Three Dog Night

Danny Hutton and Cory Wells met up when Cory Wells was working on tour with Sonny and Cher. They and Chuck Negro got together and recorded as Redwood in 1967 with input by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Leaving Redwood behind, they took on several other musicians and established Three Dog Night in 1968 with their name arising from the story of cold nights (“three dog nights”) in Australia where the aborigines slept with their dogs to remain warm.

It didn’t take long before they started to get noticed and become very popular and over the next five years or six years achieved 21 consecutive hits in the Top 40 and more Top 10 hits than any other group in that period. These hits include such well remembered songs such as “An Old Fashioned Love Song”, “Black and White”, Easy to be Hard”, “Joy to the World”, “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”, “Shambala” and many more that still appear today on TV, radio and in movies.

In 1975 they decided that they had had enough of touring and recording and wanted a break so they went into a hiatus. This lasted until 1981 when they decided that they wanted to start doing it all again and have never looked back since, making appearances at festivals, theatres, fairs and even two Super Bowls.

Their list of album recordings is huge and includes American Pastime, Coming Down Your Way, Cyan, Golden Bisquits, Hard Labor, Harmony, It Ain’t Easy, It’s a Jungle, Joy to the World – Their Greatest Hits, Naturally, Seven Separate Fools, Suitable for Faming, 35^th Anniversary Hits Collection with the London Symphony Orchestra, Three Dog Night and numerous compilation albums. Still performing four decades on, they continue to tour and release recordings and remain high up on the list of best average appearances on Billboard’s Top 100 Chart.

Members through the years:
Michael Allsup (guitar)
Pat Bautz (drums)
Dennis Belfield (bass)
Richard Campbell (bass)
Al Ciner (guitar)
Mike Cuneo (guitar)
Steve Ezzo (guitar)
Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards)
Richard Grossman (bass)
Jay Gruska (vocals)
Danny Hutton (vocals)
Mike Keely (drums/percussion)
Paul Kingery (bass/vocals)
Skip Konte (keyboards)
Scott Manzo (bass/vocals)
Mickey McMeel (drums)
Gary Moon (vocals)
Chuck Negron (vocals)
T.J. Parker (guitar)
Jack Ryland (bass)
Joe Schermie (bass)
Mike Seifrit (bass)
James Quill Smith “Smitty” (guitar)
Floyd Sneed (drums)
Ron Stockert (keyboards)
Cory Wells (vocals)

Three Dog Night recordings
Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton)
Old Gold OG-9795-B (UK 45)

Sources:

Three Dog Night

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