Zal Yanovsky

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Zalman "Zal" Yanovsky (born December 19, 1944 , † December 13, 2002 in Kingston ) was a Canadian musician , producer and restaurateur who was famous for his participation in the American band The Lovin 'Spoonful from 1965 to 1967 has been. Yanovsky died of a heart attack in Kingston, Ontario, when he was 58 years old .

youth

Born in Toronto , Canada to the Jewish political cartoonist Avrom Yanovsky , he left college at the age of 16 and played folk music in Canadian coffee houses. A short time later, he was working in a kibbutz in Israel that he had to leave after driving a tractor into a building. Afterwards, the musical autodidact kept himself afloat with street music in Tel Aviv . After returning to Toronto, he met Denny Doherty , who would later become the singer of Mamas and Papas . Doherty invited him to join his folk blues group The Halifax Three . With Doherty and Cass Elliot , another later Mamas and Papas member, he founded The Mugwumps in 1964 . The records recorded by this band were only released after their members became known in other bands.

The Lovin 'Spoonful

During his stay in the folk scene of Greenwich Village , New York , he befriended John Sebastian , with whom he shared a penchant for various types of folk and blues . Inspired by the example of the Beatles , the two founded the band The Lovin 'Spoonful , together with Steve Boone (bass) and Joe Butler (drums) from Long Island , in which they combined traditional music with rock and roll. They got their name from a Mississippi song called John Hurt .

In 1965 they signed a recording deal with Kama Sutra Records and achieved with their first single Do You Believe In Magic? the top ten of the US charts. With further successes like Daydream , Summer In The City and Darling Be Home Soon , they were among the first bands to challenge the dominance of the Beatles and other British musicians in the USA. At a time when rock LPs usually consisted of a single hit and mostly fillers, the Lovin 'Spoonful released albums with inspired, mostly self-composed songs. In 1966 they recorded the soundtrack for What's Up, Tiger Lily? by Woody Allen and in 1967 for You're A Big Boy Now by Francis Ford Coppola .

The group's trademark good mood was disrupted when Boone and Zanovsky were arrested for possession of marijuana. To avoid expulsion from the US, Yanovsky betrayed his dealer, whereupon the Lovin 'Spoonful were ostracized by the musical counterculture. In mid-1967 he left the band and was replaced by Jerry Yester of the Modern Folk Quartet .

The solo artist

After returning to Canada, he recorded the album Alive and Well in Argentina (and Loving Every Minute Of It) , which was released on Buddah Records in 1968. Both the LP and a single, As Long As You're Here , with the same track played backwards and without vocals as the B-side, achieved minimal sales. In 1971 the album was re-released on Kama Sutra Records.

From 1969 Zanovsky worked with Jerry Yester as a producer, for example on the albums Happy Sad by Tim Buckley (1969), Fifth Avenue Band and Farewell Aldebaran by Jerry Yester and Judy Henske . He played with Kris Kristofferson and appeared on the pseudo Broadway show National Lampoon's Lemmings at New York's The Village Gate with the song Nirvana Banana , a parody of Donovan .

In the early 1970s he turned his back on the music world and initially produced TV series for Canadian television. a. the nightly magistrate's court series . In 1975 he appeared in the TV documentary Rock-A-Bye with Mick Jagger and Alice Cooper . In 1980, Yanovsky played again with his Lovin 'Spoonful colleagues on several occasions, including a. in the film One Trick Pony by Paul Simon . He also appeared several times unannounced at appearances by John Sebastian.

In March 1996 he was elected to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame . The Original Lovin 'Spoonful met for the last time in 2000 for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , where they performed some of their previous hits live. Zanovsky then accompanied Sebastian on a tour through England.

The restaurateur

With his second wife, Rose Richardson, he founded the posh Chez Piggy restaurant in 1979 , which became the meeting place for night owls in Kingston, Ontario. He presented his cookbook of the same name on Canadian TV. In 1994 he opened the Pan Chancho bakery .

death

On December 13, 2002, Zal Yanovsky died on his farm from complications from a heart attack. After his wife Rose Richardson died in 2005, their daughter Zoe Yanovsky, together with actress Jackie Burroughs , took over both businesses. She also completed The Pan Chancho Cookbook , which her father had last worked on. It was published by Bookmakers Press in 2006 .

Before his death, Yanovsky had participated in the re-release of the first two albums by Lovin 'Spoonful on CD, which were released in 2002 on BMG Records.

obituary

John Sebastian about his late friend: “I saw all of these strengths in Zally. He could play like Elmore James . He could play like Floyd Cramer . He could play like Chuck Berry . He could play like all these people, but he also had an overwhelming personality of his own. With all that, I thought, we could create something with real flexibility ”.

Discography

The mugwumps

  • 1964 I Don't Wanna Know / I'll Remember Tonight (Single)
  • 1964 Searchin '/ Here It Is Another Day (single, released 1967)
  • 1964 The Mugwumbs (album, released 1967)

The Lovin 'Spoonful

  • 1965 Do You Believe In Magic? / On The Road Again (Single)
  • 1965 You Didn't Have To Be So Nice / My Gal (Single)
  • 1965 Do You Believe In Magic? (Album)
  • 1966 Daydream / Night Owl Blues (single)
  • 1966 Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind / Bald Headed Lena (Single)
  • 1966 Daydream (album)
  • 1966 What's Up Tiger Lily (album)
  • 1966 Summer In The City / Físhin 'Blues (Single)
  • 1966 What's Shakin '(Compilation Album)
  • 1966 Rain On The Roof / Warm Baby (Single)
  • 1966 Nashville Cats / Full Measure (Single)
  • 1966 Hums Of The Lovin 'Spoonful (album)
  • 1967 Darling Be Home Soon / Darlin Companion (Single)
  • 1967 You're A Big Boy Now (Album)

Zal Yanovsky solo

  • 1967 As Long As You're Here / Ereh Er'uoy Sa Gnol Sa (Single)
  • 1967 Alive And Well In Argentina (Album)

Cookbooks

  • 1998 The Chez Piggy Cook Book
  • 2006 The Pan Chanco Cookbook

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Canadian Music Hall of Fame - Inductees. Canadian Music Hall of Fame , accessed August 6, 2017 .