Jim Gordon (musician)
Encyclopedia
James Beck "Jim" Gordon (born July 14, 1945) is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award
winner was one of the most requested session
drummer
s in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock
supergroup
Derek and the Dominos
, Little Richard
, and Delaney and Bonnie. In 1983, Gordon, at the time an undiagnosed schizophrenic, murdered his mother and was sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison.
, Gordon performed on many notable recordings
in the 1960s, including Pet Sounds
by The Beach Boys
(1966), Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
by Gene Clark
(1967), The Notorious Byrd Brothers
by The Byrds
(1968) and the hit "Classical Gas
" by Mason Williams
(1968). At the height of his career Gordon was reportedly so busy as a studio musician that he would fly back to Los Angeles from Las Vegas
every day to do two or three recording sessions, and then return in time to play the evening show at Caesars Palace
.
In 1969 and 1970, Gordon toured as part of the backing band for the group Delaney & Bonnie, which at the time included Eric Clapton
. Clapton subsequently took over the group's rhythm section
— Gordon, bassist
Carl Radle
and keyboardist
-singer-songwriter
Bobby Whitlock
. They formed a new band that was later called Derek and the Dominos. The band's first studio work was as the house band for George Harrison
's first solo album, the three-disc set All Things Must Pass
. Gordon then played on Derek and the Dominos
' 1970 double album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
, contributing the elegiac piano
coda for the title track, "Layla
", co-written by Gordon and Clapton. He also played with the band on subsequent U.S. and UK tours. The group split in spring 1971 before they finished recording their second album.
In 1970, Gordon was part of Joe Cocker
's Mad Dogs and Englishmen
tour and played on Dave Mason
's album Alone Together. In 1971, he toured with Traffic
and appeared on two of their albums, including The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. That same year he played on Harry Nilsson
's Nilsson Schmilsson
album, contributing the drum solo to the track "Jump into the Fire". In 1972, Gordon was part of Frank Zappa
's 20-piece "Grand Wazoo" big band tour, and the subsequent 10-piece "Petit Wazoo" band. Perhaps his best-known recording with Zappa is the title track of the 1974 album Apostrophe (')
, a jam with Zappa and Tony Duran on guitar and Jack Bruce
on bass guitar
, for which both Bruce and Gordon received a writing credit. Also in 1974, Gordon played on the majority of tracks on Steely Dan
's album Pretzel Logic
, including the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number
". He again worked with Chris Hillman
of the Byrds as the drummer in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
from 1973 to 1975. He also played drums on three tracks on Alice Cooper
's 1976 album, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
. Gordon was the drummer on the Incredible Bongo Band
's Bongo Rock album, released in 1972, and his drum break on the LP's
version of "Apache" has been frequently sampled by rap music artists
.
and began to hear voices, including those of his mother, which forced him to starve himself and prevented him from sleeping, relaxing or playing drums. In 1983 he attacked his mother with a hammer before fatally stabbing her. Though at trial the court accepted that Gordon had acute schizophrenia he was not allowed to use an insanity defense because of changes to California law. On July 10, 1984 Gordon was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
s, including:
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winner was one of the most requested session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
s in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock
Blues-rock
Blues rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, piano, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a...
supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos were a blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, and Delaney and Bonnie. In 1983, Gordon, at the time an undiagnosed schizophrenic, murdered his mother and was sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison.
Music career
Gordon began his career in 1963, at age seventeen, backing the Everly Brothers, and went on to become one of the most sought-after recording session drummers in Los Angeles. The protégé of legendary studio drummer Hal BlaineHal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
, Gordon performed on many notable recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
in the 1960s, including Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as "Wouldn't...
by The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
(1966), Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers
Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers is the debut solo album of Gene Clark, released in February of 1967 on Columbia Records, catalogue CS 9418. It was his first effort after his departure from folk-rock group the Byrds in 1966...
by Gene Clark
Gene Clark
Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
(1967), The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Notorious Byrd Brothers is the fifth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in January 1968 on Columbia Records . Musically, the album represents the pinnacle of The Byrds' psychedelic experimentation, with the band blending together elements of folk rock, psychedelic rock,...
by The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
(1968) and the hit "Classical Gas
Classical Gas
"Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by Mason Williams. Originally released in 1968 on the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, it has been re-recorded and re-released numerous times since by Williams...
" by Mason Williams
Mason Williams
Mason Williams is an American guitarist and composer, best known for his guitar instrumental "Classical Gas". He is also a comedy writer, known for his writing on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live...
