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Harry Nilsson
15th June 1941 - 15th January 1994
Born New York.
Singer/songwriter of such classics as "Everybody's Talking" and
"Without You".
Close friend of the Beatles. He also sang a song called "Remember"
that's written on his headstone.
Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park, Westlake Village, Los Angeles.
Harry Edward Nilsson
III was an American songwriter, singer, pianist and guitarist, most
popular during the 1960s and 1970s. For most of his recordings, he did not use
his first name, and was credited only as Nilsson. Despite some spectacular
successes, including two Grammy Awards, Nilsson's tendency to make broad
stylistic jumps from one record to the next and his iconoclastic decisions kept
him from capitalizing on those successes. His most well-known recordings are
"Without You", "Everybody's Talkin'" (theme from the movie
"Midnight Cowboy") & "Coconut".
Biography
Early years
Nilsson was born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York in 1941. His
father, Harry Edward Nilsson, Jr., abandoned the family three years later. An
autobiographical reference to this is found in the opening to Nilsson's song
"1941":
Now, in 1941, the 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 or friends during their moves
between California and New York, sometimes living with a procession of
relatives and stepfathers. One relative who turned out to be an important
influence on him was his Uncle John, a mechanic in San Bernardino, California,
who taught him to sing properly. Due to the poor financial situation of his
family, Nilsson worked from an early age, including a job at the Paramount
Theater in Los Angeles. When the Paramount closed (circa 1960), Nilsson applied
for a job at a bank, falsely stating he was a high school graduate on his
application (he only made it through 9th grade). He turned out to have an
aptitude for computers, which were just starting to be employed by banks at the
time. He did so well, in fact, that the bank kept him on even after discovering
the lie about his education. He worked on the bank computers at night, and used
the daytime to pursue his song-writing and singing career.
Musical beginnings
As early as 1958, Nilsson was hooked on the new wave of music, especially
rhythm and blues artists like Ray Charles. He had taken early stabs at
performing while he was working at the Paramount, forming a vocal duo with his
friend Jerry Smith and singing close harmonies in the style of the Everly
Brothers. The manager at a favorite hangout gave Nilsson a plastic ukulele,
which he learned to play, following this with guitar and piano. When Nilsson
couldn't remember lyrics or parts of the melodies to popular songs, he began to
make up his own. This led to writing original songs. Uncle John's singing
lessons, along with Nilsson's natural talent, surely helped when he got a job
singing demos for songwriter Scott Turner in 1960. Turner paid Nilsson five
dollars for each track they recorded. (Years later, when Nilsson became famous,
Turner decided to release these early recordings, and contacted Nilsson to work
out a fair payment. Nilsson replied that he had already been paid—five dollars
a track.) His job with the bank was on the night shift, so Nilsson spent his
days infiltrating Los Angeles music business offices, making friends and
developing connections, including one publisher who gave Nilsson a key to his
office; this gave him another place to write.
In 1963, Nilsson began to have some early success as a songwriter, working with
John Marascalco on a song for Little Richard (Upon hearing Nilsson sing, Little
Richard reportedly remarked, "My! You sing good for a white boy!").
Marascalco also financed some independent singles by Nilsson. One, "Baa
Baa Blacksheep", was released under the pseudonym Bo Pete to some small
local airplay. Another recording, "Donna, I Understand", convinced
Mercury Records to offer Nilsson a contract, and release recordings by him
under the name Johnny Niles.
In 1964, Nilsson worked with Phil Spector, writing three songs with him. He
also established a relationship with songwriter and publisher Perry Botkin,
Jr., who began to find a market for Nilsson's songs. His recording contract was
picked up by Tower Records, who did nothing with it, but his songs were being
recorded by Glen Campbell, Fred Astaire, The Yardbirds, and many other artists.
(Despite this growing success, Nilsson was still working the night shift at the
bank.)
Signing with RCA Victor
Nilsson signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released an album the following
year, Pandemonium Shadow Show, which was a critical (if not commercial)
success. Music industry insiders were impressed both with the songwriting, and
with Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals. One such insider was Beatles
press officer Derek Taylor, who bought an entire box of copies of the album to
share this new sound with others. With a major-label release, and continued
songwriting success (The Monkees had a hit with Nilsson's "Cuddly
Toy", after meeting him through their producer Chip Douglas), Nilsson
finally felt secure enough in the music business to quit his job with the bank.
Monkees member Micky Dolenz maintained a close friendship with Nilsson until
his 1994 passing. Some of the albums from Derek Taylor's box eventually ended
up with the Beatles themselves, who quickly became Nilsson fans. This may have
been helped by the track "You Can't Do That", in which Nilsson
covered one Beatles song but added 22 others in the multi-tracked background
vocals. When John Lennon
and Paul McCartney
held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of Apple Corps, John
was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied,
"Nilsson". Paul was then asked to name his favorite American group.
