THREE DOG NIGHT
Band hometown and year formed: Los Angeles, circa 1967-68
Three-Part Harmony: Three Dog Night set themselves apart from most of their contemporaries by featuring three lead singers -- Cory Wells, Danny Hutton and Chuck Negron. Around 1967, Hutton, following a stint as a solo artist, was introduced to Wells, who had been touring with Sonny & Cher. Negron came into the fold through mutual friends. The singers later added keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon, guitarist Mike Allsup, bassist Joe Schermie and drummer Floyd Sneed to the group. Three Dog Night scored their first Top 30 hit in 1969 with their version of "Try a Little Tenderness."
Hitting the Charts: The band placed 21 consecutive Top 40 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 between 1969 and 1975. Their biggest hits include 1970's "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" (No. 1), 1971's "Joy to the World" (No. 1), 1972's "Black & White" (No. 1), 1973's "Shambala" (No. 3), 1969’s "Easy To Be Hard" (No. 4), 1971’s "An Old Fashioned Love Song" (No. 4), 1971’s “Never Been To Spain” (No. 5) and 1969's "One" (No. 5) .
The Show Must Go On: By the late 1970s, Three Dog Night had disbanded. The group got back together in 1981 to tour and record but Negron’s tenure with the reunited band was short-lived and he left the band in 1985. Wells and Hutton with original members Greenspoon and Allsup, plus newcomers Paul Kingery on bass and Pat Bautz on drums continue into their 4th decade. Three Dog Night maintains a strong presence with their hits on the radio, in TV commercials and major motion pictures, has over 2,000,000 music plays at MySpace, Facebook, iLike, etc. while every month over 10,000 customers purchase Three Dog Night CD’s at retail stores and online Since 1986, they have toured regularly, performing over 2,000 shows – as well as performing at two Super Bowls. Currently, Three Dog Night is recording material for a new studio release. Chuck Negron maintains a successful career as a solo artist and, following the publication of his1999 autobiography, Three Dog Nightmare, he continues his important work in the field of addiction recovery.
Night Notes: Their now-famous name came from a story about Australian aborigines in the outback who sleep with their dogs for warmth - the coldest evening is known as a "three dog night"; the band recorded the music of the best (and mostly undiscovered) new songwriters of their time including Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Elton John, Laura Nyro, Paul Williams and Hoyt Axton; in 2002 the band released their concert DVD “Live with the Tennessee Symphony” and on the occasion of their 35th Anniversary they released a new studio recording of their hits with the London Symphony Orchestra, recorded at London’s famous Abbey Road studios. Three Dog Night’s “Live Extended Versions” came out on Sony/BMG in 2007.
Three Dog Night video clip: Watch Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World”
