He was a singer born Emil Lowendowski to a musical family in Buffalo, New York. He began performing with bands from the time he was a teenager but after leaving high school he entered the United States Air Force.
Continuing his love of music he put together a band while in service and after returning to Buffalo he sang with the Lulu Belles before becoming a member of The Vibratos in 1964. They were asked to go to California by a manager and after they had changed their name to The Enemy they began working many of the clubs in the Los Angeles area and recorded songs such as “Sinner Man” and “Hey Joe” which had moderate success. This led to them being Whisky A Go Go’s house band and making appearances on television and movies in productions such as The Beverly Hillbillies and Harper.
Cher heard him performing and asked him to tour with Sonny & Cher, which he duly did, and during that time he met up with the singer Danny Hutton.
After the two of them had got together with another singer called Chuck Negron then they formed the trio Redwood that was produced by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. After doing three demos they added a backing band and changed their name to Three Dog Night in 1968. They became one of the most successful groups from the late 1960s into the first few years of the 1970s with more then 21 Top 40 hits.
The group split in 1977 and he concentrated on working as a solo artist with the release of his debut album Touch Me in 1978. He started working on another album, Ahead of the Storm, but this would never be released. Also in 1978 he worked in the studio with Rita Coolidge as a vocalist on her Love Me Again.
The band re-united during the 1980s and he continued performing with Danny Hutton, Jimmy Greenspoon and Mike Allsup on annual tours.
He died suffering multiple myeloma at Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk, New York in 2015 when he was 74 years old.
Three Dog Night recordings
Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton )
Old Gold OG-9795-B (UK 45)
Sources:
- http://www.threedognight.com/band.html
- http://www.60sgaragebands.com/bandbios/corywellstheenemys.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Wells
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dpfuxql5ldke~T1
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Dog_Night
- http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm2078420/
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dpfuxql5ldke~T4
- http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm1472662/