Artist:Harry Nilsson
Song:Coconut
Album:All-Time Greatest Hits
Singer songwriter Harry Nilsson was one of the most intriguing figures in pop music history. He didn't fit the mold of a pop singer but became popular anyway. He was born June 15, 1941 in Brooklyn, NY. He was writing songs on the side while working at a bank when John Lennon praised his first solo album Pandemonium Shadow Show in 1967. That got peoples attention and he was asked to write and perform a song for the film Midnight Cowboy. I guess the producers didn't like the song he wrote, I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City, and he was asked to perform Fred Neil's Everybody's Talkin' instead. It was a huge hit. His music from his animated film The Point also did well. One thing about Nilsson is he was not a concert performer and preferred working in the studio so he never toured like most singers. In 1971, Nilsson decided to take his music in a more pop oriented direction and hired Richard Perry to produce Nilsson Schmilsson. He had a huge hit with the Badfinger song Without You and the song Coconut was also a hit. Coconut is a Caribbean flavoured tune probably about a hangover cure. The albums that followed didn't catch on with listeners and the 40s pop cover album A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night signaled Nilsson's decline. He became better known as John Lennon's drinking buddy. Then he damaged his voice while working with Lennon on the album Pussycats. He never really resurfaced after that and died of a heart attack on Jan. 15, 1994 at age 52. RCA hasn't done a very good job reissuing Nilsson's music and this 1978 comp was the only one available for a long time. The 2002 Greatest Hits CD is better. I always enjoyed Harry Nilsson's music. He was a great singer but I always thought it was funny that for a guy known as a songwriter that his two biggest hits were covers. Here's Harry Nilsson under an ape suit performing Coconut from a 1971 BBC special.
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