No band in America was more popular from 1969 through 1974 than Three Dog Night. The seven-member outfit sold more records and concert tickets in that period than any other group, and in that time no other band achieved more Billboard Top 10 hits, while also having 21 consecutive Top 40 hits, and three #1 singles.
The true uniqueness of Three Dog Night was that the band personally chose and recorded many of their hits and album tracks that were written by outside songwriters, which helped to introduce the record-buying public to songwriters like Elton John, Laura Nyro, Leo Sayer, Randy Newman, John Hiatt, Harry Nilsson, Paul Williams, and Hoyt Axton.
Three Dog Night’s original line-up consisted of Danny Hutton (founder and lead vocals), Cory Wells (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Chuck Negron (lead vocals), Michael Allsup (guitar), Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Floyd Sneed (drums), and Joe Schermie (bass). The band’s legendary name refers to native Australians in the outback who huddled with their dogs for warmth on cold nights, the coldest being called a “three dog night.”
The Grammy Award Nominees are still attracting new younger fans because of their continued exposure on the radio, in movies, TV shows, and commercials, and the easy access of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. In the last decade, Three Dog Night classics like “Joy to the World,” “Black and White,” “Mama Told Me (Not To Come),” “Shambala,” and “One” have collectively sold well over a million copies and have been streamed millions of more times. The band continues to perform to sell-out and enthusiastic crowds.
Al Gomes (Motif): Danny, it’s a great honor to meet you. I’ve been a fan since I was 12 years old. And you actually performed in my neighborhood at the beginning of the group’s career. So, congratulations on the longevity of this amazing band.
Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night): Well, I’m amazed I’m still here. I weigh what I weighed in 1972, I believe. That’s my weight now. Stay skinny (laughs). We’ve never stopped touring. It has not stopped. We’re out all the time. I love it.
Motif: What do you personally do to maintain that level of musicality you’ve kept up for the last 55 years?
DH: Well, when the Covid thing happened, I didn’t sing on-stage for three months, and then anywhere. And then we had one of those crazy shows in the Covid period which was our drive-in theatre automobile shows. The audience honked instead of clapping and all that kind of craziness. No one’s allowed backstage and everybody’s wearing all of that weird stuff. I sang at those shows and I barely got through it. And I said, I will never let this happen to me again. So from then on, I sang every day. Every day I sing for an hour, hour and a half. But that’s real real important. It’s a muscle. You gotta keep it going. And we don’t lower the keys to our hits. I don’t like the idea of people lowering the keys in their songs ‘cause that changes the whole band. People don’t realize that. You know, when a guitar player who’s been playing a hit song for years, knows where he puts his hand for a chord, if you lower the chord, he’s gotta put his hand in a different place. And it just changes things. So, we sound like our records. But, we’re not a jukebox. You know, we still fiddle around. But I think keeping the same key that people are used to – that’s important.
Motif: I really appreciate that as a fan and an historian. I think people are tied emotionally to, like you said, what key a song is in. And so I think the fans really really appreciate that on an emotional level.
DH: Well, it changes the whole vocal if you’re down a lower key, you know. It’s not the same. Yeah.
Motif: Myself and my partner Connie Watrous have worked with The Beach Boys and their company Brother Records and the band’s whole creative camp for 17 years on historical milestones and archival collections. Can you talk about how Brian Wilson, the founding member of The Beach Boys, was part of the beginning of you and your fellow Three Dog Night vocalists Corey Wells and Chuck Negron working together?
DH: I had two or three hits in 1965. I’ve been here in Laurel Canyon in LA since 1963. So, this is my home. And The Byrds had a single come out. I kind of knew ‘em a little bit. And they had the first Laurel Canyon hit by a group. “Mr. Tambourine Man” in July of 1965. And, then I had a hit in August of that year with “Roses and Rainbows” with Hanna-Barbera Records.
Motif: Love that single, by the way.
DH: Yeah. It actually was a great song. And the single’s cover is really kind of cutting edge in a way. It’s very, very unusual camera work. But the B-side they picked for me was this stupid cartoon song they put on it. It did not help my validity. And it said on the record label that “Roses and Rainbows” was written by Danny Hutton and somebody else. I didn’t give his name. I said, OK, I’m just a young guy. They gave the guy half of the writing on my song, which was completely dumb, and some of my publishing. And one day their A&R guy Tom Ayers said to me, ”Danny, do you know you’re paying for everything in this office. All the pencils, pens, everything.” And I had the only hit. And I was so shocked. I finally said, “What am I getting out of this place?” So I left Hanna-Barbera with Derek Taylor, who was my publicist.
And this is when Derek had left The Beatles, and now he had The Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and lots of other groups. So, I left and I went with Frank Zappa. We went to MGM Records. My manager David Anderle got a job over there, and then I was there. I had another fairly OK hit in Los Angeles. And then David was asked to be the president of Brother Records. Oh my God. This was The Beach Boys’ new record company.
