[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15027-15028]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MR. BOBBY RUSH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 19, 2012

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
philanthropist and blues musician in his own right, Mr. Bobby Rush, 
born Emmit Ellis, Jr.; however, he prefers to be called ``Bobby Rush'' 
in a one syllable pronunciation. The decision to change his name came 
simply out of respect for his father, Pastor Emmit Ellis, Sr.; because 
Emmit Ellis, Jr. wanted to be a Blues entertainer.
  I could talk only about his career as a Blues artist and leave out 
the humanitarian side of Bobby Rush but I would be, as my mother used 
to say ``short changing,'' him. Blues is his ``love'', but his 
compassion is people.
  Bobby Rush started singing at an early age, around six, when he made 
his first instrument, a guitar, out of a broom. He started entertaining 
around ten years old, and formed his first band around age thirteen. 
Here are three eyebrow raising interesting facts about Bobby Rush. One, 
with his father being the pastor of perhaps at least two churches, he 
never sang in the choir but he certainly sang from his seat. Second, 
although his parents were devout church goers and gospel listeners, 
they never discouraged Bobby Rush from singing and performing the 
Blues. And, they never saw him perform but he said, ``Every time I went 
home they had all my music already so I'm sure they kept up with me.'' 
And third, in getting started he often would role play himself 
performing and entertaining. Trying to mimic after other entertainers, 
he would ask his uncle about who was old enough to visit the clubs and 
watch them perform. He said he would add his own personal touch, of 
course.
  Many people may not be aware of this but in 1951 he recorded his 
first song with Chess Records. Not only was he making history at Chess 
Records with other artists like Bo Diddly, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Rogers, 
Lowell Fulson, Memphis Slim, and others but he actually broke the color 
barrier around 1951 or 1952 when he became the first black entertainer 
to play on Bourbon Street on Chicago's Southside.
  As a teenager, in 1953, he moved to Chicago with his family and began 
performing on the local blues scene. He also formed his own band. But 
it was in the 1970s when his career really started to take off with his 
first hit ``Chicken Heads'' on the Galaxy Record label. Bobby Rush has 
sold over 259 records on the Southern ``Chitlin' Circuit.''
  Bobby Rush, like all other southern blues artists, could take a life-
time telling stories about the highs and lows of his career. I'm sure 
he can tell you about how he faced racial issues, menial pay, his 
efforts to break the color barriers while out on tour in order to make 
a living so he could provide for his family, and even the disparaging 
work conditions he endured, to say the least.
  Nevertheless, this veteran of the Blues has definitely established a 
name for himself among such great entertainers as BB King, Howlin' 
Wolf, Solomon Burke, Ike and Tina Turner, Muddy Waters, Bobby Blue 
Bland, Etta James, Redd Foxx, Otis Rush, Little Milton, Dick Gregory, 
and Sammy Davis, Jr. And by the way, many of these he performed with 
and apprenticed under as well. He has sung in night clubs, at 
festivals, at charity events, and in concert halls all over the world--
Chicago, Cleveland and Clarksdale, Mississippi, Detroit, the Kennedy 
Center, Carnegie Hall, Poland, Japan, China, Arkansas, Louisiana, and 
Canada just to name a few places--and he is still traveling the world 
and performing.
  In an interview back in the 90s with Stanley Booth, he said, ``Until 
a few years ago, nobody knew I exist. Not really. I'm probably the only 
one livin' who have did as well as I've done, and nobody know nothin' 
about me.'' One of the reasons is because Bobby Rush has always been 
his own manager, never taking on anyone to manage him, answering his 
own phone calls, and booking his own shows and then showing up to 
perform--no imposter there! When I asked him about that comment, he 
said, ``I'm just a Blues singer, I am just, I am the people's Blues 
singer. I never wanted to get too high where they couldn't reach me but 
I wanted to be high enough to be able to help them.''
  After a lifetime of achievement, in April 2000, the Mississippi 
Senate passed Resolution 43 honoring Bobby Rush for his musical career. 
Then in 2003, he started his own record label, Deep Rush, on which he 
cut his CD ``Undercover Lover'' while performing live at club Ground 
Zero in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is also the owner of Rush 
Productions, Inc. Also in 2003, he was featured in Richard Pearce's 
documentary film ``The Road to Memphis,'' which was part of Martin 
Scorsese's film series ``The Blues.'' His awards and recognitions 
include but are not limited to: Best Live Performer of the Year, Best 
Blues Entertainer of the Year, Best Soul/Blues Album of the Year, and 
the James Brown Heritage Award.
  Mr. Bobby Rush is still breaking barriers in the last decade because 
he has finally crossed over to white audiences; race is not the face of 
entertaining any longer but rather--whether or not the artist is good 
at what he does, and that he is.
  Like he said back in the 90s, nobody knew he existed a few years 
earlier. But, I want to help make sure people know there is more to 
Bobby Rush than a Blues song. I stated earlier, ``Blues is his `love', 
but his compassion is people.''
  Throughout his career, he has met people with circumstances that have 
reminded him of himself. For example, at one time in his Blues

[[Page 15028]]

career he was too poor to afford health insurance, so as a result, his 
wife and three children died of sickle cell anemia. So, because of that 
he is always giving to support sickle cell anemia research. Blues in 
the Schools Program is a program he started because he wanted to help 
the Blues stay alive through our children! You can certainly make a 
living singing the Blues and be able to help someone in the process. 
Computers in Schools is another program he supports; once, he donated 
all the proceeds from an event to buy thousands of dollars worth of 
computers for West Tallahatchie County School District in Tallahatchie 
County, MS.
  And his humanitarian journey continues. Bobby Rush travels the 
country putting on a pulse racing--finger popping Annual Red, White, 
and Blues Jam for Veterans. He mentors other artists, just like Albert 
King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Milton took him under 
their wings and mentored him as a teenager. And if that's not enough, 
he is always offering to perform at charity events to help small 
communities raise money throughout the Delta.
  So, after migrating from his birthplace in Homer, Louisiana, after 
getting an early start on his Blues career when he moved to Chicago in 
1953, and recording his first number one hit eighteen years later in 
1971, with six decades of singing the Blues, Bobby Rush has settled on 
his Mississippi roots in Jackson, Mississippi in 1983. His great-
grandmother and grandfather were from Jackson, Mississippi. And I am 
glad to be working on his behalf as well.
  When Bobby Rush is not out of state touring or participating in a 
charity event, you just might catch him performing for fun and 
entertainment at a local night club somewhere in Mississippi.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing a 
humanitarian and blues musician from the Second Congressional District 
of Mississippi, Mr. Bobby Rush.

                          ____________________