Harry Nilsson

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Harry Nilsson, 1974

Harry Nilsson (born June 15, 1941 in Brooklyn , New York as Harry Edward Nilsson III ; † January 15, 1994 in Agoura Hills , California ) was an American singer-songwriter , pianist and guitarist , who worked particularly well in the 1960s and 1970s Years ago. In most of his publications he did not use his first name, just called himself Nilsson . His best-known songs are the cover versions Without You (originally by Badfinger ) and Everybody's Talkin ' (originally by Fred Neil ) as well as his own composition One .

Life

The early years

Nilsson was born in Bushwick , Brooklyn, in 1941 . His father, Harry Edward Nilsson, Jr., left the family three years later. An autobiographical reference at the beginning of Nilsson's 1941 song refers to these events :

"Now, in 1941, a happy father had a son
But in 1944, the father walked right out the door"

Harry grew up with his mother, Bette Nilsson, and his younger half-sister. His younger brother Drake was left with family and friends when they drove to California or back to New York regularly . The family was surrounded by a number of relatives and stepfathers. One relative whose influence on Harry was to prove significant was his uncle John, a mechanic from San Bernardino , California, who gave him singing lessons.

Because of the poor financial situation of his family, Nilsson had to go to work himself at an early age; for example, he worked for the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles . When the Paramount Theater went bankrupt around 1960, he applied to a bank and, contrary to the facts, stated that he was a high school graduate. In fact, Harry Nilsson had dropped out of school after the 9th grade. He showed great skill in handling computers, which were then just being used in the banking sector. In the end, he was so good at it that the bank kept him even after they found out that he had been untruthful when applying.

Musical beginnings

As early as 1958, Nilsson found an interest in new musical tastes, especially in rhythm and blues artists like Ray Charles . He made his first own attempts while he was still working at the Paramount Theater, when he formed a vocal duo with his friend Jerry Smith and they performed in the style of the Everly Brothers .

Since he worked the night shift at the bank, Nilsson was able to take care of visiting the Los Angeles music producer's offices during the day and making friends and contacts. Uncle John's singing lessons, plus Nilsson's own talent, certainly helped when he sang demos for songwriter Scott Turner in 1962 . Turner paid him $ 5 for every track he recorded. Years later, when Nilsson was well known, Turner wanted to bring these early recordings out and turned to Nilsson to negotiate fair pay. Nilsson replied that he had already been paid - five dollars per track.

1963 Nilsson achieved his first successes as a songwriter when he worked with John Marascalco on the song Groovy Little Suzie for Little Richard . When Little heard Richard Nilsson sing, he is said to have exclaimed, "Hey, you sing good for a white boy!" Marascalco also sponsored several independently released singles by Nilsson. One of them, Baa Baa Blacksheep , was sold to a few small radio stations under the pseudonym Bo Pete . Another recording, Donna, I understand , led Mercury Records to offer Nilsson a contract and release recordings of him under the name Johnny Niles .

In 1964 Nilsson worked with Phil Spector , with whom he wrote three songs together. He also built a relationship with songwriter and editor Perry Botkin Jr. , who was gradually establishing a market for Nilsson's songs. His recording contract was taken over by Tower Records, which did not begin with it, but his songs were recorded by Glen Campbell , Fred Astaire , the Yardbirds and many other artists. Despite this growing success, Nilsson continued to work night shifts at the bank.

The RCA Victor contract

Nilsson signed with RCA-Victor in 1967 and released an album, Pandemonium Shadow Show , which became a major, if not a commercial, success. Music industry insiders were impressed with both the songwriting and Nilsson's puristic, multi-octave vocals. One of those insiders was Derek Taylor , the Beatles' press manager , who bought a box of 25 copies of the album to share this new sound with others. With a release on one of the bigger labels and continued success in songwriting - the Monkees landed a hit with Nilsson's Cuddly Toy - Nilsson could feel confident enough in the music business to quit the job at the bank.

Some of the albums Derek Taylor bought eventually ended up with the Beatles themselves, who quickly became fans of Nilsson. Perhaps that was also made easier by the recording You Can't Do That , in which Nilsson did not simply cover a Beatles song, but instead integrated elements from 22 other Beatles pieces. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the creation of the Apple label , Lennon was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied: Nilsson . Then McCartney was asked to name his favorite American group. He also replied: Nilsson .

