Just saw a really good documentary last night via Netflix streaming on singer/songwriter and soft rock superstar Harry Nilsson called Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?. As implied by the title, Nilsson is somewhat forgotten today but was fairly omnipresent in the late 1960s throughout the 70s, with several big hits recorded by him or written by him and recorded by other artists. You’ll probably recognize his tunes if not his name, which fall into what I lovingly call the “Crap Rock” genre (America, Player, Ambrosia, Bread, Bob Welch, etc). His own breakthrough was the theme song from 1969’s Oscar-winning downbeat classic Midnight Cowboy, “Everybody’s Talkin'”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz6GzKWiIAs
Although “Everybody’s Talkin'” was ironically not actually written by Nilsson, it was clear a major vocalist had arrived on the scene after many years of cult status earlier in the 60s. Of his own material, “One” is arguably his best known and also most successful single.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nB5VxPOoio
Even so, it wasn’t a huge blockbuster for Nilsson but rather for AOR staple Three Dog Night (as well as a ton of artists subsequently). Their signature blues-rock version reached #5 on the Billboard charts.
Having established himself in a short period as a hot commodity, Nilsson went on to have a huge commercial and critical success of his own with 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson. Under the firm artistic control of producer Richard Perry, Schmilsson featured a number of hit singles, most notably a soaring cover of Badfinger’s “Without You” that won him a Grammy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bQGRRolrg0
Always an acquired taste due to his many musical moods, Nilsson was also an iconoclast and heavy alcohol and drug user and after the success of Nilsson Schmilsson his ego also became unmanageable. Rebelling against Perry’s guidance, he followed up that potentially career-making album with Son of Schmilsson, a messy hodgepodge of unfocused self-indulgence with the potential lead single “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” featuring a profane kiss off to his ex-wife that guaranteed it would never be played on the radio. But Nilsson seemed indifferent to pursuing the commercial dominance that appeared to be well within his grasp and capabilities as the 70s wore on, if not downright hostile to it, and followed that up with a bewildering if beautiful album of standards, A Little Touch of Schmilsson In the Night. After having received a huge advance from RCA records for his services he was bought out by them and he would never again achieve the heights of Nilsson Schmilsson. But he remained a musician’s musician with admirers from across the pop music world of that era, most notably The Beatles; John Lennon and Ringo Starr were exceptionally close friends, as well as partners in heavy partying. In fact, the stories of Nilsson’s drug and alcohol fueled benders remain legendary to this day among those swept up in his manic vortex.
After career ups and downs and a great deal of substance abuse, Nilsson found happiness with his third wife, with whom he had an astonishing 6 children in quick succession. Harry Nilsson died on January 15, 1994 at the age of 52 of heart failure. I highly recommend Who Is Harry Nilsson? because it highlights the fascinating paradox of someone so famous, well-regarded and successful during a particular period in Rock history now being relegated to footnote status. But I guess that’s just the way the story goes…
*Update: Almost forgot my favorite Nilsson tune and arguably his most atypical, “Jump Into the Fire” from Nilsson Schmilsson. It sounds like super amped-up Joe Jackson-ish New Wave about 5 or 6 years before that genre existed. No sentimental heartstrings here just a genuine kick out the jams rocker:
