Three Dog Night

[The Doctor]

Saw 3 Dog Night last Friday night...3rd time I've seen them in 3 years. I'm kind of partial to 3DN. When they were at Grand Casino Mille Lacs in Minnesota September 2002, they came to to the radio station I work at (KUAL-FM, COOL 101.5 www.cool1015.com shameless plug!) and I was able to do an hour interview with them with their latest cd Three Dog Night with the London Symphony Orchestra. The entire band was kind enough to come to my studio and the interview was a major turning point in my career.

I was amazed that after all these years, they put on a fantastic show and have maintaned the purity of their sound (and hit all their high notes)! There are 4 of the original members in the band...Cory Wells & Danny Hutton...2 of the 3 original lead singers. Jimmy Greenspoon...original keyboardist and Mike Alsup...original guitar player. Pat Bautz (drums) and Paul Kingrey (bass) round out the line up.

If there are any 3DN afficianados out there, I would love to hear from you.

The Doctor :scratchin:

[Kooperman]

I always liked them. They mainly caught flak from the rock press because they were singers only, not also songwriters.

[MikeHunt]

good post...it's been a few years since I fished Mille Lacs. So now the Indian's got concerts up there ...lol...cool.

And Three Dog Night...Another reason to visit God's country (again)...actually Potato is from near St. Cloud..

..look out (us Minnasotan's )we're taking over... :rotfl:

[DudeAsInCool]

I remember them having a series of hits--and the seemed to appeal to young and old--not an easy trick...

**

Well, that was an understatement, according to the bio I just found: "From 1969-1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets than Three Dog Night. During this period, they were undoubtedly the most popular band in America: twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits, eighteen straight Top 20s, eleven Top 10s, seven number 1s, seven million-selling singles and twelve straight gold LPs. By late '75, they had sold nearly 50 million records. The band was unique for it's time, featuring three separate lead singers, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells."

Apparently they got their break from "... Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who wanted to get into producing other acts and quickly took the three singers under his wing. Wilson wrote a couple of songs for them and started to produce an album. All was going well until the rest of the Beach Boys decided to pressure Brian into saving his writing and producing skills for them only."

From 1969-1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets than Three Dog Night. During this period, they were undoubtedly the most popular band in America: twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits, eighteen straight Top 20s, eleven Top 10s, seven number 1s, seven million-selling singles and twelve straight gold LPs. By late '75, they had sold nearly 50 million records. The band was unique for it's time, featuring three separate lead singers, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells.

Between 1969 and 1974 , Three Dog Night recorded 18 straight "top 40" hits. Of these, I thought "One", "Eli's Coming" and "Mama Told Me Not to Come" stood out. "Joy to the World", "Celebrate, and "Easy to Be Hard" were all number one hits...just not for me.

Try A Little Tenderness - charted #29 - Jan. 1969

One - charted #5 - April 1969

Easy To Be Hard - charted #4 - July 1969

Eli's Coming - charted # 10 - October 1969

Celebrate - charted #15 - February 1970

Mama Told Me Not To Come - charted #1 - May 1970

Out In The Country - charted #15 - August 1970

One Man Band - charted #19 - November 1970

Joy To The World - charted #1 Feb. 1971

Liar - charted #7 June 1971

An Old Fashioned Love Song - charted #4 Oct. 1971

Never Been To Spain - charted #5 Dec. 1971

The Family Of Man - charted #12 March 1971

Black and White - charted #1 July 1972

Pieces Of April - charted #19 October 1972

Shambala - charted #3 May 1973

Let Me Serenade You - charted #17 October 1973

The Show Must Go On - charted #4 Feb.1974

Sure As I'm Sittin' Here - charted #16 June 1974

Play Something Sweet - charted #33 Sept. 1974

Till The World Ends - charted #32 June 1975

In 1975, however, the rigors of non-stop roadwork caught up with the group. "We became disenchanted," Wells would later say, "We just quietly backed out of the picture.

[The Doctor]

Kooperman is correct that 3DN were "dissed" because the almost never wrote their own material. The Dogs, however, never hid that fact and actually bragged about it. During my interview with them 1 1/2 years ago, I asked Danny Hutton about that and his reply was to the effect that if they had sold over 50 million records, who wrote the songs became irrelevant and probably helped pay the rent for numerous songwriters back in the late 60's/70's.

The Doctor

:scratchin: