Frank Beacham's Journal

Nils Lofgren is 70 years old today

Nils Lofgren and Bruce Springsteen on the River tour, 2016

Nils Lofgren is 70 years old today.

A rock musician, recording artist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Lofgren
has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a former member of Crazy Horse and founder/frontman of the band, Grin. He is also a solo artist.

Born in Chicago, Lofgren moved to the suburban town of Garrett Park, Maryland, near the northern border of Washington, D.C. as a very young child. His first instrument was classical accordion, beginning at age five, which he studied seriously for ten years.

After studying classical music and jazz, throughout his youth, Lofgren switched his emphasis to rock music. It was then that he focused on the piano and the guitar.

By 1968, Lofgren formed the band, Grin, originally with bassist George Daly (later replaced by Bob Gordon), and drummer Bob Berberich, former players in the DC band, The Hangmen. The group played in venues throughout the Washington, D.C. area. Lofgren had been a competitive gymnast in high school, a skill that popped up later in his career.

During this time, Lofgren met Neil Young and played for him. Young invited Lofgren to come to California and the Grin trio (Lofgren, Daly and Berberich) drove out west and lived for some months at a home Neil Young rented in Laurel Canyon.

Lofgren joined Neil Young's band at age 17, playing piano and guitar on the album, After the Gold Rush, Lofgren worked on his parts around-the-clock when recording was not in session.

He maintained a close musical relationship with Young, appearing on his Tonight's the Night album and tour among others. He was also briefly a member of Crazy Horse, appearing on their 1971 LP and contributing songs to their catalog.

In 1984, he joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as the replacement for Steven Van Zandt on guitar and vocals, in time for Springsteen's massive Born in the U.S.A. Tour.

Following the tour, he appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, to promote his 1985 solo release, Flip. The E Street Band toured again with Springsteen in 1988 on the Tunnel of Love Express and Human Rights Now! Tours.

In 1989, Springsteen broke up the E Street Band, but Lofgren and Van Zandt rejoined when Springsteen revived the band in 1999 for their Reunion Tour, followed by The Rising and another massive tour in 2002 and 2003, then again for the Magic album and world tour of 2007/2008. They re-upped in 2012 for the Wrecking Ball Tour, 2014 for the High Hopes Tour and 2016 for the River Tour.

Lofgren continues to record and to tour as a solo act, with Patti Scialfa, Neil Young and as a two-time member of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band. Many of the people he worked with on those tours appeared on his 1991 album, Silver Lining.

Here, Lofgren performs “No Mercy” in Germany, 1991

O.C. Smith, whose “Little Green Apples” sold over a million records in 1968, was born 89 years ago today

O.C. Smith, whose “Little Green Apples” sold over a million records in 1968, was born 89 years ago today.

Born Ocie Lee Smith in Mansfield, Louisiana, Smith moved with his parents to Little Rock, Arkansas and then moved with his mother to Los Angeles after his parents divorced. After completing a psychology degree at Southern University, Smith joined the Air Force. He served throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.

While in the Air Force, Smith began entering talent contests and toured with Horace Heidt. After his discharge in July, 1955, he went into jazz to pay the bills.

Smith gained his first break as a singer with Sy Oliver and made an appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. His success on that show led to a recording contract with Cadence Records. In 1961, Smith was recruited by Count Basie to be his vocalist, a position he held until 1965.

His hits, "The Best Out Of Me" and "After All Is Said And Done," established Smith as a Carolina Beach Music star. Nominated for six awards at the third Beach Music Awards, Smith captured five.

Smith became pastor and founder of The City Of Angels Church in Los Angeles, where he remained for 16 years. One of his last recordings, "Save The Last Dance For Me," reached the #1 position on the Rhythm n' Beach Top 40 chart.

After his death from a heart attack on Nov. 23, 2001, Gov. Jim Hodges proclaimed June 21, 2002 “O.C. Smith Day” in the State of South Carolina. Smith was posthumously elected to the Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame in November, 2002.

