Harry Nilsson Caricature

Harry Nilsson Caricature, shown here in California, December 1971, age 30.

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; A tenor with a 3½ octave range, Nilsson was one of the few major pop-rock recording artists of his era 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, and 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.

Signed by RCA Victor, his most commercially successful album, Nilsson Schmilsson (1971), produced the international top 10 singles “Without You” (written by Peter Ham & Tom Evans of the group Badfinger) and “Coconut”. His other top 10 hit, “Everybody’s Talkin'” (1968), was a prominent song 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”. He soon formed close friendships with John Lennon and Ringo Starr. In the 1970s, Nilsson and Lennon joined Starr as members of the Hollywood Vampires drinking club, embroiling themselves in a number of widely publicized, alcohol-fueled incidents.

Greatest Hits: “Without You”, “One”, “Everybody’s Talkin'”, “Jump Into The Fire”, “Coconut”, “Spaceman”, “Me And My Arrow”, “The Moonbeam Song”, “Gotta Get Up”, “Driving Along” and “You’re Breaking My Heart”.

Born with congenital heart problems, Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack on February 14, 1993. While attempting to complete one final album, Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15, 1994, in his Agoura Hills, California, home, aged 52.

In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Nilsson as No. 62 on “The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time”.
At the 1973 Grammy Awards, Nilsson Schmilsson earned a nomination for Album of the Year, while “Without You” won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

#HarryNilsson, #HarryNilssonCaricature, #MusicArt, #RockAndRollArt, #PaulKing, #PaulKingArtwerks, PaulKingArt.com