Song:Undercover Angel
Album:Ultimate Summer Hits
Songwriter Alan O'Day topped the charts with Undercover Angel in 1977. I think most folks know the song but know nothing about O'Day's long musical career. He was born Oct. 3, 1940 in Hollywood, CA. His dad was a photographer and his mom a writer for the Pasadena Star-News. As a teen, O'Day was in bands like The Imperials, The Shoves and The Renes. With his high school buddy Arch Hall Jr., he got to work on films directed by Hall's dad Arch Hall Sr. like 1962's Wild Guitar. The two led the band The Archers. Then O'Day was in the backup group Alan & Bob & Denny. After that ended, O'Day worked has a songwriter for Warner Bros. Music. His biggest hits as a songwriter were Angie Baby for Helen Reddy and Rock and Roll Heaven for The Righteous Brothers. O'Day recorded an album in 1973 that went nowhere. In 1977, Warners started Pacific Records for house songwriters to record. O'Day's album Appetizers was the first album released on that label. Undercover Angel topped the charts in Feb. 1977. The background vocals are by Carol Parks who was married to session guitarist Dean Parks. But the album didn't do that well and O'Day's 1979 album Oh Johnny stiffed too. One of his other singles charted so technically O'Day is not a one hit wonder. You can get Undercover Angel on this various artists budget CD from Collectables. O'Day left Warners in 1982 and wrote a hundred songs with Janis Liebart for the Jim Henson TV Series Muppet Babies. They also wrote songs for the National Geographic video series Really Wild Animals. He released a couple of CDs but mostly O'Day lived in Nashville and wrote and produced songs until his death on May 17, 2013 at age 72. Here's a video for Undercover Angel by Alan O'Day.
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