Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, has been
captivating audiences for over five decades with his iconic vocals, unique
humor and brilliant storytelling. His catalog of hits are timeless and appeal
to music fans of all ages. In 1967, Negron became a founding member of Three
Dog Night; a vocal trio having roots in R&B, rock-n-roll, and urban doo
wop, creating a style of music that was totally new and unique. The world was
introduced to Negron and Three Dog Night in 1969 by the band’s first
million-seller “One.” Driven by Negron’s solo lead vocals on four million-selling
singles, three #1 records, (one which topped the charts for six weeks, “Joy to
The World”) five top 5 hits and seven top 40 hits, he put and kept Three Dog
Night on the charts for six years.
He performs upwards of 70 shows a year
giving audiences the opportunity to hear his impressive volume of hits plus an
exciting repertoire of new songs. He will also be announcing the release of
multiple special projects in 2017, all while celebrating 25 years of sobriety
after an infamous and very public life or death battle with addiction during
his Three Dog Night years.
On June 30th of this year, Negron released the album
he’s always wanted to release with daughters Charlie and Annabelle also
featuring three previously unreleased Three Dog Night tracks. The album, titled
Negron Generations is available now at ChuckNegron.com and on all digital music
outlets including amazon.com.
The unreleased tracks were recorded by the band
in the mid-1970s prior to their first breakup in 1976. “The Letter,” “Save Our
Ship” and “This Is Your Captain Calling” feature that iconic sound that could
only come from the original vocalists of Three Dog Night; Cory Wells, Danny
Hutton and Chuck Negron. Chuck, Charlie and Annabelle created a unique harmony
blend that only a family can. The sisters’ lead vocals on The Ronettes’ “Be My
Baby/Do I Love You” are compelling.
The evocative account of how Chuck Negron went from
the height of worldwide fame and success, to the depths of delusion, despair
and almost death is documented in hundreds of new photographs in the eleven new
chapters of “Three Dog Nightmare” 4th Edition. The journey is very sad in
places, uplifting in others as Negron tells it like it was. If you like the
music of Three Dog Night, you will be captivated by the honest narratives about
what was happening behind the scenes shared by Chuck Negron. The book is
available NOW in a worldwide release.
Chuck Negron will be performing on the critically-acclaimedHappy Together Tourin the summer of 2018 along with …THE TURTLESfeaturing FLO
& EDDIE…GARY PUCKETTAND THE UNION GAP…MARK LINDSAYFormer Lead Singer of
Paul Revere & The Raiders…THE ASSOCIATION…andTHE COWSILLS.
For further information and concert dates for Chuck
Negron and The Happy Together Tour visit www.chucknegron.com
And don’t forget to purchase a copy of my book
entitled Check the Gs -the true story of an eclectic American family and their
Wacky family business … or the second edition entitled … Wacky Shenanigans on F
Street- ‘Proud to be Politically Incorrect in Washington DC’ ... available now
at amazon.com. You’ll live it!!!
Chuck Negron is the discernible voice and founding
member for American rock legends Three Dog Night. Between 1969 and 1975, the
group spawned (21) consecutive Billboard Top 40 hits with (3) reaching the number
one spot. The group generated twelve straight gold albums and sold nearly 50
million records by late 1975. Nobody sold more records or concert tickets
during this period than Three Dog Night.
The band prevailed by recording cover tunes penned by
new and gifted songwriters while executing soulful & hip musical harmonies
and delivering dynamic stage performances. Three Dog Night became one of the
most commercially successful rock/pop groups of all-time and helped to launch
the careers of countless music artists that would eventually become legendary.
Some of Three Dog Night’s opening acts were …Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, ELO, Uriah
Heep and co-headlining with Led Zeppelin.
The Happy Together Tour 2013
will spotlight Chuck Negron along with The Turtles (featuring Flo and Eddie),
Gary Puckett of the Union Gap, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders
and Gary Lewis of The Playboys. The tour kicks off on June 8th
(Chuck Negron’s birthday) in Biloxi, Mississippi and arrives at Ruth Eckerd
Hall in Clearwater on Friday June 14th. Five legendary music artists
that have generated over (60) Top 40 hits (half in the Top10) including (6)
number one hits. The tour will span 54 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
Tickets for the Ruth Eckerd Hall show are available
at www.rutheckerdhall.com
or by calling 727-791-7400.
