Bobby was born in Manhattan, NY on March 11, 1950  – the son of operatic baritone Robert McFerrin and singer Sara Copper. You probably remember Bobby for the Grammy Award winning song, Don’t Worry, Be Happy, but do you know the backstory?

It was a phrase popularized by an Indian spiritual master, Meher Baba, who had first promoted “Don’t worry, be happy” as something he could send to his Western adherents. Soon after, the phrase turned up on posters and cards in the West, and Bobby was inspired by one hanging in the apartment of friends – jazz duo Tuck & Patti. He also called it “a pretty neat philosophy in four words,” and he wasn’t alone in thinking so. Meher Baba’s most famous devotee was the Who’s Pete Townshend, who structured an entire rock opera (1969’s Tommy) around the man’s teachings. Well, Bobby took ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ to the top of the charts – and became an instant star.

Did you also know that he’s a classical music conductor? Well, he’s known as a jazz pianist and a solo jazz singer who has 10 Grammy Awards and a host of recordings to his credit. But McFerrin has been conducting orchestras for more than a decade, and he’s come by the classical post legitimately. His father, Robert McFerrin, was the first male African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He made his Met debut on January 27, 1955, as Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, a few weeks after Marian Anderson had broken the colour barrier at the Met. His mother also was a singer and a voice teacher at Fullerton College for 20 years and head of the music department for three.

“My parents weren’t snobs by any means,” said McFerrin in a 2001 LA Times interview. “I’d hear ‘Rigoletto,’ then they’d turn on ‘Porgy and Bess’ and then Debussy… So, it was a very easy transformation from being a jazz singer and then doing the podium thing.”

That’s funny…and a little synchronistic…

Bobby’s March 11th birthday is the same day that Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto premiered in Venice in 1851.

Bobby took lessons from Gustav Meier, one of the foremost conducting teachers at the time, as well as from Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. He made his conducting debut on his 40th birthday, leading the San Francisco Symphony in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Since then, he’s conducted major orchestras here and abroad, including a TCS favourite – Fauré’s Requiem.

A final bit of (scandalous) trivia… ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ was used as the official campaign song for George H. W. Bush in the 1988 U.S. presidential election, without permission or endorsement.