back to artist biographies

Bobbie Eakes

Although Bobbie Eakes is best known for her ten-year stint as Macy Alexander on the CBS daytime drama "The Bold & the Beautiful," her creative efforts have hardly been limited to the daily grind of "soaps." In fact, it was landing the role of Macy that helped fakes develop her passion for music, which has led to an equally successful career as a singer.

Her love for performing goes back to her childhood. The youngest of five daughters in an Air Force family, Bobbie grew up in Warner Robins, Georgia. "I was a ham, all of us were," she recalls about those formative years. We were very much into music and putting on our own shows." It was her older sisters who also paved the way for Bobbie's initial foray into the big time. "All of my sisters had done beauty pageants, and one of them had been Miss Georgia," she explains. Though many young women make a small career out of competing in pageants, Bobbie's experience was a "one-year whirlwind" which saw her enter and win her first statewide pageant. As Miss Georgia. she was eventually selected as a top ten finalist in that year's Miss America pageant. Her talent was singing - she chose a Barbara Streisand song from "Funny Girl."

She decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue her musical ambitions, and it was there she met Garry Shandling, then a young stand-up comedian. Shandling introduced her to another friend who cast her in a small part on "Laverne and Shirley" - Bobbie's first professional acting job. "When I moved out here, the focus was definitely music, but you never know how you're going to get your break," Bobbie explains. "I started taking acting classes, going out on auditions, and found myself getting work on a lot of TV shows."

Her singing career was going places as well; she was part of the band Big Trouble, a group produced by Grammy winner Giorgio Moroder. The band was also the "house band" on the series "Comedy Break," where Bobbie also turned up occasionally as a performer in the sketches.

When she first received the offer to play Macy Alexander on "The Bold and the Beautiful," Bobbie admits that, although she watched daytime drama while growing up, she was not familiar with the two-year old CBS program. "The band had just broken up and I wasn't sure where my career was going," she recollects. "I turned on the show and watched Sally Spectra, who was supposed to be my mother, and she was crazy, larger than life, very different from me, and I said to myself "l don't know about this."

Bobbie quickly overcame her initial hesitation, and ten years later she's glad she took the part. "It turned out to be a great choice. I've always been a morning person, but I had been singing until two or three in the morning for years. I finally had the chance to wake up at six in the morning and have a regular gig."

Reflecting on her character, Bobbie says, "At the beginning, Macy and I were a lot alike, but they've had to spice her life up a little bit and give it some conflict. Now, she's an emotional wreck half the time, and I'm not." In the ten years she has been on the show, Macy has lost a husband and had bouts with alcoholism, cancer and fertility issues; Bobbie, meanwhile, leads a relatively normal life with husband David Steen and their cat, Elvis. "They've given me some meaty stuff to sink my teeth into, and I'm grateful," says Bobbie, who admits that she trusts the writers and producers when it comes to decisions about Macy's character. Her one suggestion over ths years was that she be allowed to sing on the show - a suggestion that eventually led to Bobbie's duets with Jeff Trachta on "Bold and Beautiful Duets I and II" which have been certified as double-platinum in Europe.

Recently, Bobbie finished recording a solo album produced by Don Cook, a longtime songwriter and producer for such top country acts as Brooks and Dunn, for whom he has produced thirteen number one singles. "Don was the first person we approached to do this album, and we were very lucky that the timing worked out," says Bobbie, who would fly to Nashville a few days at a time between shooting days on "The Bold and the Beautiful" to record. Although the album is country pop, Bobbie's tastes and influences are more electric, ranging from the Allman Brothers to Aretha Franklin to Dusty Springfield. "I like a strong melody and singers that have big range," she says. "I used to sit for hours with the lights off trying to hit Barbara Streisand's high notes and Karen Carpenter's low notes."

Presently, Bobbie lives in suburban Los Angeles, where she and her husband are beginning the work necessary to self-distribute Bobbie's album. After seven years of marriage, Bobbie is grateful for the path her life has taken. "It's so great living in LA and being a daytime actor because you don't get all of that 'show business' stuff," she says. While "The Bold and the Beautiful" is the most watched TV show in the world - with over 450 million daily viewers in 100 countries - she isn't burdened by the fame the show has brought her, at least when she is in town. "When I'm home in L.A., I forget it's even an issue. When I go out of town or out of the country, I get to pretend to be a big shot and ride in the limos, but still get to come back to a normal life."

This past year Bobbie received her first Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress on "The Bold and the Beautiful,"and with her first solo album to soon be released what else could she possibly have time for? How about auto racing?
"I have a cosmetics company in Australia that sponsors some race cars, and they put my name on one of the cars because I have a lot of fans down there," Bobbie explains about her latest enterprise. "They told me they'd like me to actually drive in a race...I have a suit and everything ready to go." Husband David Steen has bee encouraging her to try racing and Bobbie will start taking racing lessons as soon as she can work it into her busy schedule. "I've asked professional drivers what it takes and they say you have to be confident and fearless, and that's the way I am when I drive," she says with a laugh.

back to artist biographies