Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948)[3] is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.[4] His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970,[5] which led to seven albums recorded with Jim Messina as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977.[6] His early soundtrack contributions date back to A Star Is Born in 1976,[7] and he is known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack.[4][8] As a solo artist, Loggins experienced a string of soundtrack successes, including an Academy Award nomination for “Footloose” in 1985.[9] Finally Home was released in 2013, shortly after Loggins formed the group Blue Sky Riders with Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman.[10] He won a Daytime Emmy Award, two Grammy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Early life[edit]
Loggins was born in Everett, Washington, the youngest of three brothers. His father, Robert George Loggins, was a salesman of English and Irish ancestry,[11] while his mother, Lina (née Massie), was a homemaker of Italian descent, from Avezzano.[12] They lived in Detroit and Seattle before settling in Alhambra, California. Loggins attended San Gabriel Mission High School, graduating in 1966. He formed a band, The Second Helping, that released three singles during 1968 and 1969 on Viva Records. Greg Shaw described the efforts as “excellent punky folk-pop records” that were written by Loggins who was likely to be the bandleader and singer as well; Shaw included “Let Me In” on both Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 2 and the Pebbles, Volume 9 CD.[13]
Loggins had a short gig playing guitar for the New Improved Electric Prunes in 1969 before writing four songs for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band that were included on their album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.[14] During his early 20s, he was in the band Gator Creek with Mike Deasy. The first recorded version of “Danny’s Song” (later recorded by Loggins and Messina and a No. 7 Hot 100 hit for Anne Murray in 1973) was included on their only album, released on Mercury Records.
Loggins and Messina[edit]
Jim Messina, formerly of Poco and Buffalo Springfield, was working as an independent record producer for Columbia Records in 1970 when he was introduced to Loggins, then a little-known singer-songwriter who was signed to ABC-Dunhill.
The two recorded a number of Loggins’s compositions in Messina’s home living room. When Columbia signed Loggins (with Messina’s help) to a six-album contract, recording began in earnest for Loggins’s debut album, with Messina as producer. In addition to providing rehearsal space, equipment and amps, Messina worked long hours with Loggins and encouraged him to buy an electric guitar to play on his debut album. He also assembled The Kenny Loggins Band by summoning his old friends bassist Larry Sims and drummer Merel Bregante (both formerly of the Sunshine Company, a disbanded 1960s group from Los Angeles), violinist/multireedist Al Garth and multireedist Jon Clarke. Keyboardist Michael Omartian also played on the album and despite dropping out at the start of the touring, continued to play keyboards on the next two albums. Los Angeles-based session percussionist Milt Holland, described by Messina as an ethnomusicologist, also contributed.[15]
Messina originally intended to lend his name to the Loggins project only to help introduce the unknown Loggins to Messina’s well-established Buffalo Springfield and Poco audiences. But by the time the album was completed, Messina had contributed so much to the album in terms of songwriting, arrangement, instrumentation and vocals that an “accidental” duo was born. Thus the full name of their first album was Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In. The album’s first single release, the Caribbean-flavored “Vahevala”, found top 3 success on WCFL on May 18, 1972.[16]
A publicity photo, c. 1980
Although the album went unnoticed by radio upon release, it eventually found success by fall 1972, particularly on college campuses where the pair toured heavily. Loggins and Messina’s vocal harmonies meshed so well that what was begun as a one-off album became an entity in itself. Audiences regarded the pair as a genuine duo rather than as a solo act with a well-known producer. Instead of continuing to produce Loggins as a sole performer, they decided to record as a duo, Loggins & Messina.
“When our first album, Sittin’ In, came out, we started receiving a lot of excitement about the music and good sales,” Messina recalled in 2005.
