Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experiments, returns to the Great American Songbook, and fusions of Caribbean sounds. A tenor with a octave range, Nilsson was one of the few major pop-rock recording artists to achieve significant commercial success without ever performing major public concerts or undertaking regular tours. Born in Brooklyn, Nilsson moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to escape his family 's poor financial situation. While working as a computer programmer at a bank, he grew interested in musical composition and close-harmony singing, and was successful in having some of his songs recorded by various artists such as the Monkees. In 1967, he debuted on RCA Victor with the LP "Pandemonium Shadow Show", followed by a variety of releases that include a collaboration with Randy Newman ("Nilsson Sings Newman", 1970) and the original children's story "The Point!" (1971). He created the first remix album ("Aerial Pandemonium Ballet", 1971) and recorded the first mashup song ("You Can't Do That , 1967). His most commercially successful album, Nilsson Schmilsson" (1971), produced the international top 10 singles "Without You" and "Coconut". His other top 10 hit, "Everybody's Talkin'" (1968), was featured prominently in the 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy". A version of Nilsson's "One", released by Three Dog Night in 1969, also reached the U.S. top 10. During a 1968 press conference, the Beatles were asked what their favorite American group was and answered "Nilsson". Sometimes called "the American Beatle", he soon formed close friendships with John Lennon and Ringo Starr. In the 1970s, Nilsson, Lennon and Starr were members of  the Hollywood Vampires drinking club, embroiling themselves in a number of widely publicized, alcohol-fueled incidents. They produced one collaborative album, "Pussy Cats" (1974). After 1977, Nilsson left RCA, and his record output diminished. In response to Lennon's 1980 murder, he took a hiatus from the music industry to campaign for gun control. For the rest of his life, he recorded only sporadically. In 1994, Nilsson died of a heart attack while in the midst of recording what became his last album, "Losst and Founnd" (2019). The craft of Nilsson's songs and the defiant attitude he projected remain  touchstones for later generations of indie rock musicians. Nilsson was voted No. 62 in "Rolling Stone"s 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time", where he was described as "a pioneer of the Los Angeles studio sound" and "a crucial bridge" between 1960s psychedelia and the 1970s singer-songwriter era. The RIAA certified "Nilsson Schmilsson" and "Son of Schmilsson" (1972) as gold records, indicating over 500,000 units sold each. He earned Grammy Awards for two of his recordings; Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Male in 1970 for "Everybody's Talkin'" and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male in 1973 for  Without You. Early life. Nilsson was born in the Bushwick Hospital in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, at 2:15a.m. on June 15, 1941. His paternal great-grandfather, born a Swede who would later emigrate to and become naturalized in the United States, created an act known as an "aerial ballet" (which is the title of one of Nilsson's albums). His maternal grandparents were the cornerstone of his young life. While his grandmother played piano, his grandfather Charlie Martin supported the family in a tiny railroad apartment on Jefferson Avenue in Brooklyn. His father, Harry Edward Nilsson Jr., abandoned  the family when Harry was three years old. An autobiographical reference to this is found in the opening to Nilsson's song "1941": Nilsson's "Daddy's Song" also refers to this period in Nilsson's childhood. He grew up with his mother Bette 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 succession of relatives and stepfathers. His uncle, a mechanic in San Bernardino, California, helped Nilsson improve his vocal and musical abilities. In addition to his half-brother and a  half-sister through his mother, he also had three half-sisters and one half-brother through his father. Because of the poor financial situation of his family, Nilsson worked from an early age, including a job at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. When the theatre closed in 1960, he applied for a job at a bank, falsely claiming he was a high school graduate on his application (he completed only ninth grade). He had an aptitude for computers, which were beginning to be employed by banks at the time. He performed so well the bank retained him even after  they discovered he had deceived them about his education. He worked on bank computers at night, and in the daytime pursued his songwriting and singing career. Career. 1962–1966: Musicianship beginnings. By 1958, Nilsson was intrigued by emerging forms of popular music, especially rhythm and blues artists like Ray Charles. He had made early attempts 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 of a hangout Nilsson frequented gave him a plastic ukulele, which he learned to play , and he later learned to play the guitar and piano. In the 2006 documentary "Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?", Nilsson recalled that when he could not remember lyrics or parts of the melodies to popular songs, he created his own, which led to writing original songs. His uncle's singing lessons, along with Nilsson's natural talent, helped when he got a job singing demos for songwriter Scott Turner in 1962. Turner paid Nilsson five dollars for each track they recorded. (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.). 