Here, Smith performs “Little Green Apples” in 1982

Released on this day in 1965 — 56 years ago — the Byrds' debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, marked a critical beginning of the folk-rock revolution

Released on this day in 1965 — 56 years ago — the Byrds' debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, marked a critical beginning of the folk-rock revolution.

In just a few months, the Byrds had become a household name, with a #1 single and a smash-hit album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of the British Invasion with the harmonies and lyrical depth of folk to create an entirely new sound.

Perhaps someone else could have listened to the bright guitar lines of the Beatles' "Ticket To Ride" and to Bob Dylan's original "Mr. Tambourine Man" and had the idea of somehow combining the two, but neither of those recordings existed when the Byrds' Roger McGuinn devised his group's new sound.

Newly signed to Columbia Records, the Byrds had access to an early demo version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" even before their label-mate, Bob Dylan, had a chance to record it for his own upcoming album.

On January 20, 1965, they entered the studio to record what would become the title track of their debut album and, incidentally, the only Bob Dylan song ever to reach #1 on the U.S. pop charts.

Aiming consciously for a vocal style in between Dylan's and Lennon's, McGuinn sang lead, with Gene Clark and David Crosby, providing the complex harmony that would, along with McGuinn's jangly electric 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, form the basis of the Byrds' trademark sound.

That sound, which would influence countless groups from Big Star to the Bangles in decades to come, had an immediate and profound impact on the Byrds' contemporaries, and even on the artists who'd inspired it in the first place.

"Wow, man, you can even dance to that!" was Bob Dylan's reaction to hearing what the Byrds' had done with "Mr. Tambourine Man."

Just days before the hugely influential album of the same name was released to the public on June 21, 1965, Dylan himself would be in a New York recording studio with an electric guitar in his hands, putting the finishing touches on "Like A Rolling Stone" and setting the stage for his controversial "Dylan goes electric" performance at the Newport Folk Festival just one month later.

Here the Byrds perform “Mr. Tambourine Man” in 1965

Thanks History.com

Roger McGuinn, New York City, February, 1995

Photo by Frank Beacham

Brian Wilson is 79 years old today

Brian Wilson, 2017 tour

Photo by Jeff McEvoy

Brian Wilson is 79 years old today.

Wilson is the leader, lead vocalist, bassist and chief songwriter of the Beach Boys. Besides being their primary composer, he also functioned as the band's main producer and arranger. After signing with Capitol Records in mid-1962, Wilson wrote or co-wrote more than two dozen Top 40 hits for the Beach Boys.

In the mid-1960s, Wilson used his increasingly creative ambitions to compose and produce Pet Sounds, considered one of the greatest albums of all time. The intended follow-up to Pet Sounds — Smile — was cancelled for various reasons, including Wilson's deteriorating mental health.

Wilson's contributions to the Beach Boys diminished and his erratic behavior led to tensions with the band. After years of treatment and recuperation, he began a solo career in 1988. Since then, he has toured for the first time in decades with a new band and released acclaimed albums, including a reworked version of Smile in 2004.

Wilson is an occasional actor and voice actor, having appeared in television shows, films and other artists' music videos. On December 16, 2011, a 50th Anniversary Reunion was announced and Wilson briefly returned to the Beach Boys. He remains a member of the Beach Boys corporation — Brother Records Incorporated — though he still tours as a solo artist.

An autobiography — I Am Brian Wilson — co-written by ghostwriter Ben Greenman, was published in October, 2016. Wilson suffers from auditory hallucinations, and has been formally diagnosed as mildly manic-depressive with schizoaffective disorder that presents itself in the form of disembodied voices.

In recent years, Wilson's mental condition has improved. Although he still experiences auditory hallucinations from time to time, his relationship with his wife and a new regimen of psychiatric care have allowed him to resume his career as a performing musician.

Here, Wilson performs “Smile”

The Beach Boys, The Ed Sullivan Show, 1964

Chet Atkins was born 97 years ago today

Chet Atkins was born 97 years ago today.

Atkins was a guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound. It expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans.

Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Les Paul and Maybelle Carter, brought him admirers within and outside the country scene, both in the United States and internationally.

