About Bobbie Gentry
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". The track spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was third in the Billboard year-end chart of 1967, earning Gentry the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1968. Gentry charted 11 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and four singles on the United Kingdom top 40. Her album Fancy brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. After her first albums, she had a successful run of variety shows in Las Vegas. In the late 1970s, Gentry lost interest in performing and retired from the music industry. Her grandmother traded one of the family's milk cows for a neighbor's piano, and at age seven, Gentry composed her first song, "My Dog Sergeant Is a Good Dog". While attending a Jody Reynolds concert at a club in Palm Springs in 1966, Gentry asked if she could sit in on one of Reynolds' recording sessions.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.