Willie C. Cobbs (July 15, 1932 – October 25, 2021) was an American blues singer, harmonica player and songwriter. He is best known for his song " You Don't Love Me".

Life and career

Born in Smale,

Monroe County, Arkansas Monroe County is located in the Arkansas Delta in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The county is named for James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States. Created as Arkansas's 20th county on November 2, 1829, Monroe County is home to two inc ...

, United States, Cobbs moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1951, where he occasionally performed in local clubs with

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning hi ...

Eddie Boyd Edward Riley Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994)Dahl, Bill. Eddie Boyd: Biography AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2016. was an American blues pianist, singer and songwriter, best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including the ...

and others.Dahl, Bill
Willie Cobbs Biography
''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

''. Retrieved 14 September 2013. He served in the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

in the early 1950s and then returned to Chicago, recording a number of singles on such labels as Ruler, a subsidiary of J.O.B. Records. He first recorded his composition "You Don't Love Me" in 1960 for Mojo Records, a record label in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, owned by

Billy Lee Riley Billy Lee Riley (October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. His most memorable recordings include "Rock With Me Baby", "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll"Variously spelled as "...Rock & Roll ...

. The recording was leased to

Vee-Jay Records Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...

for release. The song was similar to

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...

's 1955 song "She's Fine, She's Mine" and came close to entering the charts, until Vee-Jay slowed its promotion when questions were raised about its authorship. Frédéric Adrian, "Willie Cobbs (1932-2021)", ''Soulbag'', 26 October 2021
Retrieved 27 October 2021

Cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s have been recorded by various artists, including

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. While never producing a hit of their own, the band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues ...

;

James & Bobby Purify James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached number six in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version number 12 in the UK Singles Chart (in May 1976), and ...

;

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

and Stephen Stills; Booker T. & the M.G.'s;

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

;

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing voca ...

;

Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...

;

Sonny & Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair f ...

;

Jimmy Dawkins James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins (October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues. Caree ...

;

Luther Allison Luther Allison (August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, although some accounts suggest his actual place of birth was Mayflower, Arkansas. Allison was intereste ...

; Dr. Feelgood; Gary Moore;

the Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guita ...

; John P. Hammond; and R.L. Burnside. Another interpretation was the rocksteady rendition by

Dawn Penn Dawn Penn (born 11 January 1952) is a Jamaican reggae singer. She first had a short career during the rocksteady era, between 1967 and 1969, but is most known for her single "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" which became a worldwide hit in 1994. ...

, entitled "

You Don't Love Me (No, No, No) "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" is a song by Jamaican recording artist Dawn Penn, released in February 1994 as the first single from her first studio album, '' No, No, No'' (1994). The song's lyrics are credited to Penn, Bo Diddley and Will ...

", first recorded in 1967, but a global hit when re-recorded in 1994. Cobbs continued to record regularly and later released singles for various labels. In direct response to James Brown's message of " Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968), Cobbs wryly observed that Brown was a millionaire by that point, as Cobbs' retort was "Sing It LowI'm Black and I'm Poor". He returned to Arkansas in the 1970s, and continued to perform and record for local labels, as well as running several nightclubs in Arkansas and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

through the 1970s and 1980s. He went on to release the album ''Hey Little Girl'' for the Wilco label in 1986. He performed at the King Biscuit Blues Festival and the Chicago Blues Festival, and appeared in the 1991 film '' Mississippi Masala'' performing the songs "Angel from Heaven" and "Sad Feelin'". After that, he made several more appearances in movies and television shows, including the 1992 TV movie ''Memphis'' with

Cybill Shepherd Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...

. In 1994 he signed with the

Rooster Blues Rooster Blues is an American independent record label founded in 1980. The label is dedicated to blues music from the Mississippi Delta. Rooster Blues was co-founded by Jim O'Neal in Chicago, and initially released 14 albums by South Side blues m ...

label, who released his album ''Down to Earth'' produced by Johnny Rawls. In 1999, he released the album ''Pay or Do 11 Months and 29 Days'' on his own label, followed the next year by ''Jukin, produced by Willie Mitchell and featuring the

Hi Rhythm Section The Hi Rhythm Section was the house band for hit soul albums by several artists, including Al Green and Ann Peebles, on Willie Mitchell's Hi Records label in the 1970s. The band included the three Hodges brothers, organist Charles Hodges, bassis ...

. His last recordings were issued in 2019 on the album ''Butler Boy Blues''. Cobbs died on October 25, 2021, at age 89.

References

External links

*
Biography
at ''Mississippi Writers & Musicians'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobbs, Willie 1932 births 2021 deaths African-American male singers American blues singers American blues harmonica players People from Monroe County, Arkansas Songwriters from Arkansas American male songwriters