(1968). At the height of his career Gordon was reportedly so busy as a studio musician that he would fly back to Los Angeles from Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
every day to do two or three recording sessions, and then return in time to play the evening show at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
.
In 1969 and 1970, Gordon toured as part of the backing band for the group Delaney & Bonnie, which at the time included Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
. Clapton subsequently took over the group's rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
— Gordon, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Carl Radle
Carl Radle
Carl Dean Radle was a bass guitarist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s...
and keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
-singer-songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Bobby Whitlock
Bobby Whitlock
Robert Stanley 'Bobby' Whitlock is a songwriter and performer, best known as a member of Derek and the Dominos.- Biography :...
. They formed a new band that was later called Derek and the Dominos. The band's first studio work was as the house band for George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's first solo album, the three-disc set All Things Must Pass
All Things Must Pass
All Things Must Pass is a triple album by George Harrison, recorded and released in 1970. The original vinyl release featured two LPs of rock songs as well as Apple Jam, a third LP of informal jams...
. Gordon then played on Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos were a blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends...
' 1970 double album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is a blues-rock album by Derek and the Dominos, released in November 1970, best known for its eponymous title track, "Layla"...
, contributing the elegiac piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
coda for the title track, "Layla
Layla
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally released by their blues-rock band, Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs...
", co-written by Gordon and Clapton. He also played with the band on subsequent U.S. and UK tours. The group split in spring 1971 before they finished recording their second album.
In 1970, Gordon was part of Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
's Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Mad Dogs and Englishmen (album)
Mad Dogs and Englishmen is Joe Cocker's 1970 live album, featuring a fusion of rock and soul. The album title is drawn from the 1931 Noël Coward song of the same name. Mostly Cocker's album is made up of covers, drawing equally from rock and soul...
tour and played on Dave Mason
Dave Mason
David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
's album Alone Together. In 1971, he toured with Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
and appeared on two of their albums, including The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. That same year he played on Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
's Nilsson Schmilsson
Nilsson Schmilsson
-Personnel:* Harry Nilsson – piano on 1 5 8 10, vocals, Mellotrons on 2 4, organ on 3, harmonica on 8, electric piano on 9* Jim Gordon – drums on 1 2 5 8 9, percussion on 7 9* Klaus Voormann – bass on 1 5 6 8, rhythm guitar on 2 9, acoustic guitar on 4...
album, contributing the drum solo to the track "Jump into the Fire". In 1972, Gordon was part of Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's 20-piece "Grand Wazoo" big band tour, and the subsequent 10-piece "Petit Wazoo" band. Perhaps his best-known recording with Zappa is the title track of the 1974 album Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe is an album by Frank Zappa, his eighteenth, released on March 22, 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was Zappa's first chart single, reaching position 86. Apostrophe remains Zappa's biggest commercial...
, a jam with Zappa and Tony Duran on guitar and Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, for which both Bruce and Gordon received a writing credit. Also in 1974, Gordon played on the majority of tracks on Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
's album Pretzel Logic
Pretzel Logic
Pretzel Logic is the third studio album by the American jazz-rock band Steely Dan, originally released in 1974. The album's opening song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", became the band's biggest hit, reaching #4 on the charts soon after the release of the album. The album itself went gold, and...
, including the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is a single released in 1974 by rock/pop/jazz group Steely Dan and the opening track of their third album Pretzel Logic. The record became the group's highest charted album, peaking at #4 on "Billboard" in the summer of 1974....
". He again worked with Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
of the Byrds as the drummer in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
The Souther Hillman Furay Band was a country rock supergroup led by singer-songwriters Richie Furay , Chris Hillman , and J.D. Souther...
from 1973 to 1975. He also played drums on three tracks on Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's 1976 album, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
Alice Cooper Goes to Hell is the ninth studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1976. A sequel to Welcome to My Nightmare, this concept album was written almost exclusively by Cooper with guitar player Dick Wagner and producer Bob Ezrin....
. Gordon was the drummer on the Incredible Bongo Band
Incredible Bongo Band
The Incredible Bongo Band, also known as Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, was a project started in 1972 by Michael Viner, a record artist manager and executive at MGM Records. Viner was called on to supplement the soundtrack to the virtually anonymous B film The Thing With Two Heads. The...
's Bongo Rock album, released in 1972, and his drum break on the LP's
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
version of "Apache" has been frequently sampled by rap music artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
Imprisonment
Gordon developed schizophreniaSchizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and began to hear voices, including those of his mother, which forced him to starve himself and prevented him from sleeping, relaxing or playing drums. In 1983 he attacked his mother with a hammer before fatally stabbing her. Though at trial the court accepted that Gordon had acute schizophrenia he was not allowed to use an insanity defense because of changes to California law. On July 10, 1984 Gordon was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.
