Bobby Lord born 6 January 1934

Robert Lester Lord (January 6, 1934 – February 16, 2008), better known as Bobby Lord, was an American country music artist popular in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Lord was born January 6, 1934 in Sanford, Florida, but grew up in Tampa. As a teenager, he entered talent contests, wowing crowds with his edgy rockabilly style. He was popular with Tampa's young crowd, playing concerts at dance halls. At Plant High School, he met his wife, Mozelle, whom he married when he was 20. 

After graduating from Plant, he was offered the chance to host his own television show while a freshman at the University of Tampa. The Bobby Lord Homefolks Show was an hour-long program on Saturday nights on WSUN-TV in St. Petersburg and featured Lord singing with a backing band. In 1952, he won a nationwide talent competition sponsored by TV Guide which led to an appearance on Paul Whiteman's TV Teen Club on ABC-TV from Philadelphia. 

                              

Soon after, songwriter Boudleaux Bryant heard one of Lord's demo tapes and passed it on to Columbia Records, which signed him in 1953. At age 19, he was the label's youngest recording star. He began releasing country and rockabilly hits for Columbia, and in 1955 joined Ozark Jubilee, an ABC-TV program based in Springfield, Missouri. 

In 1960, the Jubilee was cancelled and Lord moved to Nashville, where he was immediately offered a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. One of his Opry highlights was during a  1962 televised performance, the host complimented Lord on his “fine singing” and suggested that since both he and Cline were such great musicians that they saddle on up to the microphones and sing a little ditty together! Patsy Cline sauntered on out with a beaming smile on her face and joined Lord and they sung the timeless country ballad “(Remember Me) I’m The One Who Loves You.” 

He continued appearing on the Opry well into the 1970s. He recorded for Hickory Records starting in 1961 and Decca Records from 1967. During this time he also hosted a daily afternoon show on WSM-TV in Nashville, which was the counterpart to Ralph Emery's morning show on that station, "Opry Almanac". Under the auspices of WSM-TV, he also hosted a weekly syndicated half-hour program featuring popular country artists. Lord's backing band on the syndicated show included Jerry Byrd on steel guitar, Jerry Whitehurst on piano and Spider Wilson on guitar. 

Bobby wrote a book entitled Hit The Glory Road, published in 1969 by Broadman Press about he grassroots gospel behind country music. Also that year Lord left Nashville and went into semi-retirement from the music industry and became vice president of a start-up company based out of Nashville called Outdoor Resorts of America. He was in charge of overseeing the development and sales of several large condominium campgrounds, including one on the southeast coast of Florida, where he moved his family. 

Bobby was well known as an avid outdoorsman, camper, fisherman, hunter, etc. and had a reputation as an excellent interviewer from his TV shows. Because he left at the top of his game, Lord was still sought after by those in the entertainment industry. In the early 1980s, The Nashville Network asked him to host one of its original shows, Country Sportsman, which was later renamed Celebrity Outdoors.  The show had a very long and successful run and Bobby got paid to travel the world, fish, and visit with old friends. 

After several years, he retired from the show in 1989 because he was about to have two new grandchildren within a month of each other, and he wanted to be home to enjoy them. The show continued on for another season with another host, but the ratings were not what they once were when Bobby hosted the show and was subsequently cancelled. 

Bobby Lord died after a long illness on February 16, 2008 at a hospital in Stuart, Florida, at the age of 74. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & Orlando Sentinel)