In 1968, the Pandemonium Shadow Show was followed by the album Aerial Ballet - for which Derek Taylor wrote the liner notes - with Nilsson's version of Fred Neil's song Everybody's Talkin ' . The song, which was a minor hit at the time of publication, became popular a year later when it was played in the movie Asphalt Cowboy . Nilsson won the first Grammy for the piece. Aerial Ballet also included Nilsson's version of his own composition One - a song that later made it to the top of the charts through Three Dog Night and with its famous first line ("One is the loneliest number") one of the most famous songs to this day Nilssons counts. Nilsson was also commissioned to write and play the theme song for the ABC television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father . The result was Girlfriend , which was very popular, but was never released on a record by Nilsson. It was released in 2013 on The RCA Albums Collection .

Chart successes

Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts. He also reached the Top 40 with the single with I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City - the song was originally intended as the title track for Asphalt Cowboy . While Nilsson appeared primarily as a songwriter on this album, his subtle choice of templates for his cover versions included a piece by the then little-known songwriter Randy Newman : Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear . Nilsson was so impressed by Newman's talent that he dedicated the entire next album to Newman's compositions, with Newman himself playing the piano in the background while Nilsson took over the vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially disappointing, but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review and gave Newman a significant boost in his career.

Nilsson's next project was an animated film, The Point! which he created with director Fred Wolf and which aired on ABC television in 1971. Nilsson's song album for The Point! was well received and spawned a hit single: Me and my Arrow . In late 1971 Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what would become the most successful album in Nilsson's career. Nilsson Schmilsson contained three stylistically very different hit singles. The first was a cover version of Badfingers Without You in a very emotional arrangement and matching ascending vocal passages. For this achievement, Nilsson received his second Grammy. The second single was Coconut , a calypso number in which three actors appeared: the narrator, the sister and the doctor, all of which were sung by Nilsson in their own voices. Of the song, the chorus Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em both up is particularly memorable . The song has since been used in many other films, commercials, and an episode of the television series The Simpsons . The third single, Jump into the Fire , was rougher, louder rock 'n' roll, which included a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos , Jim Gordon and the bass by Herbie Flowers .

Nilsson followed suit not long after (1972) with Son of Schmilsson , which was released while the last album was still in the charts. Aside from the problem of having to compete with himself, Nilsson frightened some of his former, more conservative fans by failing to rein in his directness and rawness in this release. With lines like I sang my balls off for you, baby (German for example: Baby, I sang the balls out of my body for you ), Roll the world over / And give her a kiss and a feel and the infamous You're breaking my heart / You're tearing it apart / So fuck you ( You break my heart, tear it apart, so lick my ass ) Nilsson had strayed far from his early work. Still, the album sold well, and the single Spaceman was a hit in the Top 40.

The outsider

This non-commercial thinking in favor of artistic satisfaction was also evident in Nilsson's next publication, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973). He presented a selection of pop classics by greats such as Irving Berlin and Kalmar & Ruby and sang in front of an orchestra led by old master Gordon Jenkins . The recordings were produced by Nilsson's assistant Derek Taylor. In retrospect, it can be said that these sessions showed a very talented singer doing one of his best performances; However, appearances that were not suitable to guarantee him a rise in the charts of the 1970s. The recordings were filmed and broadcast on special television by the BBC in the UK. A video version has not yet been published.

In 1974 Nilsson was back in California, and when John Lennon moved there after separating from Yoko Ono , the two artists renewed their old friendship. Lennon wanted to produce Nilsson's next album, which Nilsson also welcomed; however, the time together was more known for excessive drinking and drug use than for musical collaboration. It made headlines, for example, that the two drunk disrupted a performance by the Smothers Brothers and were then thrown out of the troubadour in West Hollywood . Nilsson also injured his vocal cords, which is why the next album they both released, Pussy Cats , was disappointing for many Nilsson fans, who loved him as one of the best singers of his generation.

Nilsson's voice had recovered by the time his next album, Duit on Monday (1975) was released, but the following albums, Sandman and That's the Way It Is (both 1976), also failed to hit the charts. Finally, in 1977, Nilsson recorded Knnillssonn , which he himself considered his best album. With a re-energized voice and songs that were musical reminiscences of Harry or The Point , Nilsson expected it to be a successful comeback album. But the death of Elvis Presley led RCA Victor to concentrate entirely on Presley albums and the promised marketing push for Nilsson failed to materialize. This and the release of Nilsson's Greatest Hits by RCA Victor, which happened without Nilsson's knowledge, led Nilsson to part with the label.

