Song:Moonlight Feels Right
Album:Then:Totally Oldies 1
The 1976 top five hit Moonlight Feels Right was the only significant hit for Starbuck. A couple of their other songs charted so they are not technically a one hit wonder. But it's the only song most will remember. Their biggest problem was being on a poorly managed record label that had hits but went broke anyway. Lead singer, keyboard player and main songwriter for Starbuck was Bruce Blackman. His group The Phantoms were formed at Delta College in Cleveland, MS in 1965. They moved to Biloxi and changed the group name to Eternity's Children. They recorded for A & M and Capitol's Tower label without much success. Blackman left Eternity's Children when the band butted heads with their management and record label. He moved to Atlanta and in 1974, he formed Starbuck with former Eternity's Children percussionist Bo Wagner. Wagner already had a band called Extravaganza but changed the name when Blackman joined. Starbuck signed with Private Stock Records and Moonlight Feels Right was released in 1975. It was not a hit at first but gained steam when DJ Mike St. John of WERC in Birmingham, AL got behind it and it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. The song's use of synthesizers was interesting at the time. And it's probably the only hit song to have a marimba solo courtesy of Bo Wagner. You can get Moonlight Feels Right on this various artists budget comp from Varese. Starbuck had some personnel changes. They recorded a second album for Private Stock but the label went broke in 1978 despite having some big hits. Starbuck recorded a third album for United Artists. They split up in 1980. Since then, Bruce Blackman has owned his own music publishing company. Here's Starbuck performing Moonlight Feels Right on The Midnight Special 1976. The video player is a little strange. It looks like it's loading the video but you have to hit the Play button to get it to work properly. It plays fine after that.
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