Scope and arrangement
The collection consists of one 7-inch record titled Blues for Mister Charlie recorded by Sharp, a special tribute to James Baldwin's 1964 play of the same name.
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- Creator
- Sharp, Bobby
- Call number
- Sc MIRS Sharp 1993-16
- Physical description
- 1 audio_recording
- Language
- English
- Preferred Citation
- Bobby Sharp audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
- Sponsor
- An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
- Repository
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
- Access to materials
- Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.
Bobby Sharp (November 26, 1924- January 28, 2013) was a singer, songwriter, and musician who was active during the 1950s and 1960s. The collection consists of one 7-inch record titled Blues for Mister Charlie recorded by Sharp, a special tribute to James Baldwin's 1964 play of the same name.
Biographical/historical information
Bobby Sharp (November 26, 1924- January 28, 2013) was a singer, songwriter, and musician. Sharp, born in Topeka, Kansas, was the son of concert tenor Louis Sharp. Sharp attended the Greenwich School of Music in 1946 and the Manhattan School of Music in 1948. His songs were recorded by artists such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Sarah Vaughan. His most notable song was Unchain My Heart, which was a hit record for singer Ray Charles in 1961, and the focus of a publishing rights lawsuit that Sharp won in the early 1970s. Sharp died at eighty-eight years old at a hospital in Oakland, California.
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Bobby Sharp, April 1993.
Processing information
Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans. Collection processed and described by Ornella U. Baganizi, archivist. Finding aid published in 2025.
Separated material
See the Photographs and Prints Division for the Bobby Sharp collection, Sc Photo Bobby Sharp Collection.
See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division for the following separated titles: The Decorative Arts of Africa (1973) by Louise E. Jefferson, Sc *745-J (Jefferson, L. Decorative arts of Africa); My Spiritual (1972) by Eva Jessye, Sc 784.7-J (Jessye, E. My spirituals); and Mellows: A Chronicle of Unknown Singers (1925) by R. Emmet Kennedy, Sc 784.7-K (Kennedy, R. Mellows).
Key terms
Names
Subjects
Occupations
Using the collection
Location
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor