Samuel OBie

Growing up in Hillsborough leaves a permanent impression on a person. Just ask Samuel OBie. "I am grateful I grew up in Hillsborough", said OBie, who now plays music in Charlotte. "I know I would be a different person if I had grown up in Charlotte or New York or Los Angeles. I learned values that I might not have otherwise learned." The impression was such that the 1971 Orange High School graduate recently wrote a song about his hometown-"Hillsborough (NC) USA."
The song works through Obie's memories of growing up in the town where played outside with neighbors and learned values from parents, family & other community adults. "The lyrics just came," he said; "the music just came." After finishing an early draft of the song, he called, he called his brothers & let them hear the song. "I called my brothers & put the phone to the speakers & played it for them," Obie said.
"My brothers were laughing," and said, "that's the story of our growing up!" That story includes marbles, climbing trees & discipline from dad. It also brings to mind the relationships that only a small town can provide. "A small town offers that home-town village feeling. I was raised by a village." Obie grew up in a house of music, so he always had a hunch he would find a career in music. It all began when he convinced his mother to teach him to play the piano. "She made playing the piano seem like the greatest thing," he said. With music in his blood, Obie moved to Charlotte in 1992, where he could play in churches, earning enough money to keep writing & recording music. Obie, whose musical styles mix jazz, gospel & r&b, considers himself an "independent singer-songwriter." His original songs include ones about his own personal life & one entitled "Tragedy," about the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. "It just happened recently," he said of the song. "It's about the fear that gripped out country. It's a tragedy." Despite the musical freedom he's found in the Queen City, Obie still enjoys returning to Hillsborough to visit family, including his grandmother. It is in Hillsborough, after all, that he can remember a life far different from any in a big city. "I remember going to sleep with only a screen door latched," he said. "There was hardly any crime at all." "I always look forward to coming home." And while he's away from home, he would like to do something for the town that gave him so much growing up. He plans to produce a final copy of the song & pitch it to major record labels & see if he can find an artist, such as James Taylor, to sing it. "I want to see if we can put my hometown on the national map," Obie said. - News of Orange County (NC) by Phillip K. Scott