Atkins produced records for The Browns, Porter Wagoner, Norma Jean, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Perry Como, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings and many others.

Born in Luttrell, Tennessee near Clinch Mountain, Atkins’ parents divorced when he was six. After the divorce, he was raised by his mother. He was the youngest of three boys and a girl. He started out on the ukulele, later moving on to the fiddle. At age nine, he traded his brother, Lowell, an old pistol and some chores for a guitar.

He said in his 1974 autobiography, "We were so poor and everybody around us was so poor that it was the forties before anyone even knew there had been a depression." Forced to relocate to Fortson, Georgia to live with his father because of a critical asthma condition, Atkins was a sensitive youth who made music his obsession.

Because of his illness, he was forced to sleep in a straight-back chair in order to breathe comfortably. On those nights, he would play his guitar until he fell asleep holding it, a habit which lasted his whole life.

While living in Fortson, he attended the historic Mountain Hill School. He would return in the 1990s to play a series of charity concerts to save the school from demolition.

A very young Chet, when a guitar-playing friend or relative would come to visit, would put his ear so close to the instrument that it became difficult for that person to play. He became an accomplished guitarist while he was in high school. He would use the restroom in the school to practice, because it gave better acoustics.

Atkins’ first guitar had a nail for a nut and was so bowed that only the first few frets could be used. He later purchased a semi-acoustic electric guitar and amp, but he had to travel many miles to find an electrical outlet since his home had no electricity.

Later in life, he lightheartedly gave himself (along with John Knowles, Tommy Emmanuel, Steve Wariner, Jerry Reed and Marcel Dadi) the honorary degree CGP, standing for "Certified Guitar Player."

Atkins did not have a strong style of his own until 1939 when — while still living in Georgia — he heard Merle Travis picking over WLW radio. This early influence dramatically shaped his unique playing style. Whereas Travis's right hand used his index finger for the melody and thumb for bass notes, Atkins expanded his right hand style to include picking with his first three fingers, with the thumb on bass.

After dropping out of high school in 1942, Atkins landed a job at WNOX-AM radio in Knoxville. There he played fiddle and guitar with singer Bill Carlisle and comic Archie Campbell as well as becoming a member of the station's Dixieland Swingsters, a small swing instrumental combo.

After three years, he moved to WLW-AM in Cincinnati, where Merle Travis had formerly worked. Traveling to Chicago, Atkins auditioned for Red Foley, who was leaving his star position on WLS-AM's National Barn Dance to join the Grand Ole Opry. He got the job. Atkins made his first appearance at the Opry in 1946 as a member of Foley's band.

He also recorded a single for Nashville-based Bullet Records that year. That single, "Guitar Blues," was fairly progressive, including as it did, a clarinet solo by Nashville dance band musician Dutch McMillan with Owen Bradley on piano.

While working with a Western band in Denver, Atkins came to the attention of RCA Victor. When Steve Sholes, A&R director of country music at RCA, signed him, his style was suddenly in vogue.

While he hadn't yet had a hit record on RCA Victor, his stature was growing. He began assisting Sholes as a session leader when the New York–based producer needed help organizing Nashville sessions for RCA Victor artists. Atkins's first hit single was "Mr. Sandman," followed by "Silver Bell," which he did as a duet with Hank Snow.

When Sholes took over pop production in 1957 — a result of his success with Elvis Presley — he put Atkins in charge of RCA Victor's Nashville division. With country music record sales declining as rock and roll took over, Atkins and Bob Ferguson took their cue from Owen Bradley and eliminated fiddles and steel guitar as a means of making country singers appeal to pop fans.

This became known as the “Nashville Sound” which Atkins said was a label created by the media attached to a style of recording done during that period to keep country (and their jobs) viable. By the late 1970s, RCA decided to remove Atkins from his producing duties and replace him with younger men. He also felt stifled because the record company would not let him branch into jazz.

In the mid-1970s, he collaborated with one of his influences, Les Paul. Chester & Lester and Guitar Monsters were recorded. Chester & Lester was one of the best-selling recordings of Atkins's career.

