord was born January 6, 1934, in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city and the county seat of Seminole County, Florida, United States. It is located in Central Florida and its population was 61,051 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical ...

, but grew up in

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. As a teenager, he entered talent contests, wowing crowds with his edgy

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

style. He was popular with Tampa's young crowd, playing concerts at dance halls. At Plant High School, he met his wife, Mozelle, whom he married when he was 20. After graduating from Plant, he was offered the chance to host his own television show while a freshman at the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UTampa, UT or Tampa U) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UTampa offers more than 200 programs of study, including 19 master's degrees and a br ...

. ''The Bobby Lord Homefolks Show'' was an hour-long program on Saturday nights on WSUN-TV in St. Petersburg and featured Lord singing with a backing band. In 1952, he won a nationwide talent competition sponsored by ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' which led to an appearance on ''

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

's TV Teen Club'' on ABC-TV from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Soon after, songwriter Boudleaux Bryant heard one of Lord's demo tapes and passed it on to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, which signed him in 1953. At age 19, he was the label's youngest recording star. He began releasing country and rockabilly hits for Columbia, and in 1955 joined '' Ozark Jubilee'', an ABC-TV program based in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

. In 1960, the ''Jubilee'' was canceled and Lord moved to

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, where he was immediately offered a spot on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

. He continued appearing on the Opry well into the 1970s. He recorded for

Hickory Records Hickory Records is an American record label founded in 1954 by Acuff-Rose Music, which operated the label up to 1979. Sony Music Publishing (then Sony/ATV) revived the label in 2007. Originally based in Nashville, and functioning as an independ ...

starting in 1961 and

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

from 1967. During this time he also hosted a daily afternoon show on WSM-TV in Nashville, which was the counterpart to

Ralph Emery Walter Ralph Emery (March 10, 1933 – January 15, 2022) was an American country music disc jockey, radio and television host from McEwen, Tennessee. Emery promoted numerous stars on his radio and TV shows, and was called the Dick Clark (ent ...

's morning show on that station, "Opry Almanac". Under the auspices of WSM-TV, he also hosted a weekly syndicated half-hour program featuring popular country artists. Lord's backing band on the syndicated show included Jerry Byrd on

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

, Jerry Whitehurst on piano and Spider Wilson on guitar. In 1969, Lord left Nashville and went into semi-retirement from the music industry to devote time to his family and his interests in real estate and insurance. In the 1980s, he hosted TNN's program ''Country Sportsman'', later called ''Celebrity Outdoors'', until 1989. He was also the author of the 1969 book, ''Hit the Glory Road''. Bobby Lord died on February 16, 2008, in

Stuart, Florida Stuart is a city in and the county seat of Martin County, Florida, United States. Located in southeastern Florida, Stuart is the largest of five Municipal corporation, incorporated municipalities in Martin County. The population is 17,425 accordi ...

, at the age of 74. He was a resident of Jensen Beach, Florida, and was survived by his widow, Mozelle, and three children

Discography

Albums

Singles

Notes

References

* Davis, William (1998). "Bobby Lord". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 303.

External links

Bobby Lord
at Hillbilly-Music.com
Bobby Lord obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Bobby 1934 births 2008 deaths People from Sanford, Florida American country guitarists American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters Grand Ole Opry members Henry B. Plant High School alumni Singer-songwriters from Florida 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American guitarists People from Jensen Beach, Florida Guitarists from Florida Columbia Records artists Hickory Records artists Decca Records artists Country musicians from Florida 20th-century American male musicians American male singer-songwriters Television personalities from Florida