Three Dog Night

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  In the 1960's, several bands were formed that went on to achieve successful careers.  I'm Bill Price, and in this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, I will feature one of the rock bands of the late 1960's: Three Dog Night!

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Transcript

In the 1960's, several bands were formed that went on to achieve successful careers. In this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, I will feature one of the rock bands of the late 1960's: Three Dog Night.

In 1967, Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and Chuck Negron formed a band in Los Angeles, California called Redwood. that later became Three Dog Night. First, we will look at the individual backgrounds of the band’s three vocalists.

Daniel Anthony Hutton was born on September 10,1942 in Donegal, Ireland. As a young boy his family relocated to the US. After high school, he began working at the Disney/Buena Vista Records warehouse in Southern California. From 1965 to 1966 he also recorded a few singles and did the voice-overs for several cartoons for MGM and Hanna Barbera Records. In 1965 Danny recorded and released “Roses and Rainbows” which was a hit on local AM radio in Southern California, and managed to reach number 73 on the US national chart. At the time I was living in San Bernardino California which is east of Los Angeles, and remember hearing “Roses and Rainbows” on the radio. Later he auditioned as a member of the Monkees, but did not to join the group. Here is Danny’s first taste of success with the 1965 single titled “Roses and Rainbows”.

Cory Wells whose birth name was Emil Lewandowski, was born in Buffalo, New York on February 5th, 1941. After high school, he then enlisted in the US Air Force. While in the military, he sang in a band called The Satellites that consisted of interracial musicians, which was patterned after the doo-wop group The Dell Vikings, who had a hit with “Come Go with Me”. After completing his military tour of duty, he returned to Buffalo and joined a band called The Vibratos. At the suggestion of the guitarist’s brother-in-law, the band relocated to Southern California. Then they changed the band’s name to The Enemys. Eventually they began appearing in clubs, which included Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Las Vegas. At the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, they eventually became the house band. During the time the band was appearing at the Whisky, the group was asked by Cher to tour with Sonny and Cher. While on tour, Cory met Danny Hutton, who along with Cory and Chuck Negron would later go on to form
Three Dog Night. The Enemys had a couple of minor hits with “Hey Joe” and “Sinner Man”. In 1967 Cory then relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and formed The Cory Wells Band. The band’s bass player was Joe Schermetzler who used Joe Schermie as his stage name. Joe would later become the bass player for Three Dog Night. In 1968 Cory then returned to Hollywood. Danny Hutton had the task of convincing Cory on the viability of putting together a vocal trio along with a backup band. 

Charles Negron the second, was born on June 8th, 1942 in New York City. When Chuck was five years old, his parents divorced. Chuck and his sister Nancy were then raised by their mother. Growing up in the Bronx, he sang in local doo-wop groups and played basketball. He was eventually recruited to play basketball by the Allen Hancock College in Santa Maria, California and also later played at the California Sate University in Los Angeles. Chuck began singing in the college choir and later performed as a solo artist calling himself Chuck Rondell, he also recorded a few minor hits for a small label. Chuck also joined a college rock band and gained the attention of Columbia Records. Several singles were recorded, but none generated any success.

In 1967, Danny asked Chuck to join him and Cory in forming the band that would later become Three Dog Night. As I mentioned earlier, the band was originally called Redwood. Initially the group did some recordings with the Beach Boy’s Brian Wilson. Redwood came close to being one of the initial artists to sign with the Beach Boy’s record label called Brother Records. However after several days in the studio they apparently did not meet Brian’s expectation.Although there are conflicting historical accounts, the official version of the name Three Dog Night goes as follows. Danny’s girlfriend June Fairchild proposed the name after
reading about the Aboriginal Australians who on cold nights would sleep embracing a dingo, which was a native wild dog. On cold nights they would sleep with two dogs, but if the night was freezing, it was a three dog night. 

In 1968 the group became Three Dog Night and the trio hired some backing musicians, which included guitarist Ron Morgan, drummer Floyd Sneed, keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon and bassist Joe Schermie. Before their first album was recorded, Morgan left the band and later joined The Electric Prunes. Guitarist Michael Allsup then replaced Morgan. Three Dog Night’s debut performance happened at the Whiskey a Go Go, during a press party hosted by Dunhill Records. After the band’s performance, they received favorable reactions from a critical audience. This resulted in the band getting signed to Dunhill.

The first album titled “Three Dog Night” was a success, which featured three hit songs, “Nobody”, “Try A Little Tenderness” and “One”. As a result, the band’s recognition increased, enabling the band to eventually become a top concert act. I attended one the early Three Dog Night performances, which took place at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California.

Here is Three Dog Night’s 1969 cover version of Otis Redding’s “Try A Little
Tenderness”.

From 1969 to 1974, Three Dog Night released more Billboard Top 10 hits than anyone else, and sold more concert tickets propelling them as the most popular band. The group released 21 Top 40 hits, with three singles reaching the one position. In addition to selling 7 million singles they also had 12 Gold LP's. By the end of 1975, almost 50 million records had been sold. The band was also unique in the fact that there were three lead singers Hutton, Wells and Negron, and that they decided on recording songs written by unknown writers. This approach helped bring to the forefront such writers as Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson. The band’s biggest hits include “One”, “Easy to Be Hard”, “Eli’s Coming”, “Mama Told Me Not to Come”, “Joy to the World”, “Liar”, “An Old Fathomed Love Song”, “Never Been to Spain”, “Black and White”, “Shambala” and “The Show Must Go On”.

By 1975 the band was beginning to grow weary of the non stop touring. Eventually, the group made the decision to disband and on July 26th, 1976 appeared for the last time in Los Angeles. Only Chuck Negron, Cory Wells and Jimmy Greenspoon from the original seven-member lineup performed. In 1980 the band got together with six of the original members. However due to residual drug and alcohol problems that had plagued the band in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Negron was removed from the band. The band toured repeatedly and their records continued to sell well, plus their music was played regularly on the radio.

By 1991 Chuck had conquered his addiction problems and in 1993 he asked Cory about rejoining the band. Although Danny wanted to see Chuck back in the band, Cory was not interested. As a result, Cory and Danny resumed touring without Chuck, who then toured as a solo act. From 2007 to 2015, Three Dog Night continued to perform. But on October 2015, Cory passed away at the age of 74. The band resumed touring with remaining original members Danny and Mike. Chuck also continued performing as a solo act.

In 2000, Three Dog Night was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
However in spite of their success, the band was never inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Three Dog Night’s discography encompasses 12 studio albums, 5 live albums, 7 compilation albums and 25 singles.

Here is the number 4 hit from July 1969, “Easy To Be Hard”.

This has been a look back at one of Rock’s successful bands from the late 1960's, Three Dog Night. Until next time, I’m your host Bill Price.