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Did you know "Ooh Wee" in the soundtrack to the film HITCH (2005) used a sample of Boney M's rendition of "Sunny"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386588/soundtrack

Hear the instrumental here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcvWbA2SGeI

Listen to the vocal version by Mark Ronson here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNgyoaBdys

"Ooh Wee"
Written by Bobby Hebb
Published by Portable Music Company, Inc. administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
Performed by Mark Ronson featuring Ghostface Killah, Nate Dogg, Trife Da God & Saigon
Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group
By Arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing
Ghostface Killah appears courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Trife Da God appears courtesy of Money Come First
Under license from M.C.F.S.E.
Contains a sample of "Scorpio" (1971)
Written and Performed by Dennis Coffey
Published by Songs of Universal, Inc. o/b/o Interior Music Corp.
Courtesy of Avant Garde Enterprises, Inc.
Contains a sample of "Sunny"
Performed by Boney M.
Courtesy of FAR Music

Pillow Talk "Sunny" Remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwA5muJKrCo

Joe Viglione's review of Vol 1
Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" is a standard's standard. At number 25 on BMI's most played songs of all time, the song that hit number two in America found a place in the repertoires of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Frankie Valli, Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek, and so many others. Finding new popularity in the dance clubs of Germany, Rudiger Ladwig and his Roof Music released 16 versions of the Hebb composition on the Trocadero Records label in Europe. Beginning with a mono version of Bobby Hebb's original hit, the album proceeds with a one minute forty-six second version by Arthur Lyman Group licensed by Ryko Disc and copywritten in 1996, though it sounds older. Georgie Fame, according to the liner notes, hit number 13 in the U.K. just two weeks after Hebb's original hit number 12. Cher also got into the race and her Spector-ish version hit number 32. READ MORE HERE:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-collection-of-various-interpretations-of-sunny-vol-1-mw0000456689

alternate site:
http://www.alibris.com/search/music/upc/766486550520
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Joe Viglione's review of Vol 2:
As a follow-up to the 16-track A Collection of Various Interpretations of Sunny, Pt. 1, Roof Music and Trocadero Records of Germany again unite to bring a second edition with even more elaborate packaging, featuring 17 additional versions of Bobby Hebb's classic song. The series is so popular that Hebb toured Germany in May of 2002, his second trip to that country in the span of a few months. There are some absolute nuggets here -- Marvin Gaye's superb rendition has only been available on his boxed sets, while the Electric Flag's monster version has an opportunity to be heard by those who missed Buddy Miles' vocal the first time around. The eight-page liner-note booklet features Bobby Hebb's photo from the '60s sheet music, and has an interview by Jonathan Marx in which Hebb explains that the song is about a sunny disposition. AMG's Bobby Hebb biography was the first place where this fact was published, many feeling the timeless song was written for God or Hal Hebb, Bobby's older brother, who was a member of Johnny Bragg's band. Ella Fitzgerald's terrific performance and Shirley Bassey's superb take, embellished by Bassey's Goldfinger-theme vocal style, are untouchable. Bassey's holding of the final note à la "Goldfinger" is more than a coincidence. After the line "Sunny one so true, I love you," Hebb slips in a subtle riff from the James Bond theme song. READ MORE HERE:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-collection-of-various-interpretations-of-sunny-pt-2-mw0001236895

Soundbites
http://www.allmusic.com/album/sunny-part-2-a-collection-of-various-interpretations-of-sunny-mw0000567024

BOBBY HEBB IN THE CURRENT NEWS, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013

Duo Friend and Fellow offers its Eisenach audience some new works in the jazz cellar trombone in her tour.

http://eisenach.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/lokal/kultur/detail/-/specific/Friend-and-Fellow-machen-Tourstop-in-Eisenach-2078597621

On the quality of the show changed the experimental nature of the program, which was that evening played only the second time in front of audiences, but nothing as usual excelled that in the Wartburg city often and welcome duo with his top-notch blend of jazz, blues, soul and radio, which includes not only his own compositions and arrangements of many jazz and rock classics.

How far can these alienations commonly known Liedguts it is clearly the classic "Sunny" by American Bobby Hebb, of which only remain some striking key points are, while "Friendand Fellow" at the U2-catchy song "I Still Haven and Found What I Am Looking For "move amazingly close to the original, however, raise the song on a completely unfamiliar soul cloak.

Wie weit diese Entfremdungen landläufig bekannten Liedguts dabei gehen können, wird beim Klassiker "Sunny" des Amerikaners Bobby Hebb deutlich, von dem nur noch einige markante Eckpunkte stehen bleiben, während sich "Friendand Fellow" beim U2-Ohrwurm "I Still Haven and Found What I am Looking For" erstaunlich nah am Original bewegen, dem Song jedoch ein gänzlich ungewohntes Soul-Mäntelchen überwerfen.

