Harry Edward Nilsson III, sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s.
51 Facts About Harry Nilsson
2.
Harry Nilsson's work is characterised by pioneering vocal overdub experiments, returns to the Great American Songbook, and fusions of Caribbean sounds.
3.
Harry Nilsson created the first remix album and recorded the first mashup song.
4.
In 1994, Harry Nilsson died of a heart attack while in the midst of recording what became his last album, Losst and Founnd.
5.
Harry Nilsson's paternal great-grandfather, born a Swede who would later emigrate to and become naturalized in the United States, created an act known as an "aerial ballet".
6.
Harry Nilsson was born in 1920 in New York to Charles Augustus Martin and Florence Madeline Martin.
7.
Harry Nilsson's parents were the cornerstone of her son's young life.
8.
Harry Nilsson grew up with his mother and a younger half-sister.
9.
Harry Nilsson had an aptitude for computers, which were starting to be used at banks at the time.
10.
Harry Nilsson later performed so well in his role, the bank retained him even after they discovered he had lied about his education.
11.
Harry Nilsson worked on bank computers at night, and in the daytime pursued his songwriting and singing career.
12.
Harry Nilsson had made early attempts at performing while he was working at the Paramount, forming a vocal duo with his friend Jerry Smith and singing close harmonies in the style of the Everly Brothers.
13.
The manager of a hangout Harry Nilsson frequented gave him a plastic ukulele, which he learned to play, and he later learned to play the guitar and piano.
14.
Harry Nilsson's uncle's singing lessons, along with Nilsson's natural talent, helped him when he got a job singing demos for songwriter Scott Turner in 1962.
15.
In 1963, Harry Nilsson began to have some early success as a songwriter, working with John Marascalco on a song for Little Richard.
16.
Harry Nilsson established a relationship with songwriter and publisher Perry Botkin Jr.
17.
Harry Nilsson's recording contract was picked up by Tower Records, which in 1966 released the first singles actually credited to him by name, as well as the debut album Spotlight on Harry Nilsson.
18.
Harry Nilsson signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released an album the following year, Pandemonium Shadow Show, which was a critical success.
19.
Music industry insiders were impressed both with the songwriting and with Harry Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals.
20.
When RCA had asked if there was anything special, he wanted as a signing premium, Harry Nilsson asked for his own office at RCA, being used to working out of one.
21.
Harry Nilsson usually answered the calls himself, surprising the callers, and answered questions candidly.
22.
Harry Nilsson disliked the experiences he had, though, and decided to stick to the recording studio.
23.
Harry Nilsson later admitted this was a huge mistake on his part.
24.
Harry Nilsson was commissioned at this time to write and perform the theme song for the ABC television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
25.
The result, "Best Friend", was very popular, but Harry Nilsson never released the song on record; the original version of the song was recorded during the making of Aerial Ballet but not included on that LP, and it eventually appeared on the 1995 Personal Best anthology, and as a bonus track on a later release of Aerial Ballet.
26.
Harry Nilsson was so impressed with Newman's talent that he devoted his entire next album to Newman compositions, with Newman himself playing piano behind Harry Nilsson's multi-tracked vocals.
27.
Later that year, Harry Nilsson went to England with producer Richard Perry to record what became the most successful album of his career.
28.
Harry Nilsson followed quickly with Son of Schmilsson, released while its predecessor was still on the charts.
29.
Besides the problem of competing with himself, Harry Nilsson was by then ignoring most of Perry's production advice, and his decision to give free rein to his bawdiness and bluntness on this release alienated some of his earlier, more conservative fan base.
30.
In 1973 Harry Nilsson performed in a film with Ringo called "Son of Dracula", a musical featuring many of his songs and a new cut, "Daybreak".
31.
Harry Nilsson's voice had mostly recovered by his next release, Duit on Mon Dei, but neither it nor its follow-ups, Sandman and.
32.
Finally, Harry Nilsson recorded what he later considered to be his favorite album Knnillssonn.
33.
Harry Nilsson's 1970s London residence, at Flat 12,9 Curzon Place on the edge of Mayfair, was a two-bedroom apartment decorated by the ROR design company owned by Starr and interior designer Robin Cruikshank.
34.
Harry Nilsson cumulatively spent several years at the apartment, which was located near Apple Records, the Playboy Club, the Tramp nightclub, and the homes of friends and business associates.
35.
Harry Nilsson wrote a musical, Zapata, with Perry Botkin Jr.
36.
Harry Nilsson wrote all the songs for Robert Altman's movie-musical Popeye, the score of which met with unfavorable reviews.
37.
From this point onward, Harry Nilsson increasingly began referring to himself as a "retired musician".
38.
Harry Nilsson was profoundly affected by the death of John Lennon on December 8,1980.
39.
Harry Nilsson joined the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and overcame his preference for privacy to make appearances for gun control fundraising.
40.
Harry Nilsson began to appear at Beatlefest conventions and he would get on stage with the Beatlefest house band "Liverpool" to sing either some of his own songs or "Give Peace a Chance".
41.
Harry Nilsson was asked by Graham Chapman to contribute a score and songs to the 1983 movie Yellowbeard.
42.
None of Harry Nilsson's music was used in the finished film.
43.
Harry Nilsson donated his performance royalties from the song to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
44.
In 1985, Harry Nilsson set up a production company, Hawkeye, to oversee various film, TV, and multimedia projects with which he was involved.
45.
Harry Nilsson appointed his friend, satirist, and screenwriter Terry Southern, as one of the principals.
46.
Torn, Southern, and Harry Nilsson put together their own version of the film, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in early 1988, but it was overtaken by the 'official' version from the studio, and this version premiered to poor reviews in late January 1988.
47.
In 1990, Hawkeye foundered, and Harry Nilsson found himself in a dire financial situation after it was discovered that his financial adviser, Cindy Sims, had embezzled all the funds he had earned as a recording artist.
48.
Harry Nilsson finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson, who held onto the tapes of that session.
49.
Harry Nilsson died of heart failure on January 15,1994, in his Agoura Hills, California, home at the age of 52.
50.
Harry Nilsson is interred in the Valley Oaks Memorial Park at Westlake Village, California.
51.
Harry Nilsson married Una O'Keeffe on August 12,1976; they remained married until his death on January 15,1994.