So David brought me up to Brian’s house, and Brian had just done “Good Vibrations,” but the first version of it, and it was like Phil Spector. Brian put the demo on for me and it was like – you know – the Big Swim Phil Spector – like all of The Ronettes’ records. Big. This was the “Good Vibrations” with no verses yet. I just became great friends with Brian. And I learned from him, and I watched him. I was there when they did “God Only Knows.” I mean, Paul McCartney thinks it’s the best song ever written. I was there when Brian recorded all this great stuff. So I just sat there learning. ‘Cause the other two guys in Three Dog Night, when I found and picked them, they were both live music cats, you know. Going out, doing three sets a night, driving in a van somewhere. And I was a studio guy. I didn’t do any of that live stuff.
I phoned Corey because the first tour Hanna-Barbera put me on was with Sonny and Cher who had ‘I Got You Babe.’ They had the number one song at the time. I’d never performed anywhere in my life. And I was put on this tour, came out early on with my guitar, and I played five songs. And Corey was on this tour. I thought he had a great blues voice. So when I get back to Los Angeles, I produced a single he was doing with his group. I was a studio guy. And then I lost touch with Corey for a while, and then I came to an idea to have three lead singers as a group. I thought, what if you get three lead singers with all different styles of music. What if it were a ballad guy, a blues guy, and a more pop guy? Then I brought us to Brian Wilson and he went, “Yep, let’s do it.” And he looked at us and he said, “Redwood!”
Motif: That’s what Brian said off the top of his head?
DH: Yeah. I think he kind of knew. And then he said, “I wrote a song for you called ‘Darlin’.’“ So that was one of them. And “Time to Get Alone” was the other one. And then The Beach Boys get back from their tour and Carl Wilson said, “What are you doing Brian? You’re giving hit songs to these guys.” And he was right. I could not get mad at all. I would’ve done the same thing. But Brian wanted to expand. He wanted to get more funky and bluesy and more rock and roll and, you know, have a little separate thing going. Then we finally said, “Brian, it’s not gonna work.” So, we left, and then our manager David Anderle just said, “You know, get a band together. Right now, you’re three vocalists and it’s going to be really tough. You’re going to end up going around the country, and hiring a bunch of guys as a back-up group in each city. Become a band.” And that’s what happened. We got all the players and became a band, and it took off.
Motif: And who took you to Dunhill Records?
DH: Doug Westman from The Troubadour set up this afternoon show, where they brought down record companies to scout. Dunhill Records heard us, and they brought us over to their table after we did the set, and they said, “We love it, man. Like, can we start next week and start recording?” And we said, “We don’t have an album yet.” What did they say? They said, “What? What was that you just did?” We said, “Oh, that’s just stuff we like.” And they said, “Whatever you just did, that’s what we want to be your first album.” So that was our first album.
Motif: Wow. That’s amazing.
DH: Yeah. Yeah. I know!
Motif: You all had impeccable taste for the songs you chose to record, and you launched the careers of so many legendary songwriters. I don’t think any band has done what you’ve done.
DH: And we get nailed all the time. It’s like the critics and the industry people do this thing of saying, “It’s a cover band.” And I don’t agree. Every song we recorded, except for maybe “Try A Little Tenderness,” was the backside of a record that didn’t happen. All of those songs had been released and didn’t make it. And then we just resurrected all of them and turned them into hits.
You know, the problem sometimes with people that write their own material is that after a while, when a performer and songwriter picks up the guitar or puts their hands on the keyboards, there’s a habit that you do all the time. And after a while, there’s a bit of sameness with a lot of writers. And why do so many groups break up after their second album? It’s because they do the first album. They’re all buddies. And then, one of the guys shows up in a Ferrari, and everyone looks at each other and says, “What? Why? What’s this? Oh – these songwriting royalties.” And they all look at each other and say, “Well – I wanna write at least two songs on the next album.” And that’s great. And…that doesn’t work.
Motif: That’s an amazing point.
DH: Another common example would be that someone close to a composer has passed, and then the songwriter writes a song about it. And it’s precious to that person. Maybe they spent months writing it, and then they go to their band and say, “Well, this is it, and you can’t change anything.” Three Dog Night didn’t have that problem. We would get a song from a songwriter or publisher and go, “Okay, you know what? The chorus is so great, let’s put that at the beginning.” Right? Arranging. We could arrange anything and make it our own. That was our strength. And it’s like a puzzle. We really spent so much time. So much work. No one ever realized it. When you’re really good at that stuff like our band was, the critics and industry types don’t even notice it. If we had explained it to people – that we made each one of those songs our own.
I have a lot of interesting stories. You know, I helped Elton John get going in the States. I brought him up to Brian Wilson’s house. And then Three Dog Night recorded Elton and Bernie Taupin’s “Your Song.” We did “Your Song” first. Elton sent me the demo of it. He didn’t let me know that he was going to record it, which is I understand completely. And so, we released it on our album first, and then he released his second album. I think “Bad Side of the Moon” was on his A-Side, and “Your Song” was on the backside. And we had already had two hits. We just thought about it. And I love Elton. I thought, “Oh man, if we push our version as a single, it’s gonna hurt him a lot with his version” – which was fabulous. So, it’s a funny thing. And he went on to do his wonderful thing with “Your Song.”