Discography
During his career, Gordon played with a long list of top musicians and record producerRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s, including:
- Duane AllmanDuane AllmanHoward Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...
Anthology (organ, piano, drums) - Renee Armand "The Rain Book" (producer, co-writer, drums, guitar)
- Hoyt AxtonHoyt AxtonHoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well...
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From Every Stage; Diamonds and Rust; Gulf Wind - The Beach BoysThe Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
Good Vibrations; Spirit of America; Pet Sounds - Stephen BishopStephen BishopStephen Bishop may refer to:* Stephen Bishop * Stephen Bishop , African American cave explorer* Stephen Bishop , U.S. musician...
On and On: Hits of Stephen Bishop - BreadBread (band)Bread was a rock band from Los Angeles, California. They placed 13 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1970 and 1977 and were a prime example of what later was labeled soft rock....
Bread - Teresa BrewerTeresa BrewerTeresa Brewer was an American pop singer whose style incorporated elements of country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950s, recording nearly 600 songs. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular...
16 Most Requested Songs - Jackson BrowneJackson BrowneJackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
Saturate Before Using (organ); The Pretender - Jack BruceJack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
Out of The Storm (tracks 1,7 & 8) - The ByrdsThe ByrdsThe Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
The Notorious Byrd Brothers - Glen CampbellGlen CampbellGlen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
Wichita Lineman - The CarpentersThe CarpentersCarpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
Horizon; A Kind of Hush - Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
Eric Clapton; Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs; Derek and the Dominos in Concert; Derek and the Dominos: Live at the Fillmore - Gene ClarkGene ClarkGene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers - Joe CockerJoe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
Mad Dogs and Englishmen - Judy CollinsJudy CollinsJudith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism. She is an alumna of the University of Colorado.-Musical career:Collins was born and raised in Seattle, Washington...
Who Knows Where the Time Goes - Alice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
Alice Cooper Goes to Hell; Lace and Whiskey - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Box Set
- Burton CummingsBurton CummingsBurton L. Cummings, OC, OM is a Canadian musician and songwriter.He was the lead singer and frequent keyboardist for the Canadian rock band The Guess Who...
- Delaney & Bonnie On Tour with Eric Clapton and Friends; To Bonnie From Delaney; D&B Together
- John DenverJohn DenverHenry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
- DonovanDonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
Life Is a Merry-go-round; Yellow Star; Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth; Lazy Daze - Neil DiamondNeil DiamondNeil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
Beautiful Noise (conga, drums, harmony vocals) - Everly Brothers Heartaches and Harmonies
- Art GarfunkelArt GarfunkelArthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
Angel Clare - David GatesDavid GatesDavid Gates is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the group Bread, which reached the tops of the musical charts in Europe and North America on several occasions in the 1970s. The band was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame...
First - Lowell GeorgeLowell GeorgeLowell Thomas George was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, who was the main guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Little Feat.- Early years :...
Thanks I'll Eat It Here - Hall & OatesHall & OatesHall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
Bigger Than the Both of Us - Merle HaggardMerle HaggardMerle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
Same Train, Different Time - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
All Things Must Pass; Extra Texture; Living in the Material World - Jim HensonJim HensonJames Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
The Muppet Movie - John Lee HookerJohn Lee HookerJohn Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
Endless Boogie - Jim HornJim HornJim Horn is an American saxophonist and woodwind player. He was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for five years, playing sax and flute on the road, and in the recording studio...
Through the Eye - Thelma HoustonThelma HoustonThelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
I've Got the Music in Me - Incredible Bongo BandIncredible Bongo BandThe Incredible Bongo Band, also known as Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, was a project started in 1972 by Michael Viner, a record artist manager and executive at MGM Records. Viner was called on to supplement the soundtrack to the virtually anonymous B film The Thing With Two Heads. The...
Apache - Dr John Sun, Moon and Herbs
- Carole KingCarole KingCarole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
- B. B. KingB. B. KingRiley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
In London; The Best of B. B. King - John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
Imagine; Sometime in New York City - Gordon LightfootGordon LightfootGordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
Sundown; Gord's Gold; Cold on the Shoulder - Manhattan TransferThe Manhattan TransferThe Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...
Pastiche; Anthology: Down in Birdland - Country Joe McDonaldCountry Joe McDonaldCountry Joe McDonald is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.-Personal life:...
