Richard Perry, producer of Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson has died. Perry died at age 82 on December 24, 2024.
The Harry Nilsson Web Pages
Harry Nilsson News (2024-12-24)
Richard Perry Has Died
Harry Nilsson News (2024-09-21)
Harris/Waltz Advertisement Uses "Best Friend"
On September 19, 2024, the Kamala Harris presidential campaign released a video showing clips of rival Donald Trump praising Mark Robinson a gubernatorial candidate under scrutiny for posting inflammatory comments on a pornography website. Nilsson's "Best Friend" plays throughout the short video.
Best friends ❤️ pic.twitter.com/baS5sRfzIo
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 19, 2024
The video was posted on X (Twitter) but later superceded by a longer TV commercial without Nilsson's song.
Harry Nilsson News (2024-09-05)
Herbie Flowers - "Jump Into the Fire" Bass Player - Has Died
Herbie Flowers died on September 5, 2024, at the age of 86. Flowers was a member of several groups including Blue Mink, T. Rex, and Sky. As a session musician, he played bass guitar, double bass, and tuba on recordings for artists including Elton John, David Bowie, Lou Reed, David Essex, Al Kooper, Bryan Ferry, Cat Stevens, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Harry Nilsson.
Flowers played bass on Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson album and created the famous "detuning bass" part in "Jump into the Fire."
Harry Nilsson News (2023-09-05)
The Dream Weaver Has Died
Gary Wright died at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on September 4, 2023. Although best known for his solo hits "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive" - and having been born and raised in the US - Wright first caught the attention of music fans as a member of the British band Spooky Tooth in the late 1960s. Wright left the band in early 1970 to begin a career as a solo artist and session musician.
In 1971 Harry Nilsson recorded "Without You" which was destined to be his biggest hit. Rick Wakeman played the piano for an early take of the song, Nilsson and his producer, Richard Perry, decided that Wakeman's track was "too busy, too complex."
So we replaced Rick Wakeman with Gary Wright and he began, just like you hear on the record, very simple. It was just right![1]
- [1] Dan Matovina. Frances Glover Books (2000) "Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger"
Harry Nilsson News (2023-09-01)
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Released on Home Video
A Blu-Ray of The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is being released in mid-October of 2023. It is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.com. The film is also available for purchase online through Amazon Prime.
Featured Article of the Day
Ray Bradbury Letter
Back in 1998, I wrote a letter to Ray Bradbury asking about Harry Nilsson's desire to name his first RCA album "Something Wicked This Way Comes." I was a little surprised and greatly pleased to receive the following response.
-- Roger Smith
Dear Roger,
Thanks for your good letter. I was a huge fan of Harry's. When I was in Paris six years ago, a friend of mine, late one night, played A LITTLE SMIELSON IN THE NIGHT and I went bonkers all over again. I've had tapes and LPs of it for years. When I got back to my hotel at midnight, I tracked Harry down across the world, first L.A. and then Australia where he was working on a project.[1] By a miracle, I got him and he was stunned to have me one the phone. Why? he asked. Because, I said, I've just heard for the thirtieth time your SHMIELSON LP and want to tell you all over again how much I love you and the LP. If you ever line up a TV release of your TV Tape session for that record with you and Gordan Jenkins, call me and I'll do a thirty-second introduction to lead-off and then get the hell out of the way! Well, this TV thing never came off, of course, and I never got the chance to blow my horn for Harry. I regretted his death and remembered him being on the ELIZABETH TWO with me and Maggie, and him sipping from a gin flask waiting for customs. I wonder if he every truly knew himself! Ah, well. Maybe some year I'll still have a chance to introduce that SMIELSON TV Tape. Yes, I remember getting the PANDEMONIUM SHADOW SHOW LP twenty-odd years ago!
Again, thanks and best.
November 2, 1998
Ray B.
P.S. Can you send me a copy of the "Wicked" CD, please? Thanks. R.
Latest Articles
Random Video
1000 Words
_Press_Photo_of_Bil)
Welcome to the Harry Nilsson Web Pages
This site is dedicated to the music and memory of Harry Nilsson. From the late 1960s through the early '90s, Nilsson produced music that both challenged norms and celebrated the past - often within the same song.
On first listen, his early Pandemonium Shadow Show is just an appealing collection of bouncy pop songs, a product of the time when it was released. But, on closer listen songs like "1941" and "Without Her" feature poignant and wistful lyrics on top of their upbeat, pop melodies. To the listener in the late 1960s, the melodies and songs, such as “Freckles” sometimes invoked what would have seemed a nostalgic air, but they still sound fresh more than fifty years later.
Nilsson remained unconventional throughout his career. He never toured to support an album and he made few TV appearances. He released an album of songs which were all written by another songwriter. He recorded an album of standards in front of an orchestra. He followed up his best selling album and song with an album featuring a song pretty much guaranteed to surprise, if not offend, his new fans.
Harry ventured into movies and TV, creating a classic animated story (“The Point!”) and writing the music and songs for the once-panned, but now cult favorite, film Popeye starring Robin Williams.
In the last years of his life, after his friend John Lennon was shot and killed, Harry stepped back from music and, ironically perhaps, more into the public eye as the spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence advocating for sensible gun laws in America.
A heart attack took Harry’s life in early 1994. Yet, his memory lives on in the hearts and minds of his friends, family, and fans. And his music lives on with Sony releasing a comprehensive collection of his works on CD and his music being featured prominently in TV and movies.