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". By 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. Botkin also gave Nilsson a key to his office, providing another place to write after hours. Through his association with Botkin, Nilsson met and became friends with musician, composer, and arranger George Tipton, who was at the time working for Botkin as a music copyist. During 1964 Tipton invested his life savings – $2,500 – to finance the recording of four Nilsson songs , which he arranged; they were able to sell the completed recordings to the Tower label, a recently established subsidiary of Capitol Records, and the tracks were subsequently included on Nilsson's debut album. The fruitful association between Nilsson and Tipton continued after Nilsson signed with RCA Victor. Tipton went on to create the arrangements for nearly all of Nilsson's RCA recordings between 1967 and 1971, but their association ended in the 1970s when the two fell out for unknown reasons. Nilsson's recording contract was picked up by Tower Records, which in 1966 released the first singles actually credited  to him by name, as well as the debut album "Spotlight on Nilsson". None of Nilsson's Tower releases charted or gained much critical attention, although his songs were being recorded by Glen Campbell, Fred Astaire, The Shangri-Las, The Yardbirds, and others. Despite his growing success, Nilsson remained on the night shift at the bank. 1967–1968: 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 (most notably with The Monkees, who recorded 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 until Nilsson's death in 1994. 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 the John Lennon penned tune – and also worked references to 17 other Beatles tunes in the mix, usually by quoting snippets of Beatles lyrics in the multi-layered backing vocals. When John Lennon and Paul McCartney held a press conference in 1968 to announce the formation of the Apple Corps, Lennon was asked to name his favorite American artist. He replied, "Nilsson". McCartney was then asked to name his favorite American group. He replied , "Nilsson". "You Can't Do That" was Nilsson's first hit as a performer; though it stalled at No. 122 on the US charts, it hit top 10 in Canada. 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 Beatles' 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 the callers, 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 this was a huge mistake on his part. John Lennon called and praised "Pandemonium Shadow Show", which he had  listened to in a 36-hour marathon. Paul McCartney called the following day, also expressing his admiration. Eventually a message came, inviting him to London to meet the Beatles, watch them at work, and possibly sign with Apple. "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 US hit at the time of release (and a top 40 hit in Canada), the song would become more popular a year later when it was featured in the film "Midnight Cowboy", and it would  earn Nilsson his first Grammy Award. The song would also become Nilsson's first US top 10 hit, reaching No. 6, and his first Canadian #1. "Aerial Ballet" also contained Nilsson's version of his composition "One", which was later taken to the top 5 of the US charts by Three Dog Night and also successfully covered in Australia by John Farnham. Nilsson was 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; the original version of the song (titled "Girlfriend") was recorded during the making of "Aerial Ballet" but not included on that LP, and it eventually appeared on the 1995 "Personal Best" anthology, and as a bonus track on a later release of "Aerial Ballet". Late in 1968, The Monkees' notorious experimental film "Head" premiered, featuring a memorable song-and-dance sequence with Davy Jones and Toni Basil performing Nilsson's composition "Daddy's Song". (This is followed by Frank Zappa's cameo as "The Critic", who dismisses the 1920s-style tune as "pretty white".) 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 reissues failed to chart, including a 1969 single "Good Times". This track, however, was resurrected as a duet with Micky Dolenz for the 2016 Monkees' album of the same name by adding additional parts to an unused Monkees backing track recorded in 1968. 1969–1972: 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"), used in the Sophia Loren movie "La Mortadella" (1971) (US title: "Lady Liberty"). While the album still presented Nilsson as primarily a songwriter, his astute choice of cover material included, this time, a song by then-little-known composer 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. The self-produced "Nilsson Sings Newman" also marked the end of his collaboration with RCA staff producer Rick Jarrard, who recounted in the Nilsson documentary that the partnership was terminated by a telegram from Nilsson, who abruptly informed Jarrard that he wanted to work with other producers, and the two never met or spoke again. Nilsson's next project was an animated film, "The Point!", created with animation director Fred Wolf, and broadcast on ABC television on February 2, 1971, as an "ABC Movie of the Week". Nilsson 's self-produced album of songs from "The Point!" was well received and it spawned a top 40 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 stylistically different hit singles. The first was a cover of Badfinger's song "Without You" (by Welsh songwriters Pete Ham and Tom Evans), featuring a highly emotional arrangement and soaring vocals to match – recorded, according to Perry, in a single take. The performance earned him his second Grammy Award. The second  single was "Coconut", a novelty calypso number featuring four characters (the narrator, the brother, the sister, and the doctor) all sung (at Perry's suggestion) 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"). Also notable is that the entire song is played using one chord, C7. The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a detuned bass part by Herbie Flowers. 