Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with 50-year blues/R&B legend Bobby Rush about how he used to disguise himself as his own emcee, how he fooled Chess Records executives and his appreciation of Bessie Smith.
CP: You were born Emmet Ellis, Jr., and changed your name out of respect for your father. What made you think he would disapprove?
BR: He was a pastor at a church, and out of respect for what he believed in and what I believe in, as a spiritually minded person. He’s my dad, but he’s also my best friend. He’s he one who influenced me to sing the blues.
During that time when I came along, most preachers were calling what we did “devil’s music.” He never said that to me. He never told me to sing the blues, but he never told me not to, so that was a green light coming from a preacher man.
Out of respect for him and what he stood for, I changed my name to Bobby. Nobody called me Bobby, and nobody called me Rush. Everybody called me Bobby Rush. I was looking for a last name like President Eisenhower. I thought of Truman and Roosevelt. As a kid, I was thinking about names that were big to me, or something that sounded big, sounded like a super star. To me, Bobby Rush sounded like a superstar.