CRO performing Bobby Hebb's "Sunny"
(from Google News)
http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/article112932798/Cro-Ein-Konzert-wie-ein-Kindergeburtstag.html

Translation:
There are six numbers as an encore, including a cover of Aloe Blaccs "I Need A Dollar" and "Easy", for Cro makes use of the feel-good classic "Sunny" by Bobby Hebb. His cheerful pop songs definitely fit better in the summer - on 24 August raps Cro open air on the Bahrenfelder trotting. Inside the dock is still celebrated, hoping after 80 minutes on a further addition, the outside is already gebibbert again. This time from the parents who take their young offspring in reception. "How was it?" Asks a father, maybe 14-year-old son. The answer is just, "Well," he says.

Sechs Nummern gibt es als Zugabe, darunter ein Cover von Aloe Blaccs "I Need A Dollar" und "Easy", für den Cro sich beim Wohlfühlklassiker "Sunny" von Bobby Hebb bedient. Seine fröhlichen Popsongs passen definitiv besser zum Sommer - am 24. August rappt Cro open air auf der Bahrenfelder Trabrennbahn. Drinnen im Docks wird noch gefeiert und nach 80 Minuten auf eine weitere Zugabe gehofft, draußen wird schon wieder gebibbert. Diesmal von den Eltern, die ihre junge Sprösslinge in Empfang nehmen. "Wie war es denn?", fragt ein Vater seinen vielleicht 14-jährigen Sohn. Die Antwort fällt knapp aus: "Gut", sagt er.

Cro live Sa 24.8., 18.30, Trabrennbahn Bahrenfeld, Karten zu 39,95 im Vorverkauf

Rappers and Bobby Hebb

By Joe Viglione

12:30 PM EDT February 5, 2013

1:39 PM EDT (69 minutes to write this article)

There are a huge amount of “remixes” of Boney M, Jose Feliciano, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Hebb and no-doubt other renditions DJs have creatively mixed up, mashed up and reiterated for audiences new and old.

CRO

Swabia (sometimes Suabia or Svebia) (German: Schwaben, colloquially also Schwabenland or Ländle), according to this Wikipedia material, is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. It is also home to Cro who has a hit with “Easy”, featuring Bobby Hebb’s “Sunny” as a unique sample.

* * * * *

Germany has embraced Bobby Hebb with the recording of That’s All I Wanna Know, the third “official” album release by Hebb though Bobby had recorded albums in his New Jersey home as well as at Fleetwood Recording in Revere, Massachusetts (1979) resulting in the single “Judy” on Crystal Ball Records; the “Brass” album in 1981/1982 at Dimension Sound in Jamaica Plain as well as an album with Bernard Purdie and a live album or two from Japanese tours. There is a vast amount of unreleased Bobby Hebb music, music from the “song a day” man.

Germany also saw the release of two volumes of “A Collection of Various Interpretations of “Sunny” (a series which also included “Fever” and “Summertime”, though Bobby Hebb’s “Sunny” was the first in the series from Rudiger Ladwig).

Keeping the genius of Bobby Hebb alive for this and future generations is essential. The original is still the greatest, but we are most interested in hearing Greg Howe’s instrumental played to by dozens of musicians, rappers finding a new groove with Bobby Hebb melodies, and dance-mix dj’s re-interpreting the melody.

The song “Sunny” breaks barriers all the time. From niche audiences that adore “Sunshine Pop” and “Northern soul” to hundreds –if not thousands – of artists in a variety of genres – country, jazz, folk, r & b, to offbeat instrumentals from the accordion, saxophone and other instruments…or just other instruments giving a new dimension to Bobby’s melody, the song is amazing in how it reaches “across the aisle” to so many different worlds, languages, performers…and even fans with the sensation that “Sunny” is on the karaoke circuit.

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Yes, Germany, Japan and the Northern Soul sound of Great Britain keep the “Sunny” flame burning.

Today’s essay focuses on Swabian rapper Cro’s “Easy” (Sunny) as well as Moes Def’s “Priority” (Flower), Mark Ronson’s “Ooh Wee” (Sunny Remix) featuring a sample of the Boney M rendition of “Sunny”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNgyoaBdys

and Gorillaz.

“Priority” is from Moes Def’s CD The Perfect, utilizing Bobby Hebb’s “Flower” from his 1971 Love Games album on Epic, produced by James Fleming Rasmussen while Gorillaz vs. Bobby Hebb was found on YouTube. Mark Ronson’s “Ooh Wee” (Sunny remix) is in the film Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay as well as Will Smith’s Hitch.

The videos to some of these are below.

We’ll be exploring more of the rap versions of Bobby Hebb songs, the remixes of Bobby Hebb songs, the instrumentals, the YouTube variations/covers and, of course, the world of Karaoke “Sunny” and more. This blog is just the workshop where we get the materials on canvas to edit further down the road for the book on Bobby’s life and his main websites.