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 was by then ignoring most of Perry's production advice, and his 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 breakin' my heart / You're tearin' it apart / So fuck you" (a reference to his ongoing divorce), Nilsson had  traveled far afield from his earlier work. The album nevertheless reached No. 12 on the "Billboard" 200, and the single "Spaceman" was a Top 40 hit in October 1972. The follow-up single "Remember (Christmas)", however, stalled at No. 53. A third single, the tongue-in-cheek C&W send up "Joy", was issued on RCA's country imprint Green and credited to Buck Earle, but it failed to chart. 1973–1979: Maverick. Nilsson's disregard for commercialism in favor of artistic satisfaction showed itself in his next release, "A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night" (1973). Performing a selection of  pop standards by the likes of Berlin, Kalmar, and Ruby, Nilsson sang in front of an orchestra arranged and conducted by veteran Gordon Jenkins in sessions produced by Derek Taylor. This musical endeavor did not do well commercially. The session was filmed, and broadcast as a television special by the BBC in the UK. 1973 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 than it did for musical collaboration. In a widely publicized incident, the two with Ringo Starr were ejected from the Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood for drunken heckling of the Smothers Brothers. To make matters worse, at a late night party and jam session during the recording of the album, attended by Lennon, McCartney, Starr, Danny Kortchmar, and other musicians, Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord, but he hid the injury for fear that Lennon would call a halt to the production. The resulting album was "Pussy Cats". In an effort to clean up, Lennon , Nilsson and Ringo Starr first rented a house together, then Lennon, Nilsson and Starr left for New York. After the relative failure of his latest two albums, RCA Records considered dropping Nilsson's contract. In a show of friendship, Lennon and Starr accompanied Nilsson to negotiations, and both intimated to RCA that Lennon and Starr might want to sign with them, once their Apple Records contracts with EMI expired in 1975, but would not be interested if Nilsson were no longer with the label. RCA took the hint and re-signed Nilsson (adding a bonus clause, to apply to each  new album completed), but neither Lennon nor Starr signed with RCA. In 1973 Nilsson performed in a film with Ringo called "Son of Dracula", a musical featuring many of his songs and a new cut, "Daybreak". The subsequent soundtrack produced by Richard Perry was released in 1974. 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), were met with chart success. Finally, Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album "Knnillssonn" (1977). With his  voice strong again, and his songs exploring musical territory reminiscent of "Harry" or "The Point!", Nilsson anticipated "Knnillssonn" to be a comeback album. RCA seemed to agree, and promised Nilsson a substantial marketing campaign for the album. However, the death of Elvis Presley caused RCA to ignore everything except meeting demand for Presley's back catalog, and the promised marketing push never happened. This, combined with RCA releasing a "Nilsson Greatest Hits" collection without consulting him, prompted Nilsson to leave the label. Nilsson's London apartment. Nilsson's 1970s London residence, at Flat 12, 9 Curzon Place on the edge  of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the ROR ("Ringo or Robin") design company owned by Starr and interior designer Robin Cruikshank. Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the apartment, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, the Tramp nightclub, and the homes of friends and business associates. Nilsson's work and interests took him to the US for extended periods, and while he was away he lent his place to numerous musician friends. During one of his absences, singer Cass Elliot, formerly of The Mamas & the Papas, and a few members of her tour group  stayed at the apartment 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 on July 29, 1974, Elliot was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure at age 32. On September 7, 1978, the Who drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the apartment after a night out, and died at 32 from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his apartment, and having little need for the  property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles. 1980–1992: Winding down. Nilsson's musical output after leaving RCA Victor was sporadic. He wrote a musical, "Zapata", with Perry Botkin Jr. and 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), the score of which met with unfavorable reviews. Nilsson's "Popeye" compositions included several songs that  were representative of Nilsson's acclaimed "Point" era, such as "Everything Is Food" and "Sweethaven". The song "He Needs Me" was featured years later in the film "Punch-Drunk Love". Nilsson recorded one more album, "Flash Harry", co-produced by Bruce Robb and Steve Cropper, which was released in the UK but not in the US. From this point onward, Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a "retired musician". Nilsson was profoundly affected by the death of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. He joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and overcame his preference for privacy to make  appearances for gun control fundraising. He