P.F. Sloan

P. F. Sloan (born Philip Gary Schlein; September 18, 1945 – November 15, 2015) was an American pop-rock singer and songwriter. He was very successful during the mid-1960s, writing, performing, and producing American Billboard top 20 hits for artists such as Barry McGuire, The Searchers, Jan and Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, The Grass Roots, The Turtles, and The Mamas & the Papas. Many of his songs were written in collaboration with Steve Barri. His most successful song as a writer was Barry McGuire's 1965 hit "Eve of Destruction".
== Links To Peel ==
P.F. Sloan was successful in the mid-1960s but seemed to fade from view after that, which explains why there are no tracks by the artist in Peel's early BBC playlists. Jim (Jimmy) Webb wrote a song named after the artist, "P.F. Sloan", which was included on his 1970 LP Words And Music. It was released as a single and picked up some Radio 1 airplay. Peel isn't known to have played it, but as a connoisseur of odd lyrics he may well have enjoyed the non-rhyming couplet which opens the song; "I have been seeking P.F. Sloan/But no-one knows where he has gone" But Sloan returned to recording in the early 1970s; in 1972 Peel played a track from his comeback album, which wasn't a success, and once again Sloan fell silent.
Peel mentioned on his 27 July 1978 show that when he was working for KOMA in Oklahoma in the 60's, he was not allowed to play "Sins Of A Family" by P.F.Sloan, because of its portrayal of what would later be called a dysfunctional family ("the sins of a family fall on the daughter") - which he compensated for by playing the song on the programme. 
On his 12 October 1999 show, Peel played the Turtles' track 'Eve Of Destruction', written by P.F. Sloan and mentioned how he got hostile responses from right wingers in 60's America because of his playing of P.F. Sloan's songs, which generally had an anti-war theme:
"P.F. Sloan had a great song called Sins Of The Family which he did himself, which was another one which, when I played that on the radio, got a lot of hostile response from the John Birch Society in Colorado. Why they took exception to me I don't know. I think it's because I was keeping jobs from their boys returning from 'Nam, that kind of stuff. Although only one job, really. to be honest, but they didn't like me at all. Very hostile."
== Shows Played ==
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;1968
* 19 June 1968: The Sins Of A Family (single) Dunhill
;1972
* 25 July 1972: Turn On The Light (LP – Raised On Records) Mums
;1978
* 27 July 1978: The Sins Of A Family (single) Dunhill
;1981
* 09 April 1981: The Sins Of A Family (single) Dunhill
;1988
* 29 June 1988: Let Me Be (shared LP with The Grass Roots - Songs Of Other Times) Big Beat
== See Also ==
*Gigography 1954-1966
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia
* Discogs
* Guardian obituary
Category:Artists