He replied, "Nilsson".
When RCA had asked if there was anything special he wanted as a signing
premium, Nilsson asked for his own office at RCA, being used to working out of
one. In the weeks after the Apple press conference, Nilsson's office phone
began ringing constantly, with offers and requests for interviews... and
inquiries about his performing schedule. Nilsson usually answered the calls
himself, surprising those on the other end of the line, and answered questions
candidly. (He recalled years later the flow of a typical conversation:
"When did you play last?" "I didn't." "Where have you
played before?" "I haven't." "When will you be playing
next?" "I don't.") Nilsson acquired a manager, who steered him
into a handful of TV guest appearances, and a brief run of stage performances
in Europe set up by RCA. He disliked the experiences he had, though, and
decided to stick to the recording studio. He later admitted it was a huge
mistake on his part. One Monday morning Nilsson answered his phone, and the
caller turned out to be John Lennon, who praised Pandemonium Shadow Show, which
he had listened to in a 36-hour marathon. Paul McCartney called the following
Monday, also expressing his admiration. Nilsson was disappointed that his next
Monday did not come with a call from Ringo Starr or George Harrison, but
shortly after a message came, inviting him to London to meet the Beatles, watch
them at work, and possibly sign with Apple Corps.
Pandemonium Shadow Show was followed in 1968 by Aerial Ballet, an album that
included Nilsson's rendition of Fred Neil's song "Everybody's
Talkin'". A minor hit at the time of release, the song would become
extremely popular a year later when it was featured in the film "Midnight
Cowboy", and it would earn Nilsson his first Grammy Award. Aerial Ballet
also contained Nilsson's version of his own composition, "One", which
was later taken to the top 5 of the US charts by Three Dog Night. Nilsson was
also commissioned at this time to write and perform the theme song for the ABC
television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father. The result, "Best
Friend", was very popular, but Nilsson never released the song on record.
An alternate version, "Girlfriend," did appear on the Personal Best
anthology in 1995.
With the
success of Nilsson's RCA recordings, Tower re-issued or re-packaged many of
their early Nilsson recordings in various formats. All of these re-issues
failed to chart, including a 1969 single "Good Times".
Chart success
Nilsson's next album, Harry (1969), was his first to hit the charts, and
also provided a Top 40 single with "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York
City" (written as a contender for the theme to Midnight Cowboy). While the
album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of
cover material included, this time, a song by a little-known composer named
Randy Newman, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear". Nilsson was
so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to
Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Nilsson's
multi-tracked vocals. The result, Nilsson Sings Newman (1970), was commercially
disappointing but was named Record of the Year by Stereo Review magazine and
provided momentum to Newman's career. Nilsson's next project was an animated
film, The Point!, created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on
ABC television in 1971. Nilsson's album of songs from The Point! was
well-received, and it spawned a hit single, "Me and My Arrow". Later
that year, Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what
became the most successful album of his career. Nilsson Schmilsson yielded
three very stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of
Badfinger's song "Without You" (Pete Ham - Tom Evans), featuring a
highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match, a performance that
was rewarded with Nilsson's second Grammy Award. The second single was
"Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring three characters (the
narrator, the sister, and the doctor) all sung in different voices by Nilsson.
The song is best remembered for its chorus lyric, "Put de lime in de
coconut, and drink 'em both up." This song has since been featured in many
other films, commercials, and even an episode of The Simpsons. It was also used
in a comedy skit on The Muppet Show ,which featured Kermit the Frog in a
hospital bed. Most recently it has been heard in a television commercial for
Coca Cola Lime. The third single, "Jump Into the Fire", was raucous,
screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim
Gordon and a bass detuning by Herbie Flowers. The song was famously used during
the May 11th, 1980 scenes in the film "Goodfellas". Nilsson followed
quickly with Son of Schmilsson (1972), released while its predecessor was still
on the charts. Besides the problem of competing with himself, Nilsson's
decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release
alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base. With lyrics like
"I sang my balls off for you, baby", "Roll the world over / And
give her a kiss and a feel", and the notorious "You're breaking my
heart / You're tearing it apart / So f**k you", Nilsson had traveled far a
field from his earlier work. Still, the album did well, and the single
"Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit.
