Photo: Capitol Records / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
What fascinates me most about Bobbie Gentry is not the Grammy or even Ode to Billie Joe — it is the exit. Here was a woman from rural Mississippi who wrote, composed, and produced her own material at a time when the industry barely let women near the controls, and then, at the height of her fame, she simply walked away. That combination of Southern Gothic storytelling and total self-possession makes her one of pop history's great enigmas. Every artist chasing constant relevance could learn from her: sometimes the most powerful statement is silence. I count her among the most quietly radical figures in American music.
Overview
Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter, July 27, 1942) is an American retired singer-songwriter. She was one of the first female artists in the United States to compose and produce her own material. Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Southern Gothic narrative "Ode to Billie Joe".
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Bobbie Gentry
- Name (Japanese)
- ボビー・ジェントリー
- Reading
- ぼびー・じぇんとりー
- Born
- July 27, 1944 (age 81)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Monkey
- Origin
- Woodland, Mississippi, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer / banjoist / singer-songwriter / musician / composer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of California, Los Angeles
Awards & achievements
- 1968 Grammy Award for Best New Artist
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.bobbiegentry.org.uk/
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbie%20Gentry
Singer — see all → · Banjoist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-10
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.