Waning success

Nilsson's musical work after the departure of RCA Victor was only sporadic. He co-wrote a musical with Perry Botkin Jr., Zapata , which saw performances all the way to Connecticut but never made it to Broadway . He wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's film musical Popeye (1980) and recorded another album, Flash Harry , which was only released in Europe. Nilsson began to see himself as a "retired musician".

Nilsson was hit hard by the December 1980 assassination of John Lennon. He became a member of the Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence , an association that campaigns for stricter control of firearms, and he appeared publicly to raise funds for the organization.

Nilsson ran into financial distress after his financial advisor embezzled all of the money Nilsson had earned during his artistic career. Nilsson's health deteriorated dramatically from binge drinking, and in 1993 he suffered a serious heart attack. He survived this, but now urged RCA Victor that his old label release a retrospective album of his best hits, and he started again with new recordings to put together one last album. He was able to finish the vocal recordings for the album on January 15, 1994, but died that night of heart failure. The following year, the two-CD anthology, Personal Best , which he had worked on with RCA Victor, was released.

Until 2019, Nilsson's last album Papa's Got a Brown New Robe (produced by Mark Hudson ) was not released.

In 2015, Rolling Stone listed Nilsson as 62nd of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE UK UK US US
1966 Spotlight on Nilsson - - -
First published: 1966
1967 Pandemonium Shadow Show - - -
First published: 1967
1968 Aerial ballet - - -
First published: 1968
1969 Harry - - US120 (15 weeks)
US
First published: April 3, 1969
1970 Nilsson Sings Newman - - -
First published: January 26, 1970
1971 Nilsson Schmilsson DE43 (4 weeks)
DE 		UK4 (22 weeks)
UK 		US3
gold
gold

(46 weeks)US
First published: November 20, 1971
1972 Son of Schmilsson - UK41 (1 week)
UK 		US12
gold
gold

(31 weeks)US
First published: July 1972
1973 A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night - UK20 (19 weeks)
UK 		US46 (17 weeks)
US
First published: June 1973
1974 Pussy cats - - US60 (12 weeks)
US
First published: August 19, 1974
Producer: John Lennon
1975 Duit on Mon Dei - - US141 (7 weeks)
US
First published: March 1975
1976 Sandman - - US111 (7 weeks)
US
First published: January 1976
... That's the way it is - - US158 (6 weeks)
US
First published: June 1976
1977 Knnillssonn - - US108 (10 weeks)
US
First published: July 1977
Early Tymes - - -
First published: 1977
1980 Flash Harry - - -
First published: 1980
1994 Papa's Got a Brown New Robe - - -
Unpublished

Soundtracks

Film and television appearances

  • Skidoo (1968) songs written and sung, composer of the soundtrack, actor (minor role)
  • The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series, 1969–1972) Title song written and sung, accompanying music
  • Asphalt-Cowboy (1969) sung new version of Everybody's Talkin '
  • Jenny (1970) wrote and sung the song Waiting
  • The point! (1971) Plot and all songs written / sung by Nilsson
  • Son of Dracula (1974) actor (lead role), all songs sung
  • The World's Greatest Lover (1978) sung the song Ain't It Kinda Wonderful
  • New version of Good For God sung in God We Trust (1980)
  • Popeye (1980) wrote all songs
  • Handgun (1983) song Lay Down Your Arms written and sung
  • First Impressions (TV series, 1988) co-wrote the theme song, sung by him
  • Camp Candy (TV series, animation, 1989–1991) wrote the theme song, sung with John Candy
  • The Fisher King (1991) sung the song How About You
  • Me, Myself, and I (1992) Song Me, Myself and I written and sung
  • Seinfeld (1995) song Everybodys Talkin '
  • Coke with Lime Ad (2005) new version of the song Coconut was used

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Taylor's liner notes for Nilsson's album Aerial Ballet . (No longer available online.) In: http://www.harrynilsson.com/ . 1967, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 1, 2014 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.harrynilsson.com  
  2. ↑ More information on this title in: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 307.
  3. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  5. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nilsson, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nilsson, Harry Edward III
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American songwriter, singer, pianist and guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1994
Place of death Agoura Hills , California , United States