Atkins is notable for his broad influence. His love for numerous styles of music can be traced from his early recording of stride-pianist James P. Johnson's "Johnson Rag," all the way to the rock music of Eric Johnson, an invited guest on Atkins's recording sessions. When Atkins attempted to copy Johnson’s "Cliffs of Dover," it led to the creation of a unique arrangement of "Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)."

Atkins continued performing in the 1990s, but his health declined after being diagnosed with cancer in 1996. He died on June 30, 2001, at his home in Nashville at age 77.

Here, Atkins joins Les Paul to play “Avalon”

Jimmy Driftwood was born 114 years ago today

Photo by J. Gerald Crawford

Jimmy Driftwood was born 114 years ago today.

Born James Corbitt Morris, Driftwood was a prolific American folk music songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud." He wrote over 6,000 folk songs — of which more than 300 were recorded by various musicians.

Born in Timbo, Arkansas, his father was the folk singer, Neil Morris. Driftwood learned to play the guitar at a young age on his grandfather's homemade instrument. He used that unique guitar throughout his career and noted that its neck was made from a fence rail, its sides from an old ox yoke and the head and bottom from the headboard of his grandmother's bed. The instrument produced a pleasant, distinctive resonant sound.

Driftwood attended John Brown College in northwest Arkansas and later received a degree in education from Arkansas State Teacher's College. He started writing songs during his teaching career to teach his students history in an entertaining manner.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Driftwood left Arkansas, eventually hitchhiking through the southwestern United States. In Arizona, he entered, and won, a local song contest. In 1936, he married Cleda Johnson, who was one of his former students. He returned to Arkansas to raise a family and resume his teaching career.

During this period of his life, Driftwood wrote hundreds of songs but did not pursue a musical career seriously. He wrote his later famous, "Battle of New Orleans," in 1936 to help a high school class he was teaching become interested in the event.

In the 1950s, he changed his name to Jimmy Driftwood, both publicly and legally. In 1957, a Nashville, Tennessee song publisher learned of Driftwood, auditioned him and signed him to his first record deal.

Driftwood recalled playing some 100 of his songs in one day, of which 20 were chosen to be recorded. Driftwood's first album, Newly Discovered Early American Folk Songs, received good reviews but did not sell particularly well.

"The Battle of New Orleans" was included on the album, but did not conform to the radio standards of the time because of the words "hell" and "damn" in the lyrics. Driftwood said that at the time those words could be preached but not sung in secular contexts for broadcast.

Driftwood was asked to make a shorter censored version of the song for a live radio performance. Singer Johnny Horton, after hearing the song, contacted Driftwood and told him that he wished to record his own version.

Driftwood left Arkansas for Nashville and became popular by his appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and programs including Ozark Jubilee and Louisiana Hayride. He was invited to sing for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev as an example of traditional American music during the leader's visit to the United States. He became a member of the Opry in the 1950s.

The popular peak of Driftwood's career came in 1959 when he had no fewer than six songs on the popular and country music charts, including Johnny Horton's recording of his "The Battle of New Orleans," which remained in first place on the country music singles chart for ten weeks, and atop the popular music chart for six weeks that year.

After Horton's success, Driftwood performed at Carnegie Hall and at major American folk music festivals before returning home to Timbo, Arkansas in 1962. For a time during the 1960s, Driftwood toured the United States and Europe as a separate act with the Preservation Hall New Orleans jazz band.

Back home, he became a folklorist, establishing the Rackensack Folklore Society, an association of local folk singers and musicians, and began performing at the local county fair in Mountain View.

Driftwood helped establish the Ozark Folk Center to preserve Ozark Mountain culture. The Folk Center was later absorbed into the Arkansas State Park system and remains a popular tourist destination.

Driftwood died of a heart attack on July 12, 1998 in Fayetteville, Arkansas at age 91.

Here, he plays a guitar medley on his famous 130 year old guitar

Lionel Richie is 72 years old today

Lionel Richie is 72 years old today.

From 1968, Richie was a member of the Commodores, a musical group signed to Motown Records. He made his solo debut in 1982 with the album, Lionel Richie, and the #1 hit, "Truly."