Motif: You know, one of my favorite music business quotes of all-time was when you said that you got the demo from Roger Nichols and Paul Williams, who were a new songwriting team, and you said that the band got the cassette, listened to it, and it had four songs, and they were all hits. It had “Out In the Country,” “We’ve Only Just Begun” (recorded by The Carpenters), “An Old Fashioned Love Song,” and “Family of Man.” And you said in an interview to whoever you were talking to, “Think about this. This is the greatest demo of all-time.” That’s one of my favorite quotes. And you were right. The odds of every song on a demo from a new songwriting team all being hits – that is really something.
DH: Yeah. It’s true. That is a great point. Roger was very good with words. Paul was great. They were. Yeah.
Motif: You racked up eleven Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits from 1969 to 1974. Is there a single that the band released that you wish had fared better on the charts and with the public?
DH: Oh yeah. Oh, there’s songs that we just love that didn’t happen. If you look at our albums, probably at least three songs on each album are nasty, metal, funk, screaming songs. And, it was always, you know, the “An Old Fashioned Love Song.” That was going to be the hit. But we could do any kind of music.
Motif: You know, I always felt that “I Can Hear You Calling” would have been a killer A-side and a massive hit.
DH: You got it! Wow! I can’t believe you said that. That is the funkiest. That is just the band. Not a lot of overdubs. And that sucker – that’s us.
Motif: I love hearing you say that, Danny.
DH: Kickin’ ass! Oh, that’s the one I always tell people, “You want to hear something funky…” That was the one. It’s hard to follow that recording.
Motif: My friend Ricky Andre brought it to school and let me borrow it over the Christmas holiday. He had, thankfully, mistaken “I Can Hear You Calling” for the A-side – the hit. It was one of the Dunhill Records Goldies 45, and “Joy to the World” was on the other side. Ricky kept playing “I Can Hear You Calling” and that’s how I completely became a lifelong fan. It was that track.
DH: Well, thank you. We’re still trying to keep it up. We’re working on some new stuff. We have a new song that we’re performing that gobsmacks everybody.
Motif: You know, each generation since the ‘70s, and current young music fans are still being exposed to Three Dog Night because of the use of your hits in so many films and TV shows.
DH: Movies and TV. Yeah.
Motif: When you’re sitting, just watching a film, not knowing that one of your tracks has been licensed to the movie, what happens to you when you suddenly hear the band on the soundtrack?
DH: Well, it’s happened so many times. You know, it depends on how it’s used in the scene. How loud it is. Sometimes it’ll be background, and sometimes it’ll be full-on – just ending a movie and stuff like that.
Motif: Do you have a favorite use of your music in a film?
DH: The Big Chill. The film starts with a little baby in a bathtub singing “Joy to the World.” That track has been delivered in many different ways.
Motif: Oh, nice.
DH: A lot of people don’t realize that we did and still do every style of music there is, except for maybe jazz. We do. We’ve been on the Easy Listening charts, the Pop charts, the Rock charts, the Country charts, number one on the R&B charts. We went to London, England and recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra. So we’ve been on the Classical charts. And I would say we recorded nearly every type of genre. And not on purpose. It was never planned that way. People would say, “Well, what is your favorite music?” And I always just say, “Good, good music. That’s my favorite.”
Motif: I wanted to ask you – a lot of your songs deal with society’s communal experience and making the world a better place. “Black and White,” “Family of Man,” “Out In the Country,” ”Joy to the World.” Are you happy to be known for those kind of hits that have the message of wanting the world to be in a better place?
DH: Yes. But it was always about the song first. Like “Black and White.” I heard “Black and White” in Holland. I was just sitting in my hotel room and they had a radio in the TV on. So then “Black and White” comes on. I just heard the chorus and I went, “Whoa, that’s a hit chorus.“ I went back to the States. I found out whose single it was. I waited for it to be a smash, and it fell through the cracks. And I thought, “Nah, this song shouldn’t fall through the cracks.” So we did it, you know? And it originally had, I think, 20 different verses. [Earl Robinson wrote it with David I. Arkin, the father of Academy Award winner Alan Arkin].
But to answer what you were asking me, Three Dog Night’s whole objective is for us to perform for a couple of hours where people get to go and forget about everything. Yeah. Forget about wars and forget about, you know, just all of the bad stuff. Leave our show with a big smile on your face. And they always do. So that’s, I think, a really really good thing.
Three Dog Night performs live on Saturday, June 29 at 1:00 pm at the Indian Ranch Amphitheatre, 200 Gore Road, in Webster, MA. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/70178616/three-dog-night-webster-indian-ranch-amphitheatre?partner_id=100 or by calling 508-943-3871
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