Harry Nilsson

Harry Nilsson (born Harry Edward Nilsson III on June 15, 1941; died on January 15, 1994), sometimes credited simply as Nilsson, was an American singer/songwriter/pianist/guitarist from Brooklyn, New York. Though two of his biggest chart hits were written by other writers ("Everybody’s Talkin’" by Fred Neil and "Without You" by Pete Ham of Badfinger) he was a talented songwriter too, having written the song "One", later performed by Three Dog Night to great success. He also performed an entire album’s worth of material written by Randy Newman, a friend and influence on his own future song writing. His early work is often compared to that of Sgt. Pepper-era The Beatles, who were also fans of his work and early supporters. He maintained relationships with them, most notably joining John Lennon on his infamous "lost weekend" around the time the two collaborated.

His songs have been used in many films as well. In fact, Nilsson’s first major success was his cover of the song "Everybody’s Talkin’" for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack. Nilsson wrote and performed the music for the 1971 animated television film The Point. As released on video and DVD, the film version features narrator Ringo Starr. Nilsson narrated the album version himself. A stage adaptation starred Davy Jones in the lead role.

He also composed and performed the theme song and incidental music for the television show" The Courtship of Eddie’s Father." Other appearances include "Without You", featured recently in the 2002 film The Rules of Attraction), "Coconut", which has been parodied and used in various media, including The Simpsons, The Muppets, and in the closing credits of Reservoir Dogs, and the film Practical Magic ."Jump Into The Fire", used in the film Goodfellas. The film You’ve Got Mail also features several of his songs, including "The Puppy Song". More recently, his songs were used in the film Breakfast on Pluto, as the basis for the soundtrack, with songs such as "You’re Breaking My Heart" featured prominently.

He died unexpectedly on 15th January 1994 of heart failure, after a night of recording work for a new album.

In 1995, Harry was the subject of a tribute album, For The Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson. The album featured 23 Nilsson compositions covered by artists such as Aimee Mann, Adrian Belew, Victoria Williams, Brian Wilson, and Marshall Crenshaw.

John Scheinfeld directed a documentary about Nilsson’s life, titled Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talking About Him)?, which includes interviews with Robin Williams, Randy Newman, Yoko Ono, Nilsson’s family and others. The doc was first screened at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in 2006 and later released in select cities September 2010.

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