Raised in Tuskegee, Alabama, Richie grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. His grandfather's house was across the street from the home of the president of the college. His family moved to Joliet, Illinois, where he graduated from Joliet Township High School, East Campus.

A star tennis player in Joliet, he accepted a tennis scholarship to attend Tuskegee Institute, and graduated with a major in economics. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Tuskegee, Richie briefly attended graduate school at Auburn University.

As a student in Tuskegee, Richie formed a succession of R&B groups in the mid-1960s. In 1968, he became a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores. They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving on to Motown Records initially as a support act to The Jackson 5.

The Commodores then became established as a popular soul group. Their first several albums had a danceable, funky sound, as in such tracks as "Machine Gun" and "Brick House."

Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-listening ballads such as "Easy," "Three Times a Lady," "Still" and the tragic breakup ballad, "Sail On."

By the late 1970s, he had begun to accept songwriting commissions from other artists. He composed "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and produced Rogers's album, Share Your Love, the following year.

In 1982, Richie began a solo career. He was replaced as lead singer for The Commodores by Skyler Jett in 1983. His debut album, Lionel Richie, produced a chart-topping single, "Truly," which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores.

The album hit #3 on the music charts and sold over four million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can't Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies, propelling Richie into the first rank of international superstars.

Here, Richie performs “Stuck on You”

Bobby Neuwirth is 82 years old today

Bobby Neuwirth, New York City, 2008

Photo by Frank Beacham

Bobby Neuwirth is 82 years old today.

A singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist, Neuwirth was a mainstay of the early Cambridge, Massachusetts folk scene in the 1960s. He became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan and appears in D.A. Pennebaker's documentary, Dont Look Back, and in Dylan's own romantic fantasy/tour film, Renaldo and Clara.

Neuwirth worked on Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue. With Janis Joplin and poet Michael McClure, he co-wrote the song "Mercedes Benz." He also introduced Kris Kristofferson to Janis Joplin.

Here is a short clip of Neuwirth with Bob Dylan in “Dont Look Back,” 1965

Lester Flatt was born 107 years ago today

Photo by Jim McGuire

Lester Flatt was born 107 years ago today.

Flatt was a bluegrass musician and guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his membership in the Bluegrass group, The Foggy Mountain Boys, and in the duo, Flatt and Scruggs, with banjo picker Earl Scruggs.

Flatt's career spanned multiple decades. Besides his work with Scruggs, he released multiple solo and collaboration works. Flatt also served as a member of Bill Monroe's band during the 1940s.

Born in Duncan's Chapel, Overton County, Tennessee, Flatt was a singer and guitarist. He first came to prominence as a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1945. In 1948, he started a band with fellow Monroe alumnus, Earl Scruggs, and for the next twenty years Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys were one of the most successful bands in bluegrass.

When they parted ways in 1969, Flatt formed a new group, the Nashville Grass, hiring most of the Foggy Mountain Boys. His role as lead singer and rhythm guitar player in each of these seminal ensembles helped define the sound of traditional bluegrass music.

He created a role in the Bluegrass Boys later filled by the likes of Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, Peter Rowan and Del McCoury. His rich lead voice is unmistakable in hundreds of bluegrass standards. He is also remembered for his library of compositions. The Flatt songbook looms titanic for any student of American acoustic music.

Flatt continued to record and perform with that group until his death in 1979 of heart failure, after a prolonged period of ill health. He was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985 with Scruggs. He was also posthumously made an inaugural inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1991.

Flatt and Scruggs performed "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," which was used as the theme for the television show, The Beverly Hillbillies.

Here, Flatt and Scruggs perform “Salty Dog Blues”

On March 11, 1969 — after 23 years playing together and 21 as a duo — Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs broke up.

With numerous Top 10 singles and a Grand Ole Opry membership under their belts, the two raised the bluegrass genre to a level of popularity it had not previously enjoyed.

But times had changed. In the late 1960s, the duo began experimenting with more popular forms of music. Their 1968 album, Changin' Times, featured five Bob Dylan songs, 1969's Nashville Airplane featured four and the post-breakup release Final Fling, had seven Dylan tunes. They were even planning to collaborate with notable Dylan producer, Bob Johnston.