CHUCK NEGRON
was brought up in Bronx, New York by a Puerto Rican father and a British mother.
Chuck became a street-corner doo-wop singer on the streets of New York. At age
15 he recorded his first single with the vocal group The Rondells. The band
performed to a cheering audience during Amateur Night at the world famous
Apollo Theater in Harlem. Besides his interest in music, Negron was also a star
basketball player. He accepted an athletic scholarship to Allan Hancock College
in Santa Maria, California. He was later recruited by Bill Sharman, coach at Cal
State in Los Angeles, but eventually chose a career in music.
In 1965, Negron and the Sorenson Brothers released
two singles “Sharon Lee” and “I Dream of An Angel.” After his success with the Sorenson Brothers, Negron
was signed to Columbia Records as singer Chuck Rondell.
Chuck Negron met performer Danny Hutton at a
Hollywood party. Chuck Negron, Cory Wells and Danny Hutton recorded three demos
with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys under the name “Redwood.” Wilson wanted to sign
the trio to a recording contract but the rest of The Beach Boys became
impatient wanting to complete their own projects.
Three Dog Nightwas formed in 1967 by Chuck Negron, Cory Wells and Danny Hutton. The vocal trio
was deeply rooted in R&B, rock and roll, and urban doo-wop, but the bands
musical styles were unparalleled. The trio had hired backup musicians that
included Jimmy Greenspoon on organ, Joe Shermie on bass, Mike Allsup on guitars
and Floyd Sneed on drums. The group was signed to the Dunhill/ ABC Label.
Since his teenage years in New York, Negron had
developed a rapport with songwriters. Because of his relationships, those
writers introduced Chuck to new, up and coming songwriters. So Negron brought
in a Harry Nilsson penned tune entitled “One” (Is the loneliest number) to the
band. Soon after recording it, the song climbed to #5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart
in 1969 and became their first gold record.
Their self-titled debut album Three Dog Night (released in 1968, also known as “One”) spawned the
hits “One” and “Try a Little Tenderness” (#29 Billboard Hot 100 Hit). Suitable for Framing their second LP, spotlighted
Negron’s beautiful yet haunting vocalizations on “Easy To Be Hard” (#4
Billboard Hot 100 Hit), “Eli’s Coming” (#10 Billboard Hot 100 Hit) A Laura Nyro
composition and “Celebrate” a tune penned by Gary Bonner & Alan Gordon.
Three
Dog Night Captured Live at the Forum (#6 on Billboard’s Hot
100) was released in 1969. The live performance was recorded in support of a
Steppenwolf concert. Negron disclosed that Steppenwolf was the group that gave Three
Dog Night its first big break.
It
Ain’t Easy (1970) their fourth release, produced Three
Dog Night’s second number one single, a Randy Newman cover song entitled “Mama
Told Me (Not to Come).”
In November of 1970, the group released Naturally. The LP generated the bands
biggest selling single of all-time Hoyt Axton’s, “Joy To The World” (#1
Billboard Hot 100 Hit) sung by Chuck Negron. The tune was multi- Grammy
nominated and became Billboard’s “Record Of The Year” for1971.The album also produced
the hits “Liar” (#7 Billboard Hot 100 Hit) and “One Man Band” (#19 Billboard
Hot 100 Hit).
In 1971Three Dog Night released a compilation of
their hits called Golden Biscuits.
Harmony
(1971)Three Dog Night’s seventh album featured two Top 10 hits … Paul Williams
“Old Fashioned Love Song” (#4 Billboard Hot 100 Hit) and Hoyt Axton’s “Never
Been to Spain” (#5 Billboard Hot 100 Hit).
In 1972, Three Dog Night released Seven Separate Fools which spawned the
bands third number one hit “Black and White” written by David I. Arkin and Earl
Robinson. The album also generated a David Loggins composition entitled “Pieces
of April” (#19 Billboard Hot 100 Hit). The arrangement was artistically
performed by Chuck Negron.
Cyan
was
released in 1973 spawning the hit “Shambala” (#3 Billboard Hot 100 Hit) written
by Daniel Moore. The album was succeeded by Hard
Labor in 1974 which produced the single “The Show Must Go On” (#4 Billboard
Hot 100 Hit) written by David Courtney and Leo Sayer, and was followed by the
album Coming Down Your Way. “Til The
World Ends” from Coming Down Your Way
in 1975 was Three Dog Night’s last Top 40 hit.
Three Dog Night disbanded in 1976 but reunited in
1981. The band recorded It’s a Jungle
in 1983 and it became the final album to feature the original singing trio.
Negron’s drug problem became a hindrance and was dismissed from the band in
1985.
To date …Three Dog Night sold over ninety million records
worldwide.
The band continues to tour with original members Cory
Wells, Danny Hutton, Jimmy Greenspoon and Michael Allsup.
Chuck Negron’s solo career
released four CD’S … Am I Still In Your
Heart (1995), Joy To The World
(Christmas CD 2001), The Long Road Back (1999)
and Chuck Negron-Live In Concert (2001).
In 1999 Negron wrote his autobiography entitled … Three Dog Nightmare: The Chuck Negron Story.
He followed its success with a second book … Three Dog Nightmare: The continuing Chuck Negron Story. The book
describes his horrendous drug abuse including terrifying near- death
experiences that encompassed two decades and the miracle that saved his life on
September 17, 1991. Chuck has remained sober ever since. He remains active with
several of the organizations whose focus is to help keep drugs out of the music
industry. Chuck also helps the addicted. Cri-Help Drug and Alcohol Treatment in
North Hollywood was extremely essential to Negron’s recovery.
Chuck Negron performs 70 shows a year and will be
featured on this year’s Happy Together Tour 2013.
I had the great pleasure of chatting with Chuck
Negron recently about life before, during, and after Three Dog Night.
Here’s my interview with the legendary voice of
Three Dog Night … CHUCK NEGRON.
Ray
Shasho: How are you doing Chuck, where are you calling from?
Chuck
Negron: “I’m good … Southern California.”
Ray
Shasho: You’ll be kicking off the Happy Together Tour on your birthday, June8th
in Biloxi, Mississippi and will be arriving at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater
on Friday June 14th. Is this your first time on the tour?
Chuck
Negron: “I’ve done Hippiefest. I’ve worked with Mark Volman
and Howard Kaylan and actually worked with everybody but Mark Lindsay before,
but yeah, it’s a great show!”
Ray
Shasho: So you could have been the first NBA Rock Star?
Chuck
Negron: “(Laughing) Yea, I started as an All-City ballplayer
in New York back in the day when there were some historical names; it’s embarrassing
just to mention them because that’s how old I am … Billy Cunningham, Connie
Hawkins and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he was a sophomore when we all graduated. Then
Bill Sharman who played for the Boston Celtics with Bob Cousy as the other
guard, and went on to coach the Lakers to that record, the longest winning
streak ever as their coach. Anyway, he brought me out to Cal State LA and when
I got there he went off to the ABA. I kept playing until Columbia Records would
sign me.”
“They’d say why did you miss this recording session;
I heard you told someone you had a game? I said basketball. The guy said you
can play ball if you want to but you can’t do both. So I left college and that
was the end of my basketball career. Once I got that deal with Columbia records, my
focus was different. I was working on the weekends, singing with different
bands, and then my own band and I lost my focus. I understand why they made me
choose because now they knew they had my full attention.”
Ray
Shasho: How tall are you Chuck?
Chuck
Negron: “I’m just 6 foot 1; let me tell you something, I felt
like a midget until I got into rock and roll. I was a shooting guard … just
give me the ball and I’ll shoot it (Laughing).”
Ray
Shasho: I wanted to let all my readers know about your basketball career … my
neighbor here in the Bradenton/Sarasota area is Dick Vitale.
Chuck
Negron: “What a fascinating and positive man that guy is.And way beyond broadcasting … a great
coach and has had a wonderful career in basketball.He’s one of those guys I enjoy listening to.”
Ray
Shasho: I understand your father was Puerto Rican and your mom British?
Chuck
Negron:”Yea-yea, my father was eating food, playing music
and dancing and my mother was scrutinizing him (All laughing). As a matter of
fact I just got back from Puerto Rico. I’m very close to my Puerto Rican family
because they’re the family that’s alive. My mother and her family, most of them
passed away except for some of my cousins. I went down to Puerto Rico and was
inducted into the Puerto Rican music hall of fame.”