The Maverick
This disregard for commercialism in favor of artistic satisfaction showed
itself in Nilsson's next release, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night
(1973). Performing a selection of pop standards by the likes of Irving Berlin
and Kalmar & Ruby, Nilsson sang in front of an orchestra arranged and
conducted by veteran Gordon Jenkins in sessions produced by his constant
supporter Derek Taylor. While in hindsight, the sessions showcased an extremely
talented singer in one of his best performances, this was not the sort of thing
that was going to burn up the charts in the 1970s. The session was filmed, and
was broadcast as a television special by the BBC in the UK (Nilsson fans still
await this film's release in some home video format). 1974 found Nilsson back
in California, and when John Lennon moved there during his separation from Yoko
Ono, the two musicians rekindled their earlier friendship. Lennon was intent
upon producing Nilsson's next album, much to Nilsson's delight. However, their
time together in California became known much more for heavy drinking and drug
use than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident,
they were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken
heckling of the Smothers Brothers. To make matters worse, Nilsson ruptured a
vocal cord during the sessions for this album, but he hid the injury due to
fear that Lennon would call a halt to the production. The resulting album,
Pussy Cats, which may charitably be described as "uneven", was a
shock for listeners who knew Nilsson as one of the best singers of his
generation.
After the relative failure of his latest two albums, RCA Records considered
dropping Nilsson's contract. In a show of friendship, Lennon accompanied
Nilsson to negotiations, and both intimated to RCA that Lennon and fellow
former Beatle Ringo Starr might want to sign with them, once their Apple
Records contracts with EMI expired in 1975, but wouldn't be interested if
Nilsson were no longer with the label. RCA took the hint and re-signed Nilsson
(adding a completion bonus clause, to apply to each new album), but neither
Lennon nor Starr switched to RCA. Nilsson's voice had mostly recovered by his
next release, Duit on Mon Dei (1975), but neither it nor its follow-ups,
Sandman and ...That's the Way It Is (both 1976) met with chart success.
Finally, Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album,
1977's Knnillssonn. With his voice strong again, and his songs exploring
musical territory reminiscent of Harry or The Point!, Nilsson had every right
to expect Knnillssonn to be a comeback album. RCA Victor seemed to agree, and
promised Nilsson a substantial marketing campaign for the album. However, the
death of Elvis Presley caused RCA Victor to ignore everything except meeting
demand for Presley's back catalog, and the promised marketing push never
happened. This, combined with RCA Victor releasing a Nilsson Greatest Hits
collection without consulting him, prompted Nilsson to leave the label.
Harry Nilsson's London flat
Nilsson's 1970s London flat, located in the building at 12 Curzon Place on the
pricey edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom place decorated by the design company
that ex-Beatle Ringo Starr owned at that time. Although Nilsson cumulatively
spent several years at the flat, which was convenient to Apple Records, the
Playboy Club, Tramps disco and the homes of friends and business associates,
his work and interests took him to the U.S. for extended periods, and while he
was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his
absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour
group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium,
headlining with her Torch Songs and "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore".
Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to
relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart
failure, on July 29, 1974. Four years later, on September 7, 1978, The Who's
drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and
died from a massive overdose of a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson,
distraught over another friend's death taking place in his flat, and with
little remaining need for the property, quickly sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete
Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.
Winding down
Nilsson's musical work after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical,
Zapata, with Perry Botkin, Jr., Libretto by Allan Katz, which was produced and
directed by longtime friend Bert Convy. The show was mounted at the Goodspeed
Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, but never had another production. He
wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's movie-musical Popeye (1980), and
recorded one more album, Flash Harry, which was released in the UK but not in
the USA. However, Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a
"retired musician".
Nilsson was profoundly affected by the murder of John Lennon on December 8,
1980. He joined the Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence and began making public
appearances solely to raise money for their cause.
After a long hiatus from the studio, Nilsson started recording sporadically
once again in the late 1980s. Most of these recordings were commissioned songs
for movies or television shows; one notable exception was a cover of "When
You Wish Upon A Star" recorded for Hal Willner's 1988 Disney tribute album
Stay Awake. By 1991, Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation when
his financial adviser Cindy Sims betrayed his trust and embezzled all the money
he had ever made as a recording artist. The Nilssons were left with $300 in the
bank and a mountain of debt, while Sims served less than two years in prison
for her crimes and was released from prison in 1994 without making restitution.
Nilsson's health had meanwhile deteriorated, and he had suffered a massive
heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label,
RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and also started
recording again, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal
tracks for the album on 15 January 1994, and then died that night of heart
failure. The following year, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal
Best, was released.
As Bo Pete:
As Johnny Niles:
As Nilsson:
as Buck Earl:
Note: this section is for songs Nilsson recorded
specifically for film and television projects, as well as his few acting roles.
Later use of Nilsson recordings are listed in the next section.