Classics - Dave MasonDave MasonDavid Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
Alone Together - The MonkeesThe MonkeesThe Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
Monkees; More of the Monkees; Instant Replay - Maria MuldaurMaria MuldaurMaria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...
Maria Muldaur; Waitress in a Donut Shop - Elliott MurphyElliott MurphyElliott James Murphy is an American rock singer-songwriter, novelist, producer and journalist living in Paris.-Biography:Elliott James Murphy, Jr. was born in Rockville Centre, New York to a show business family...
Elliott Murphy; Lost Generation - Tracy NelsonTracy NelsonTracy Nelson is the name of:*Tracy Nelson , of Father Dowling Mysteries*Tracy Nelson , active from the 1960s to the present...
Time is on My Side - Randy NewmanRandy NewmanRandall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
Randy Newman; 12 Songs - Harry NilssonHarry NilssonHarry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
Nilsson Schmilsson; Aerial Ballet - Van Dyke ParksVan Dyke ParksVan Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
Discover America - Tom PettyTom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
Playback - Emitt RhodesEmitt RhodesEmitt Lynn Rhodes is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer born February 25, 1950 in Decatur, Illinois. When he was five his family moved to Hawthorne, California. Considered by many as "the one man Beatles," his solo recordings of the early 1970s show a clear...
American Dream - Minnie RipertonMinnie RipertonMinnie Julia Riperton was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You". She was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph from 1972 until her death in the summer of 1979. They had two children - music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya...
Adventures in Paradise - Johnny RiversJohnny RiversJohnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
Last Boogie in Paris; Blue Suede Shoes; L.A. Reggae - Linda RonstadtLinda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
Don't Cry Now - Leon RussellLeon RussellClaude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
The Shelter People; Will o' the Wisp - Seals & Crofts Humming Bird
- John SebastianJohn SebastianJohn Benson Sebastian Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000...
Tarzana Kid - Carly SimonCarly SimonCarly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
No Secrets - Phil SpectorPhil SpectorPhillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
Back to Mono (1958–1969) - B. W. Stevenson Pass This Way; Calabasas
- Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
Barbra Joan StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand (album)Barbra Joan Streisand is an album by Barbra Streisand, released in August, 1971 on Columbia Records.- Chart and sale :The album reached #11 on Billboard's Pop Albums Chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA.-Track listing:Side One:... - Souther-Hillman-Furay BandSouther-Hillman-Furay BandThe Souther Hillman Furay Band was a country rock supergroup led by singer-songwriters Richie Furay , Chris Hillman , and J.D. Souther...
- RedeyeRedeye (band)Redeye was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. The group released two albums on Pentagram Records in the early 1970s, and had two hit singles in 1971, "Games" and "Red Eye Blues" Redeye was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. The group released two albums on...
Redeye - Steely DanSteely DanSteely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
Pretzel Logic - John Stewart Phoenix Concerts
- Mel TorméMel TorméMelvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
Mel Tormé Collection - TrafficTraffic (band)Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
Welcome to the Canteen; The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys - John TravoltaJohn TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
Best of John Travolta - John ValentiJohn ValentiJohn Valenti is an American singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. He began his career as lead singer and writer for a pop band, Puzzle. Puzzle released two solid albums on Motown Records in 1973 and 1974 . They one of the rare white groups on Motown. With a sound often reminiscent of the...
Anything You Want, 1976 - Andy WilliamsAndy WilliamsHoward Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
- Judee SillJudee SillJudee Sill was an American singer and songwriter. The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums, then worked briefly as a cartoonist before dying of drug abuse in 1979.Her eponymous debut album was released in late 1971 and was followed around eighteen months...
Heart FoodHeart FoodHeart Food is the second album released by American singer/songwriter and musician Judee Sill. It was released on David Geffen's Asylum label in March 1973 to acclaim but minimal sales. Sill wrote, arranged, and produced the album, with influences from Bach and Ray Charles... - Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
The Heart of Saturday NightThe Heart of Saturday NightThe Heart of Saturday Night is the second studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, released in 1974 on Asylum Records. In 2003, the album was ranked number 339 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, his highest placing. The album cover is based on In the... - Mason WilliamsMason WilliamsMason Williams is an American guitarist and composer, best known for his guitar instrumental "Classical Gas". He is also a comedy writer, known for his writing on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live...
Classical Gas; Phonograph Record - Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
Apostrophe; Läther; "Grand Wazoo" (tour) and "Petit Wazoo" (tour); Imaginary Diseases; Wazoo - Gordon LightfootGordon LightfootGordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
Sundown; Summertime Dream;