Ray
Shasho: You always had the coolest mustache, I knew there had to be Latin roots
somewhere (Laughing).
Chuck
Negron: “I have a great-great grandfather that hasa big ole’ stash like mine except his
is even higher.”
Ray
Shasho: Do speak Spanish?
Chuck
Negron: “You know what … unfortunately I don’t. It’s
embarrassing, especially when I go to Puerto Rico and meet the family and
you’re the only one who doesn’t speak Spanish. Back then the families wanted to
assimilate, so they didn’t want to teach their kids. You picked it up by them
speaking Spanish in the house and in my house they weren’t because my mother
was English. The only ones trying to teach me Spanish was my grandmother and
grandfather and I wasn’t into it.”
Ray
Shasho: Chuck, who were some of the musicians that got you interested in music?
Chuck
Negron: “Ray, for me, it was that I heard different songs
and I found out the writers that were writing all these songs, it was the song
and the music, it was … Goffin and King, Leiber and Stoller, Mann and Weil,
Bacharach and David … but the people who were doing them back then was Ben E.
King, The Drifters, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke … and of course these artists were
unbelievable vocally. There were a lot of great vocalists including Johnny
Mathis who did a whole different thing, but when he was young, that first
album, I just never heard anybody sing like that and that’s where “Easy to Be
Hard” came from and the other side of me, and the other side of “Joy to the
World.” It was hearing (this could be
cool) someone singing soft and sweet. But it was the R&B stuff and just the
great-great writers.”
Ray
Shasho: Three Dog Night produced so many great hits from songwriters that had
music that either wasn’t going anywhere or was brand new?
Chuck
Negron: “When I picked “One” it wasn’t even out yet. They
weren’t even treating Harry Nilsson as a singer/songwriter because the hit they
had was “Everybody’s Talkin” which he didn’t write. As a matter of fact the two
big hits he had he didn’t write. But my years in the Brill Building and Tin Pan
Alley and trying to get to the songs … my thing was not to get to the bands, it
was to get to the songs. When I came to Three Dog Night, I went back to all these
publishers that I met when I was on Columbia Records. I put most of those songs
together and brought them to Three Dog Night. When we met Randy Newman, his
first album was out and he couldn’t get arrested. We started doing his stuff
and helped him, and of course his great writing helped him too.”
Ray
Shasho: Three Dog Night began churning
out Top 40 hits during a period when many of the 60’s Hit Makers were
disappearing and hard rock albums were emerging.
Chuck
Negron: “We sold more concert tickets than anybody. We were
selling out stadiums! Led Zeppelin approached our management to do a concert
and we did a co-bill with them on a date we already had. We had it sold-out. We
were basically there because we wanted them to sign with our management
company. We were doing this way before anyone and a long time after and kept
doing it. The band doesn’t have the cachet that some bands had and it’s a shame
because we sold more tickets, we sold more records, more people loved us …and
it’s ridiculous.”
Ray
Shasho: I chatted with Mick Box of Uriah Heep several weeks ago and he was
saying that his first American show was supporting Three Dog Night.
Chuck
Negron: “Our manager heard them when they were in London
and when we were over there we brought them over. They did a whole tour with
us. We helped break them. These bands don’t say it, but without us, nobody
would know who those guys were. They were playing in front of 20-25,000 people
a night and they were a club band. But I like the guys with Uriah Heep.”
“It’s interesting … we recorded the very first Elton
John song; I was the first guy to ever sing an Elton John song. We went to
London and he and Bernie followed us everywhere and took us to the studio and
played their first album, and you very rarely hear Elton John say anything
about how Three Dog Night helped them. It’s just a weird thing … guys
complementing other guys is uncomfortable for them in some way.”
Ray
Shasho: Hey, if anyone gave me my first big break, I’d be indebted to that
person for the rest of my life … unfortunately that’s never happened.
Chuck
Negron: “Trust me, I don’t get it. I always thank
Steppenwolf because we opened up for them and if I were John Kay I would have
fired us because after the first show they could not follow us. John let us
open for him and without him no one would have known us. So I’m very grateful
to him and the fact that he kept us on the tour, because if I was him, I
wouldn’t have.”
