Loggins and Messina

Biography

Loggins and Messina was an American pop rock duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved major chart success during the early-mid 1970s. Among their well-known songs are "Danny's Song", "House at Pooh Corner", and "Your Mama Don't Dance". After selling more than 16 million records and becoming one of the leading musical duos of the 1970s, Loggins and Messina separated in 1976.
Although Messina would find only limited popularity following the parting, Loggins went on to achieve major chart success in the late 1970s, through the 1980s.
In 2005 and again in 2009, Loggins and Messina reformed for tours in the United States.

Initial career 1971–1976

Jim Messina, formerly of Buffalo Springfield and Poco, was working as an independent record producer for Columbia Records in 1970 when he met Kenny Loggins, a little-known singer/songwriter and guitarist who was signed to ABC-Dunhill as a staff songwriter.
The two recorded a number of Loggins' songs in Messina's home living room. When Columbia signed Loggins to a six-album contract (with the assistance of Messina), recording began in earnest for Loggins' debut album, with Messina as producer. 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. However, 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.
Their debut album was released November 1971 as Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In. The album's first single release, the Caribbean-flavored "Vahevala" (or "Vahevella" or "Vaheevella"), pronounced "Va HEE-va-lah", found top 3 success on Chicago's WCFL on May 18, 1972. "Vahevala" and "Nobody But You" both reached the Hot 100. Although at first the album went unnoticed by radio upon release, it eventually gained traction by autumn 1972, particularly on college campuses where the pair toured heavily. Loggins' and Messina's harmonies meshed so well that what was begun as a one-off album became an entity unto itself. Audiences regarded the pair as a genuine duo rather than as a solo act with a well-known producer. Instead of just continuing to produce Loggins as a sole performer, they decided to record as a duo: Loggins and Messina.
On March 3, 1973, Loggins and Messina played Carnegie Hall. Ian Dove in the New York Times called it a "near-perfect rock 'n' roll concert".
"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."
Messina assembled The Kenny Loggins Band by summoning old friends, bassist Larry Sims and drummer Merel Bregante, formerly of The Sunshine Company, multireedist Jon Clarke, and violinist/multireedist Al Garth. Famed Grammy-winning keyboardist, songwriter and record producer Michael Omartian played keyboards on the debut, second and third albums, but did not join them on tour. Los Angeles–based session percussionist Milt Holland played on all of the duo's studio albums, but like Omartian, he did not tour with them.
Over the next four years, from 1972 to 1976, they produced four more studio albums of original material, plus one album of covers of other artists' material (So Fine×So Fine1975 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Oh, Lonesome Me2:47A2My Baby Left Me2:57A3Wake Up Little Susie2:02A4I'm Movin' On3:43A5Hello Mary Lou2:16A6Hey Good Lookin'2:33B1Splish Splash2:22B2A Lover's Question3:19B3You Never Can Tell3:16B4I Like It Like That3:04B5So Fine2:39B6Honky Tonk - Part II2:39), 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. They charted three top 20 singles from the second and third albums: "Your Mama Don't Dance" (No. 4), "Thinking of You" (No. 18), and "My Music" (No. 16). Their work was covered by other prominent artists, including Lynn Anderson, who recorded "Listen to a Country Song" in 1972 and reached No. 4 on the Country charts, and Anne Murray, who reached the U.S. top ten with "Danny's Song" in early 1973 and the U.S. top twenty with "A Love Song" in early 1974. The later studio albums, Mother Lode×Mother Lode1974 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Growin’2:40A2Be Free7:01A3Changes3:53A4Brighter Days3:42A5Time to Space5:48B1Lately My Love3:32B2Move On7:29B3Get a Hold3:38B4Keep Me in Mind3:39B5Fever Dream3:03 (1974), Native Sons×Native SonsJanuary 1976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Sweet Marie3:03A2Pretty Princess6:55A3My Lady, My Love3:00A4When I Was a Child4:17A5Wasting Our Time2:49B1Peacemaker5:02B2It’s Alright4:00B3Boogie Man2:04B4Fox Fire2:58B5Native Son4:10 (1976), often found both Loggins and Messina more as two solo artists sharing the same record rather than as a genuine partnership. As both Loggins and Messina noted in 2005, their collaboration eventually became more a competition.
Never really a team of true equals because of the initial teacher–apprentice nature of their music experience levels, the pair had quietly, amicably parted in 1976. Their final studio album of original material, Native Sons, was released January 1976. Later that year the duo went on a final tour, though prior to the start of the tour, Loggins accidentally cut his hand with a craft knife while practicing his wood-carving hobby at home which required surgery, thereby preventing him from playing guitar for most of that final tour. The final two concert dates of Loggins & Messina - as a duo - were in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center, on September 24 and 25, 1976, upon which the duo then parted to embark on solo careers. Messina found solo success elusive, but Loggins went on to become one of the 1980s' biggest hitmakers.
A greatest-hits album, The Best of Friends×The Best of Friends1976 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Angry Eyes2:29A2Be Free7:00A3Vahevala4:49A4Peace of Mind4:09A5My Music3:05B1Thinking of You2:21B2House at Pooh Corner4:28B3Watching the River Run3:30B4Danny's Song4:17B5Your Mama Don't Dance2:48, was released in November 1976, two months after the duo had ended. In January 1977, a second live album (from concerts in 1975 and 1976), Finale×Finale1977 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks · 2 discsDisc 1A1Introduction1:45A2Travelin’ Blues3:08A3Medley: Danny’s Song / A Love Song / House at Pooh Corner / Thinking of You6:36A4Keep Me in Mind4:03A5Pretty Princess6:42B6Brighter Days3:40B7Be Free6:49B8Peacemaker5:20B9Growin’2:41Disc 2C1Motel Cowboy2:58C2Country Medley: Listen to a Country Song / Oh, Lonsesome Me / I’m Movin’ On / Listen to a Country Song (reprise)7:13C3Oklahoma, Home of Mine3:41C4Changes4:47D1You Need a Man9:21D2Lately My Love3:50D3Rock & Roll Medley: My Music / Splish Splash / Boogie Man5:57, was released, more by record company decision than one intended by the artists.

