Iconic American band, THREE DOG NIGHT, now celebrating its 6th decade, boasts some of the most astonishing chart statistics in popular music with 21 consecutive Billboard Top 40 hits, including 3 #1 singles and 12 straight RIAA Certified Gold LPs.
Created in 1968 by Irish-born Danny Hutton, the group was conceived to feature three strong vocalists who shared leads and also blended together in exquisite three-part harmony, complemented by four ace instrumentalists, creating a self-contained unit. This ultimately became Three Dog Night’s signature sound in the studio and live on the road.
Working with the studio duo of Richie Podolor and Bill Cooper at American Recording, they identified and resurrected great songs, mostly from undiscovered new songwriters of that time. The band’s eclectic taste and arranging talents, combined with the ability to recognize and record hits in a distinctive style, resulted in Three Dog Night dominating the charts for years, earning a Grammy nomination, performing at two Super Bowls and pervading American culture with its music ubiquitous on the radio and in film and television.
From their debut eponymous album, Three Dog Night went on to release 12 gold albums and by 1975, driven by chart-topping songs like “One” “Easy to be Hard”, “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” “Joy to the World”, “Black and White”, “Shambala” and others, the band had sold over 50 million records. During that time Three Dog Night also toured relentlessly, quickly ramping up from smaller venues to selling out stadiums, virtually establishing the modern concept of a “stadium tour”.
Hutton, a denizen of the Laurel Canyon and Sunset Blvd music scenes, was well established as a songwriter, producer and recording artist. He worked as a writer/producer for the label established by Hanna-Barbera animation studio where he was also immortalized as a character on “The Flintstones”. Hutton had several regional hits as a solo artist including “Roses and Rainbows” and was invited to join the Sonny and Cher tour, where he met Cory Wells, lead singer of the Enemys. They recruited Chuck Negron to complete the sound. Initially the trio planned to work with Danny’s good friend and mentor, Brian Wilson, and record for the Beach Boys label Brother Records. Wilson had christened them “Redwood” and they began work on several tunes. However, that project was abandoned when the Beach Boys objected to Brian’s songs going to another band. After staging a showcase at Hollywood’s famous Troubadour and garnering the attention of various label heads, Hutton eventually signed the group to ABC Dunhill records.
They sought out talented musicians and formed their own self-contained band to both tour and record – allowing them to hone a specific sound and giving them independence from the labels and “Wrecking Crew” studio musicians that drove the sound of that period. Also, at Hutton’s insistence, Three Dog Night recorded the best songs available, by-passing the discord that comes from a band trying to write and promote their own work. The band introduced large audiences to some little-known work of talented writers and artists of the era, such as Randy Newman (“Mama Told Me Not To Come”), Harry Nilsson (“One”), Laura Nyro (“Eli’s Coming”), Paul Williams (“Old Fashioned Love Song”) and Hoyt Axton (“Joy To The World”) and many others. He also helped a young songwriter named Reggie Dwight aka Elton John get established, encouraging and supporting him through his early career. After meeting in London, where Dwight pitched Hutton his songs, Three Dog Night recorded and released “Lady Samantha” and “Your Song”, establishing Elton as an up and coming artist .
The band’s name --Three Dog Night is the now famous moniker that derives from the tale of outback hunters who sleep with their dingoes on cold nights, the coldest being a "three dog night".
Still road warriors at heart, Three Dog Night hits stages 80+ times a year — reminding the faithful why those songs became classics, and converting a whole new generation who weren't even born when it all began.
THREE DOG NIGHT’s Top 40 Hits include;
“Mama Told M (Not to Come)”, “Joy to the World”, “Black and White”, “Shambala”, “Easy To Be Hard”, “An Old Fashioned Love Song”, “One”, “The Show Must Go On”, “Never Been To Spain”, “Eli’s Coming”, “The Family of Man”, “Liar”, “Celebrate”, “Out In The Country”, “Pieces of April”, “One Man Band”
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