Ray
Shasho:On your website bio, you
said that you never had record company interference in the band … explain why?
Chuck
Negron: “We had a couple of producers, Brian Wilson being
the first one, and it never worked out because of the family …in any rate, then
we went to Steve Barri who was their big guy (The Grass Roots) and he didn’t
work out, then we did Van Dyke Parks (Brian Wilson) and that didn’t work out.
So by the time we were getting our last producer we told the record company,
look, just let us do what we do. They said okay. What happened next is that we
had a million- seller (“One”) and the record went like triple platinum. So when
we went in to renegotiate the next album, we said we needed artistic control
because it worked for us. And they said … no problem it works. So we had
artistic control and the only time they ever called us was when we were late on
one album and didn’t think we were going to make it on time, but we did.But we had total control, and as long as we
were having hits, which we did from day one to the end, they didn’t interfere.”
“When it all ended is when Jay Lasker decided to
move on to Motown and they brought in an accountant. It was the years when all
the artistic people were eliminated or fired and they brought in accountants.
The guy said you can’t have artistic control and we said we already do and it
was the end of us. We couldn’t work like that.”
Ray
Shasho: Chuck, I did read your book Three
Dog Nightmare and it scared the crap out of me.
Chuck
Negron: “It scared the crap out of me too.”
Ray
Shasho: My cousin David and I shared a rock and roll journey together when we
were teenagers including attending a ridiculous amount of rock concerts
together and unfortunately he didn’t survive his addiction. I’m so glad you
made it man.
Chuck
Negron: “This is a fact, the difference between an addict
and a normal person… the normal person can get far enough away from it or a
moment of clarity where they just clean up. But an addict is mentally and
physically addicted and obsessed and some never get to walk away and they die.”
Ray
Shasho:My cousin went to several
different rehabs but unfortunately it didn’t help.
Chuck
Negron: “I used these places as places just to get the
pressure off.”
Ray
Shasho: Chuck, I’m so glad you’re back on the straight and narrow, there’s been
too much cataclysm in rock and roll.
Chuck
Negron: “It will be twenty two years in a couple of months.
I have been blessed with that.”
Ray
Shasho: I heard an interview that you did explaining why you couldn’t reunite
with Three Dog Night because Danny Hutton didn’t want to feel irrelevant or
like a second or third wheel again?
Chuck
Negron: “It never will because he’s the guy who put the band
together and he saw it all slip out from under his fingers and there’s nothing
sadder than a guy trying to cling on to something or control something that is
out of his control. It was really hard on him and he really suffered many years
because of that and coming from number one to becoming kind of irrelevant. He
will never let that happen to him again. It’s a shame and the fans lose out. We
can never duplicate that harmony again unless the three of us sing it.”
Ray
Shasho: Chuck, here’s a question that I ask everyone that I interview, If you
had a “Field of Dreams” wish, like the movie, to play or collaborate with
anyone from the past or present, who would that be?
Chuck
Negron: “Jackie Wilson”
Ray
Shasho: Chuck, thank you for being on the call today and more importantly for
all the incredible Three Dog Night music that you gave us and music you
continue to bring. We’ll see you on the Happy Together Tour.
Chuck
Negron: “Thank you so much Ray!”
The Happy Together Tour 2013 will spotlight Chuck
Negron along with The Turtles (featuring Flo and Eddie), Gary Puckett of the
Union Gap, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders and Gary Lewis of The
Playboys. The tour kicks off on June 8th (Chuck Negron’s birthday) in
Biloxi, Mississippi and arrives at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Friday
June 14th. Tickets for the Ruth Eckerd Hall show are available at www.rutheckerdhall.com
or by calling 727-791-7400.
Purchase
Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic
American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also
available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at
amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com- Please support Ray so he can continue to
bring you quality classic rock music reporting.
~~Pacific
Book Review says Ray Shasho is a product of the second half of
the 20th century, made in the USA from parts around the world, and within
him is every trend in music, television, politics and culture contributing to
his philosophical and comically analytical reflections collected in his fine
book of memories. I found Check the Gs to be pure
entertainment, fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many memories of my
own life, as I too am within a few years of Ray. So to all, I say if
you have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book! It’s a
great gift for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids, if they are the
history buffs of younger generations trying to figure out why we are the way we
are.
