Bobby Caldwell passes...!

"What You Won't Do For Love" was his big mid-70's hit.

He was one of the good guys. A multi-instrumentalist with a distinctive voice, he had a long career, earning a loyal fan base and many who thought well of him in the music industry.

He had a long list of credits, including playing guitar for Little Richard.


R.I.P., Bobby

PS> His biggest hit was released without his photo. The majority of listeners thought he was black.

His appearance live at the Apollo was a shocker.


RCL

Rest in Paradise Bobby, the one and only time Nigel danced was to Stuck on you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gru4IfbKlfU

Must be the season… 😢

Too many of my favorites moving on lately. I think every band I’ve played with for the last 40 years covered ‘What you won’t do’!

Hey Russ, count me as one of those that thought (for years) that he was Black (BTW, 'Black', when referring to race, should always be capitalized ). 'What You Won't Do for love' was always (and still is) one of my favorite tunes. When we did it, we almost always combined it with 'Just The Two of Us', going back and forth between the two of them (mostly the same chord structure). Do you suppose Grover (Washington, Jr) may have gotten away with a little theft? . Anyway, RIP.

I love people that leave something precious and beautiful behind when they pass on. Sadly, the biggest talkers and know-it-all's, rarely do.

chas

Bobby played guitar for little Richard & on one special evening, also for me...

I met Bobby several times. We’d go to the Recording Studio on Lankershim in North Hollywood where he was recording his follow up to his smash hit “What you won’t do for love”. Bobby was a wreck, boozing and drugging. and his Manager was pissed cause Bobby was spending a good part of his 90 K advance on stuff other than studio time. During one of his sessions in the Early 80’s we all end up at his Hotel Room in Hollywood where we were predictably all smoking and snorting away…Bobby C grabs his acoustic and played a medley of Beatles songs for about 20-30 minutes…We are doing all the classic Beatles tunes from “Back in the USSR” to “All My Lovin”. We end on “In my life” & Bobby sings a very poignant rare verse not always heard in the radio version. He told us all about this verse and the history behind it. Singing harmony and lead on Beatles tunes with Bobby that night was amazing. Last time I saw Bobby was in the old Sherman Oaks Guitar Center guessing around 1993 and we are facing each other about 20 feet away with acoustics in hand. I yelled “ Hey you look like Bobby Caldwell”. He says “That’s cause I am Bobby Caldwell “. We laughed as he remembered me and I was maybe a few years clean at the time and Bobby proudly said he was clean too…We lost touch over the years but it was good to see Bobby rebuilt his career and life overseas and had a tremendous following. I can always say I sang Beatles tunes with Bobby Caldwell…