The Great 70s

Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night is an American rock band, best known for their music from 1968—1975. They were still making live appearances and recordings in 2008.

An official commentary included in the CD set Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965-1975 states that vocalist Danny Hutton’s then-girlfriend June Fairchild thought of the name when she read a magazine article about indigenous Australians, in which it was explained that on cold nights they would customarily sleep in a hole in the ground while embracing a dingo, a native species of wild dog. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs, and if a night was especially cold, it was a "Three Dog Night".

The band started in 1968 with three lead vocalists, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells who landed a recording contract with Dunhill Records in Los Angeles. They had made some early recordings in 1967 with Brian Wilson, and initially went by the name Redwood. Shortly after abandoning the Redwood moniker, the vocalists hired a group of backing musicians Michael Allsup on guitar, Floyd Sneed on drums, Joe Schermie from the Cory Wells Blues Band on bass, and Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards and soon became one of the most successful bands in the US during the late 1960s and early 1970s. On a number of early recordings as Three Dog Night one of their in-studio background singers was Donna Gaines, who would later find stardom on her own as Donna Summer.

Three Dog Night earned 13 gold albums and recorded 21 Billboard Top 40 hits, 7 of which went gold. Their first gold record was "One" (US #5), which had been written and recorded by Harry Nilsson. They had three U.S. number one songs: "Mama Told Me Not to Come" ,which was also their only Top 10 hit in the UK, "Joy to the World" and "Black and White". Dunhill Records claimed 40 million LP units were sold by them during that time period.

Joe Schermie was replaced by Jack Ryland in 1973, the band then became an eight-piece with the inclusion of another keyboard player, Skip Konte (ex-Blues Image). In late 1974, Allsup & Sneed left to form a new band, SS Fools, with Schermie. New members James "Smitty" Smith and Mickey McMeel were recruited, but by 1975 Smith was replaced by Al Ciner from Rufus and The American Breed and Ryland by Rufus bassist Dennis Belfield. By 1976 their run of of hit records had ended and Hutton was succeeded by Jay Gruska, however this lineup was short lived. Another former Rufus band member Ron Stockert, was recruited as second keyboardist after Konte left that same year. After a summer concert tour was cut short, the band played their final show (at the time) at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on July 26th 1976.

Wikipedia contributors. Three Dog Night. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. February 26, 2009, 07:28 UTC. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Three_Dog_Night&oldid=273379111. Accessed March 2, 2009.