Eddie Rabbitt was born 80 years ago today.
A singer-songwriter and musician, Rabbitt’s career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, spring boarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974.
Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions" and "Every Which Way but Loose." His duets, "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" and "You and I," with Juice Newton and Crystal Gayle respectively, later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.
Rabbitt was born to Irish immigrants in Brooklyn and was raised in the nearby community of East Orange, New Jersey. His father was an oil-refinery refrigeration worker and a skilled fiddle and accordion player who often entertained local New York City dance halls.
By age twelve, Rabbitt was a proficient guitar player, having been taught by his scoutmaster, Bob Scwickrath. During his childhood, Rabbitt became a self-proclaimed "walking encyclopedia of country music."
After his parents divorced, he dropped out of school at age sixteen. His mother, Mae, explained this action by saying that Rabbitt "was never one for school [because] his head was too full of music." He later obtained a high school diploma after taking courses at night school.
Rabbitt was employed as a mental hospital attendant in the late 1950s but, like his father, he fulfilled his love of music by performing at the Six Steps Down club in his hometown. He later won a talent contest and was given an hour of Saturday night radio show time to broadcast a live performance from a bar in Paterson.
In 1964, he signed his first record deal with 20th Century Records and released the singles, "Next to the Note" and "Six Nights and Seven Days." Four years later, with $1,000 to his name, Rabbitt moved to Nashville where he began his career as a songwriter. During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom," which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968.
To support himself, Rabbitt worked as a truck driver, soda jerk and fruit picker while in Nashville. He was ultimately hired as a staff writer for the Hill & Range Publishing Company and received a salary of $37.50 per week. As a young songwriter, Rabbitt socialized with other aspiring writers at Wally's Clubhouse, a bar in Nashville. He said that he and the other patrons had "no place else to go."
Rabbitt became successful as a songwriter in 1969 when Elvis Presley recorded his song, "Kentucky Rain." The song went gold and cast Rabbitt as one of Nashville's leading young songwriters. While eating Cap'n Crunch, he penned "Pure Love," which Ronnie Milsap rode to #1 in 1974. This song led to a contract offer from Elektra Records.
In 1977, the Academy of Country Music named Rabbitt "Top New Male Vocalist of the Year." By that time he had a good reputation in Nashville, and was being compared by critics to singer-songwriter, Kris Kristofferson.
Rabbitt used innovative techniques to tie country music themes with light rhythm and blues-influenced tempos. His songs often used echo, as Rabbitt routinely sang his own background vocals. In a process called the "Eddie Rabbitt Chorale," Rabbitt compensated for what Billboard Magazine described as a "somewhat thin and reedy voice" by recording songs in three-part harmonies. His music was compared to rockabilly, particularly the album, Horizon, which was noted as having an Elvis-like sound.
Rabbitt remarked that he liked "a lot of the old Memphis sounds that came out of Sun Records" during the 1950s, and that he "wanted to catch the magic of a live band." He credited such wide-ranging artists as Bob Dylan, Elton John, Steely Dan, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson with influencing his works.
When putting together an album, Rabbitt tried to make sure he put in "ten potential singles...no fillers, no junk."
On May 7, 1998 in Nashville, Eddie Rabbitt died from lung cancer at the age of 56. He had been diagnosed with the disease in March, 1997 and had received radiation treatment and surgery to remove part of one lung.