began to appear at Beatlefest conventions and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to sing either some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance". After a long hiatus from the studio, Nilsson started recording sporadically once again in the mid to late 1980s. Most of these recordings were commissioned songs for movies or television shows. One notable exception was his work on a Yoko Ono Lennon tribute album, "Every Man Has a Woman" (1984) (Polydor); another was a cover of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" recorded for  Hal Willner's 1988 tribute album "". Nilsson donated his performance royalties from the song to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. In 1985, Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee various film, TV, and multimedia projects with which he was involved. He appointed his friend, satirist, and screenwriter Terry Southern, as one of the principals. They collaborated on a number of screenplays including "Obits" (a "Citizen Kane"-style story about a journalist investigating an obituary notice) and "The Telephone", a comedy about an unhinged unemployed actor. "The Telephone" was virtually the only Hawkeye project that made it to the  screen. It had been written with Robin Williams in mind but he turned it down; comedian-actress Whoopi Goldberg then signed on, with Southern's friend Rip Torn directing, but the project was troubled. Torn battled with Goldberg, who interfered in the production and constantly digressed from the script during shooting, and Torn was forced to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the screenplay. Torn, Southern, and Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the 'official' version from the studio , and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988. The project reportedly had some later success when adapted as a theatre piece in Germany. In 1990, Hawkeye floundered and Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation after it was discovered that his financial adviser, Cindy Sims, had embezzled all the funds he had earned 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 and was released from prison in 1994 without making restitution. In 1991, the Disney album "For Our  Children", a compilation of children's music performed by celebrities to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, included Nilsson's original composition "Blanket for a Sail", recorded at the Shandaliza Recording Studio in Los Angeles. Also in 1991, he recorded a cover of "How About You?" for the soundtrack of the Terry Gilliam film "The Fisher King". In 1992, he wrote and recorded the title song for the film "Me Myself & I". Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band on stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, to  sing "Without You" with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. Afterward, an emotional Starr embraced Nilsson on stage. Nilsson's final album, tentatively titled "Papa's Got a Brown New Robe" (produced by Mark Hudson) was not released, though several demos from the album were later made available on promotional CDs and online. 1993–1994: Heart attack and death. Born with congenital heart problems, Nilsson suffered a heart attack on February 14, 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his former label, RCA Records, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final  album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who held onto the tapes of that session. Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15, 1994, in his Agoura Hills, California, home at the age of 52. In 1995, the 2-disc CD anthology he worked on with RCA, "Personal Best", was released. The final album was eventually released on November 22, 2019, as "Losst and Founnd". Nilsson is interred in the Valley Oaks Memorial Park at Westlake Village, California. Personal life. Nilsson married Sandi McTaggart on October 24, 1964. They had no children other than  his step-son, Scott Roberts. They divorced in 1967. Nilsson married Diane Clatworthy on December 31, 1969. They had one son, Zak Nine Nilsson, who died of colon cancer on March 4, 2021. Nilsson and Clatworthy divorced in 1974. Nilsson married Una O'Keeffe on August 12, 1976. The two were Catholics of Irish descent, with Nilsson inheriting that from his maternal grandfather, and they remained married until his death on January 15, 1994. They had six children. Legacy. Section::::"Who Is Harry Nilsson"? Nilsson is the subject of the 2006 documentary "Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About  Him)?" Written, directed, and co-produced by John Schienfeld, the film was screened in 2006 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In August 2006, the film received its Los Angeles premiere when it was screened at the 7th Annual Mods & Rockers Film Festival, followed by a panel discussion featuring the filmmakers and two friends of Nilsson: producer Richard Perry and attorney/executive producer Lee Blackman. The filmmakers re-edited the film with rare found footage of Nilsson, additional interviews, and family photographs, and released it on September 17, 2010 at selected theaters in  the United States. A DVD, including additional footage not in the theatrical release, was released on October 26, 2010. Section::::"The RCA Albums Collection". On July 30, 2013, Sony Music released a definitive box-set of his RCA era albums called "The RCA Albums Collection". Each of the albums in the 17-CD set had additional bonus tracks, and three of the 17 discs contained rarities and outtakes spanning his entire career. Several weeks later on August 13, "Flash Harry" was finally issued on CD, which also featured additional material. Awards and accolades. Grammy Awards