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This Week in Texas Music History: Bobby Day


by Stephen Becker 24 Jun 2011 2:02 PM

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember a singer whose song about a bird “flew” up the charts not once, but twice.

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Art&Seek presents This Week in Texas Music History. Every week, we’ll spotlight a different moment and the musician who made it. This week, Texas music scholar Gary Hartman remembers a singer whose song about a bird “flew” up the charts not once, but twice.

NOTE: You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on SUNDAY at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio instead of its previous Saturday spot on the schedule. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

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Bobby Day was born Robert Byrd in Fort Worth on July 1, 1928. At the age of 15, he moved to California, where he performed with several bands. In 1957, he started a group called the Satellites and began enjoying success with such songs as “Little Bitty Pretty One.” However, Bobby Day achieved national fame in 1958 with a tune about a bird that quickly climbed the charts to No. 2. In 1972, Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five released their version of “Rockin’ Robin,” and, once again, it reached No. 2 on the charts.

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