Artist:The Hudson Brothers
Song:So You Are a Star
Album:Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Mix Vol. 1
If you were around in the 70s, you may recall a group of brothers who sang and had their own TV show. No, I'm not talking about The Osmond Brothers. I'm talking about The Hudson Brothers. Of course they weren't nearly as successful as the Osmonds. The 1974 single So You Are a Star was their biggest hit and it didn't even break the top 20. Also, I thought they tried too hard with the comedy. Plus they bounced around too many labels. The Hudson Brothers are from Portland, OR. The oldest is Bill Hudson (b. Oct. 17, 1949), next is Mark Hudson (b. Aug. 23, 1951) and finally Brett Hudson (b. Jan. 18,1953). Their father left the family when all three were children. Mom encouraged them to sing. When they first formed a band as teens, they were called My Sirs. After winning a battle of the bands, they were at a recording studio and a local promoter offered them a contract to promote Chryslers. They were renamed The New Yorkers. They recorded a promotional single for the Chrysler 1967 Go Show. They signed with Scepter Records and released a few singles and toured with Buffalo Springfield and The Buckinghams. They released a couple of singles on the local label Jerden Records. When they signed with Decca, they changed the name to Everyday Hudson. It was shortened to Hudson when they signed with Playboy Records owned by Hugh Hefner. They released an album in 1972. Then Playboy was sold to CBS. After Hudson appeared on the TV panel show What's My Line, Elton John's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin signed them to their label Rocket Records. Taupin produced the 1974 album Totally Out of Control. A few singles were released. Meanwhile they appeared on a 1974 episode of The Sonny Comedy Revue. Show producer Chris Bearde liked them enough to give them a summer replacement TV series called The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. I think that's where most folks first heard of them. They got a record deal with Neil Bogart's Casablanca label and the 1974 single So You Are a Star reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. This turned out to be their biggest hit. This was followed by the album Hollywood Situation. The Hudsons wrote and produced the album. Mark was usually lead singer. All three played instruments. The Hudsons returned to Rocket for the 1975 album Ba-Fa. Later they recorded for Arista and Elektra. Their final album was in 1980. By that time, the TV show was long gone. But they continued to do comedy in their act. I think if they had stuck to music, they could have been successful. I watched their TV show and it was pretty lame. You can get So You Are a Star on this various artists budget CD of 70s hits. After The Hudson Brothers split up, Bill Hudson appeared in a few TV shows. Mark Hudson wrote and produced for Aerosmith and Ringo Starr. Brett Hudson has produced several TV shows with his company Frozen Pictures. Here's The Hudson Brothers performing So You Are a Star on a 1974 episode of their TV show.
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