Reformation

The two reunited in 2005 to choose tracks for an expanded compilation album of singles and album cuts The Best: Sittin' In Again, which proved successful enough for them to embark on tour together. Their successful "Sittin' In Again" tour was launched in mid-2005 and played-out the remainder of the year. They also released an album that year of the tour. "Every couple of years we'd talk about it, but I was having too much fun as a solo artist," Loggins said that summer. "It was very rewarding for me, and I wasn't ready to share the reins. I still had a lot of stuff to do on my own, to prove myself and to express myself, in a way that wouldn't have fit in with Loggins and Messina."
The two were pleased enough to consider future Loggins and Messina projects and the two also toured in 2009. "Like most relationships, we were a moment in time," Loggins said. "It's just really fun to be able to go back and celebrate that and just sort of really honor each other as grown men, in a way we never really did back then. We were young and competitive and didn't realize that it wasn't necessarily all about getting your way, but you learn that if you grow up."
Their backing band changed from album to album, with the core members listed below. Some albums featured backing members who later were well-known in their own right; John Townsend and Ed Sanford, later of the Sanford-Townsend Band ("Smoke from a Distant Fire"), contributed vocals and songwriting to the Native Sons, their final studio album.

Members

Kenny Loggins – vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Jim Messina – vocals, lead guitar, mandolin, Dobro
Supporting personnel
Al Garth – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, violin, recorder, viola, percussion, steel drum and backing vocals
Jon Clarke – baritone saxophone, English horn, flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass saxophone, bass clarinet, recorder, bass flute, oboe, steel drum and percussion (died in 2005)
Larry Sims – bass and backing vocals (died in 2014)
Merel Bregante – drums, percussion, timbales and backing vocals
Milt Holland – percussion (died in 2005)
Michael Omartian – keyboards, percussion and concertina
Vince Denham – flute, bass clarinet, alto, soprano and tenor saxophone
Don Roberts – clarinet, alto flute, alto, baritone, soprano and tenor saxophone
Steve Forman – percussion, vibes
David Paich – keyboards
Dave Wallace – synthesizer
Chris Brooks – koto
Michel Rubini – keyboards
Richard Greene – violin, mandolin, mandocello
Rusty Young – Dobro (died in 2021)
Vince Charles – steel drums (died in 2001)
Victor Feldman – percussion (died in 1987)