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Artist
Fred Neil
12+ albums
folksinger-songwriterblues60sfolk-rock
about
Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an important American blues and folk singer and songwriter in the 1960s and early 1970s. He is best remembered for writing the top 40 hits "Candy Man", performed by Roy Orbison and "Everybody's Talkin'", performed by Harry Nilsson. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Neil was one of the songwriters who for a time worked out of New York City's famous Brill Building. He has often been called a pioneer of the folk rock & singer-songwriter musical genres; his most frequently cited disciples are Tim Buckley, Harry Nilsson, and the Jefferson Airplane, but his most prominent descendants have been Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. In concert appearances, as well as the liner notes for his 2003 album, Meet Me In Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection, Jimmy Buffett called Neil "one of my heroes." Some of Neil's early compositions were recorded by Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison; he played as a session guitarist on hits by Bobby Darin and Paul Anka. In 1968, Nilsson recorded a cover version of Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'," which became a huge hit a year later when it was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy. Neil was an accomplished professional musician atypically inclined to a very modest frugality. "Candy Man", his first of two Top-40-hit compositions, substantially introduced him to a sufficient income stream for life in his early 20's; he became increasingly disinclined to work
