Taeko Morino (Harumi Ohzora)/Mieko Hirota -- Sunny

 

It's been a standard through all audio media for the decades that it has been in existence since its release by singer-songwriter Bobby Hebb in February 1966. Yep, "Sunny" has popped up here and there in my life via radio and records and now on YouTube.

But now through my browsings of YouTube, I've discovered that there have been a couple of remarkable cover versions of "Sunny" in Japan. One was by the late Taeko Morino（森野多恵子）who was a member of the Group Sounds band The White Kicks（ザ・ホワイト・キックス）via an appearance on a 1968 music show that was preciously saved on audiotape by YouTuber Old But Cool (something that I would like to be).

As I mentioned in the lone article thus far regarding The White Kicks, Morino went by a few names during her life and career which were sadly cut short in 1998 at the age of 50. She was also known as Tan Tan, known for her disco and City Pop material from the late 1970s, and then as Harumi Ohzora（大空はるみ）going into the 1980s as she specialized in techno jazz. Morino didn't leave The White Kicks until 1971 but she gave a fine solo performance for "Sunny" with a really brassy voice to match the brass accompanying her.

Then, a couple of surprises greeted me when I discovered via the Wikipedia article for "Sunny" that the late Mieko Hirota（弘田三枝子）had recorded the song. Surprise One was that she had recorded the standard onto her January 1966 album "Miko in New York"...several weeks before Hebb himself released his version to the world, although the song had been created by Hebb all the way back in 1963. So, does that mean Hirota was the very first person to show "Sunny" to the world? As for Surprise Two, that would be the singer herself who sounded far more mature and rich for someone who wouldn't reach the age of 19 for another few weeks when she was in the recording booth.