Song:Lonely Boy
Album:The Essential Collection
Singer songwriter Andrew Gold scored a top ten hit in 1977 with Lonely Boy. He is also known for Thank You For Being A Friend which was the theme for the sitcom Golden Girls. He was a big part of the Los Angeles studio scene as a writer and producer. He was born Aug. 2, 1951 in Burbank, CA. His dad was Oscar winning film music composer Ernest Gold (Exodus). His mom was legendary studio singer Marni Nixon who most famously dubbed Natalie Wood's singing voice in West Side Story. Gold began writing songs as a teen. He was going to school in England and his demos got him a record deal with Polydor. He released a single in 1967 as Villiers and Gold. He moved back to Los Angeles and he was in the band Bryndle with Stone Poneys leader Kenny Edwards and singers Karla Bonoff and Wendy Waldman. They recorded an album for A&M but it was never released. Gold's friendship with Edwards led to him joining Linda Ronstadt's band as a pianist and musical director. So Gold was a big part of her success. And then he signed with her label Asylum Records. Things really clicked with his second album What's Wrong With This Picture?. It was produced by Peter Asher (Peter and Gordon) who produced all of Linda's albums. Her band played on the album and they also toured with Gold. Lonely Boy reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Though the song seems autobiographical, Gold always claimed that it wasn't. I dunno. A lot of the details in the song are true. He admitted later that was a bad idea. Gold's other big hit Thank You For Being A Friend was mainly known as the theme for the sitcom Golden Girls. You can get all Gold's hits on this 2CD comp from the British label Music Club. Gold recorded four albums for Asylum. At the same time he was active as a producer for Art Garfunkel and Rita Coolidge. Then in 1981 he went to England and produced three songs for 10cc's album Ten Out Of 10. Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart wanted Gold to join 10cc. But the group split up and Gold formed the band Wax with Gouldman. Wax had success mostly in England. Gold continued to produce many artists including Cher, Trisha Yearwood and Wynonna Judd. He wrote and produced Judd's hit single I Saw The Light. In the 90s, Gold and Edwards reformed Bryndle and they released an album in 1995. Gold continued to record on his own label QBrain until his death on June 3, 2011 at age 59. Gold had been suffering from cancer but he died in his sleep from heart failure. Here's Andrew Gold performing Lonely Boy on The Midnight Special 1977. The guitar solo is by Waddy Wachtel.
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