SBI: A Thinning Crowd

A few weeks ago, I watched Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, and Rebel, a documentary about, surprisingly, Hugh Hefner. It was filled with interviews about Hefner’s life and plenty of footage of life at the Playboy Mansion. However, my favorite parts were clips from his television shows – Playboy’s Penthouse and Playboy After Dark. Hefner had some of the best entertainers of the time on these shows, and the documentary highlighted some of the most famous ones. But, there was one I had never heard of.

Bobby Doyle sang the most amazing rendition of “Blowin’ in the Wind” that I have ever heard. He played the piano while wearing dark glasses, and his voice was mesmerizing. As he sang, I kept wondering why I had never heard of him. I also wondered where I could find his version of the song. When the show was over, I went searching for Bobby Doyle.

My first stop, like always, was Google. As is usual, Wikipedia was listed at the top of the page. I clicked it and found a page titled, “Bobby Doyle (jazz vocalist)”. The entry was only two paragraphs long, and it stated that he passed away in 2006. It also said that the Texan performed with “Blood, Sweat and Tears”, and his own group, “The Bobby Doyle Three”. Interestingly, this group included Kenny Rogers, who was just inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. That’s about it. Although, there was a list of recordings that did not include “Blowin’ in the Wind”.

Thinking the page of Kenny Rogers may have more information, I clicked his link. It said that he was a member of “The Bobby Doyle Trio” but didn’t have a link back to Doyle.

Then, I started thinking that there must be an obituary somewhere. I couldn’t find it by Googling Bobby Doyle, so I added singer to my search. There was his obituary in an Austin, Texas newspaper. It chronicled his music career but said that his greatest impact on Austin was a music venue called Ego’s. It also explained the dark glasses when it said that he attended the Texas School for the Blind.

Now, I was beginning to find out who Bobby Doyle was, but it only added to my curiosity. I wanted to know his music, but I also wanted to know him. Obviously, I saw Doyle on the documentary, but there must be other images. Unfortunately, I could only find a few.

There was an old album cover.

There was “The Bobby Doyle Trio”.

However, this was my favorite.

Soon, I realized there were not enough images or information on the Internet for someone as talented as him. This is when I went searching for his music. The best place for that had to be the iTunes Store because it has everything. However, it didn’t have much from Bobby Doyle.

A 1950s compilation album had “Pauline”, and another compilation album had “Hot Seat”. Through the Years: A Retrospective covered the career of Kenny Rogers and included a couple of songs from his days with Doyle. This included “Don’t Feel Rained On”, “Fly Me to the Moon”, and “My Mammy”. That’s it. Five songs.

Bobby Doyle, the singer with the great voice, only had five songs on iTunes. There was not a complete album, and there was definitely no version of “Blowin’ in the Wind”.

Next, I went to the other place to find music, YouTube. A couple of videos offered the same songs that were on iTunes, but a few others showed Doyle playing “Sweet Little Angel” and “Kansas City” at an Austin music venue. With that, there had to be the clip that I saw in the documentary. The one where he sang “Blowin’ in the Wind”. It was nowhere to be found.

There was one last stop on my search for Bobby Doyle – the Internet Movie Database. He appeared several times on The Joey Bishop Show and once on Playboy After Dark. He also had a song on the soundtrack of the 1971 movie, Vanishing Point.

At that point, I stopped searching for Bobby Doyle. What did I learn in my search? I learned that there was a great pianist and vocalist from Texas who more people need to hear. I learned that there are talented people out there who gained a bit of fame but faded from memory. I learned that many of those people helped others become really famous. I learned that the Internet does not have all of the information in the world. I learned that the world needs to be reintroduced to Bobby Doyle.

Tags: Blood Sweat and Tears, Bobby Doyle, Hugh Hefner, iTunes, Kenny Rogers, Playboy After Dark, Playboy's Penthouse, The Joey Bishop Show, Vanishing Point, YouTube