From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Aug 31, 2003  2:20 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Bobby Parker
 
BOBBY PARKER

Born 31 August 1937, Lafayette, Louisiana

Singer / guitarist / songwriter.
Born in Louisiana, Bobby Parker was raised in southern California after 
his family moved to Los Angeles when he was six. Going to school in
Hollywood, the young Parker was bitten by the scenery, and decided
he wanted to be in show business. At the Million Dollar Theatre, he saw
big stage shows by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine and
Lionel Hampton. Although he had an early interest in jazz, the blues bit 
him when artists like T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson, Johnny "Guitar" 
Watson and Pee Wee Crayton came to town.

He began playing in the late '50s as a guitarist with Otis Williams and 
the Charms after winning a talent contest sponsored by Johnny Otis. 
Later, he backed Bo Diddley, which included an appearance on The Ed 
Sullivan Show before joining the touring big band of Paul "Hucklebuck" 
Williams. He settled in Washington, D.C. in the 1960s, dropping out of 
Williams's band and making a go of it on his own.

He is perhaps best known for his 1961 song, "Watch Your Step," a 
single for the V-Tone label that peaked at # 51 in the pop charts and was
released on London HLU 9393 in the UK. The John Barry Seven released
an instrumental version in November 1961 and Parker's song was later 
covered by several British blues groups, most prominent among them 
the Spencer Davis Group. And though Parker may not be a familiar name
to the average music fan, he's been cited as a major musical influence by 
Spencer Davis, John Mayall, Robin Trower, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, 
drummer Mick Fleetwood, John Lennon and Carlos Santana. Parker's style 
has been described by his protege Bobby Radcliff as Guitar Slim meets 
James Brown, and that's not that far off the mark. In the summer of 1994, 
Santana was so happy about Parker's comeback on the BlackTop/Rounder
label that he took him on the road for some arena shows on the East and 
West Coasts.

Today Parker is one of the major players on the blues circuit. He can do
it all: he writes brilliant songs, he sings well, and he backs it all up with 
powerful, stinging guitar. But things weren't always so good for Parker, 
and much of his newfound success is the result of years of hard work 
and struggling around the bars in Washington, D.C. and Virginia.
Unlike so many other blues musicians, Parker's live shows are almost
entirely his own songs. He does very few covers.