We had a choice. It was either I now go on and continue to produce him and we do the solo career or we stay together and let this work. For me, I did not desire to go back out on the road. I had had enough of that and I wanted to produce records. But Clive Davis (then president of the record company) intervened and said, “You know, I think you’d be making a mistake if you guys didn’t take this opportunity. Things like this only happen once in a lifetime. It may merit you sleeping on it overnight and making a decision that will be in your best interest.” He was absolutely correct. Kenny made the decision as well. It delayed his solo career, but it gave him an opportunity, I think, to have one.[17]
Both members of the duo were guitarists: Loggins played rhythm guitar with both acoustic and electric guitar and harmonica and Messina played lead guitar with both acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin and Dobro. Over the next four years they produced five more albums of original material in the studio, plus one album of covers of other artists’ material and two live albums. They sold 16 million records and were the most successful duo of the early 1970s, surpassed later in the decade only by Hall & Oates.[17] Their work also included Lynn Anderson‘s “Listen to a Country Song“, which was released in 1972 and reached No. 3 on the charts, “Danny’s Song” and “A Love Song“, which reached No. 12 in March 1974. A greatest-hits album, The Best of Friends, was released a year after the duo broke up.
The later studio albums often found Loggins and Messina more as two solo artists sharing the same record than as a genuine partnership. As they both noted in 2005, their collaboration eventually became more a competition. The pair had by 1976 quietly but amicably parted to pursue solo careers, following the release of Native Sons and their final concert in Hawaii.
Solo career[edit]
Loggins performing in 1977
In 1977, Loggins produced his first solo album, Celebrate Me Home, which included the successful song “I Believe in Love“, originally sung by Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born. Nightwatch, a popular album released in 1978, included the hit song “Whenever I Call You Friend”, a duet with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, co-written with Melissa Manchester. Loggins followed that in 1979 with Keep the Fire and in 1982 with High Adventure. The latter contained his rock duet with Journey frontman Steve Perry, “Don’t Fight It“, which rose to No. 17 on the US Billboard Top 100. Loggins abandoned the harmonica in his solo career but continued to play guitar, just as he had done with Loggins & Messina.
With Michael McDonald[edit]
Loggins also co-wrote the song “What a Fool Believes” with Michael McDonald. Each recorded his own version of it, with McDonald recording as a member of the Doobie Brothers. Loggins’ version was released first, but the Doobie Brothers’ version achieved greater success, reaching No. 1 on the pop chart and earning Loggins and McDonald the 1980 Grammy for Song of the Year.
In 1979, Loggins and McDonald wrote “This Is It“. The song was a love song and ultimatum to a woman having an affair and stringing her lover along, while refusing to make a final decision. Every phrase or verse in the song implies, “It’s him or me” and the lyrics state, “Leave him behind”. There is much confusion about this song, because Loggins dedicated the song to his father, who was struggling with cancer. Because the lyrics are so empowering, they might be used for any purpose to imply “victim to victory”…for example, a sports team anthem. The song earned Loggins the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. NBC used the song as theme music for its coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 1980 and 1981.
Soundtracks[edit]
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he became known as the King of the Movie Soundtrack.[18][19] It began with “I’m Alright” from Caddyshack. Hits followed with “Footloose” and “I’m Free (Heaven Helps the Man)” from Footloose; “Meet Me Half Way” from Over the Top; and “Danger Zone” and “Playing with the Boys” from Top Gun. Loggins also performed “Nobody’s Fool” for the film Caddyshack II. He performed as a member of USA for Africa on the famine-relief fundraising single “We Are the World“, which led to an appearance performing “Footloose” at the Philadelphia leg of the July 13, 1985, Live Aid famine-relief dual-venue charity concert and global television broadcast.[20]
During the 1990s, Loggins continued his album career, including the popular 1994 children’s album Return to Pooh Corner, which included the title single, a reworking of “House at Pooh Corner“, written for his newborn son Luke.
In 1991, Loggins recorded and produced Leap of Faith, which included the single “Conviction of the Heart“. Vice President Al Gore called this song “the unofficial anthem of the environmental movement“. On Earth Day 1995, Loggins performed at The National Mall in Washington, D.C., before a live audience of 500,000.
In 1997, Loggins released the album The Unimaginable Life, based on a book he co-wrote with his then-wife Julia. Tracks include “Now That I Know Love”, “The Art of Letting Go” and “One Chance at a Time”. The album was produced by Loggins and Randy Jackson with background vocals by Skyler Jett, Lamont VanHook and Howard Smith.
In 1998, Loggins recorded a version of the Sesame Street song “One Small Voice” for the ABC television special Elmopalooza, which was included as a track on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack album.