Scruggs, a decade Flatt's junior, was growing sick of playing bluegrass every night in its original form, while Flatt had come to resent their more modern direction. It all came to a head in 1969. Flatt formed a traditional bluegrass band, the Nashville Grass, while Scruggs assembled a progressive group, the Earl Scruggs Review.

To see these changes immortalized, one needs only listen to the musical directions each artist undertook after the breakup. The cover art of Scruggs and Flatt's last album says it all, with Lester Flatt scowling bitterly at a smiling Earl Scruggs.

Note Scruggs next album, with his long-haired family members. Above, the pair is shown at a court hearing during the breakup. They were on opposite sides of the room.

When I was growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s in South Carolina, I always watched the Flatt and Scruggs television show in the early morning before going to school.

My mother hated it, perplexed at why her young son was attracted to what she called that “white trash” music. She preferred Lawrence Welk and tried to push him on me without success.

Before I knew what bluegrass music really was, I liked it. I was also aware — I don’t know how — that Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs were the best bluegrass performers. To my parents, they were just local musicians lucky enough to be on television.

As I grew up, I went to hear them all perform. When I worked at the local radio station while in high school, I actually recorded Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the station’s studio, though I didn’t who they were at the time.

On this birthday of Lester Flatt, I can look back and say honestly that I was right and my mother was wrong on this one.

Bluegrass still rules!

Al Wilson was born 82 years ago today

Al Wilson was born 82 years ago today.

Wilson was a soul singer known for the million-selling #1 hit, "Show and Tell," and his Northern soul anthem, "The Snake."

Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Wilson showed little interest in education but performed in school plays, sang in talent shows and won first prize in a local art contest. He began his career at the age of twelve leading his own spiritual quartet and singing in the church choir. He also liked to perform covers of country and western hits.

While he was in high school, Wilson and his family relocated to San Bernardino, California, where he worked odd jobs as a mail carrier, a janitor and an office clerk. He also taught himself to play drums.

After graduation, he spent four years touring with Johnny Harris and the Statesmen, before joining the U.S. Navy. There, he sang with an enlisted men's chorus. He also developed his stand-up comedy routine in case he did not succeed as a singer.

After a two-year military stint, Wilson settled in Los Angeles, touring the local nightclub circuit before joining the R&B vocal group, the Jewels. From there, he landed with the Rollers, followed by a stint with the instrumental combo, the Souls.

In 1966, Wilson signed with manager Marc Gordon, who quickly sought his client an a cappella audition for Johnny Rivers. Wilson was signed to the Soul City label.
Rivers produced the sessions that yielded Wilson’s 1968 U.S. R&B hit single "The Snake" (U.S. Pop #27), which became popular on the Northern Soul circuit in the United Kingdom.

It also provided Wilson with his only UK Singles Chart hit, reaching #41 in 1975. The minor hit "Do What You Gotta Do" appeared that same year. In 1969, Wilson charted with his cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Lodi" (U.S. #67) and Rivers' own, "Poor Side Of Town" (U.S. #75).

In 1973, Wilson he released the album, Show And Tell. The album's success was matched by the single "Show and Tell," which sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc in December, 1973. "The La La Peace Song," released in 1974, proved another hit although O. C. Smith also recorded a version. Wilson’s sales suffered as a result.

In 1976, Wilson recorded "I've Got a Feeling We'll Be Seeing Each Other Again" for Playboy Records which reached #3 in the R&B chart. He tried to leave Playboy Records, but was unable to get a release from his recording contract. Two years later, the label folded.

With 1979's "Count the Days," Wilson scored his final chart hit. He spent the next two decades touring clubs and lounges. In 2001, he re-recorded his hits for the album, Spice of Life. In March, 2007, many of his original master tapes were lost to a fire that swept through his home garage, which he had converted into a recording studio.

Wilson died on April 21, 2008 of kidney failure, in Fontana, California, at the age of 68.

Here, Wilson performs “Show and Tell”