John Sebastian
(born John Benson Sebastian, Jr.
on March 17, 1944, in Greenwich Village, New York City) is an American songwriter and harmonica player. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. [1] His tie-dyed denim jacket is prominently displayed there.
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JOHN SEBASTIAN TICKETS
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Life and early career
Sebastian's father, John Benson Sr., was a noted
classical harmonica player and his mother was a
radio script writer. He is the godson of
Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz of
I Love Lucy
). He grew up surrounded by
music and
musicians, including
Burl Ives and
Woody Guthrie and hearing such players as
Leadbelly and
Mississippi John Hurt in his own neighborhood.
[2] [3]
One of his first
recording gigs was playing harmonica for
Fred Neil on his
Bleecker & MacDougal
album in 1965. He came up through the
Even Dozen Jug Band and
The Mugwumps, which split to form
the Lovin' Spoonful and
The Mamas & the Papas. Sebastian was joined by
Zal Yanovsky, Steve Boone and
Joe Butler in the Spoonful, which was named after a Mississippi John Hurt
song. Sebastian also played
autoharp on occasion.
The Lovin' Spoonful became part of the American response to the
British Invasion and was noted for such
folk-flavored
hits as "Jug Band Music," "
Do You Believe in Magic", "
Summer in the City", "Daydream," "Nashville Cats," "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind," "Six O'Clock," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," and "Younger Girl."
The band, however, began to implode after a 1967
marijuana bust in San Francisco involving
Yanovsky, a Canadian citizen. Facing deportation, he gave up the name of his dealer, which caused a fan backlash and internal strife. Neither John Sebastian nor Joe Butler was involved in the matter; they weren't even in San Francisco at the time. Yanovsky subsequently left the band and was replaced by
Jerry Yester.
[4]
Solo career
leftSebastian left the Lovin' Spoonful in 1968 although he and the original band reunited briefly to appear in the film
One Trick Pony
starring
Paul Simon and
Blair Brown.
In December of 1968 a musical he composed the music and lyrics for,
Jimmy Shine
, opened on
Broadway with
Dustin Hoffman in the title role.
[5]
He embarked on a moderately successful
solo career after leaving
the Lovin' Spoonful in 1968. Sebastian was popular among the
rock festival circuits. He had a memorable, albeit unscheduled appearance at
Woodstock, appearing after
Country Joe McDonald's set, playing songs such as "I Had A Dream," "Rainbows All Over Your Blues" and "Younger Generation" which he dedicated to a newborn baby at the festival. Documentary remarks by festival organizers revealed that Sebastian was under the influence at the time, hence his spontaneity and casual, unplanned set. Sebastian also returned for
Woodstock '94, playing harmonica for
Crosby, Stills and Nash. Sebastian released his
eponymous LP John B. Sebastian
in 1970, which featured him accompanied by various
L.A. musicians.
Sebastian played
harmonica with
The Doors on the song
Roadhouse Blues
under the
pseudonym G. Puglese to avoid problems with his contract, which was featured on
Morrison Hotel
album.
[6] He also played on "Little Red Rooster" on the
live album Alive, She Cried
and on seven songs on
Live In Detroit
.
[7] [8] He is also credited with playing harmonica on
Crosby Stills Nash & Young's
"Déjà Vu"
from the
album of the same name.
In 1976, Sebastian had a number one
single with, "
Welcome Back", the
theme song to the
Welcome Back, Kotter
television show
, which found new life decades later when a sample from it became the hook for
rapper Mase's 2004 hit "
Welcome Back". Recently, he has played with John Sebastian and the J-Band, a
jug band including
Fritz Richmond from the
Jim Kweskin Jug Band,
Yank Rachell, an original jug-band leader, and
Geoff Muldaur.
Several modern musicians cite him as a large influence, including renowned
blues harmonica player,
Mike Tetrault. As a songwriter, Sebastian's songs have been
covered by
Elvis Costello ("The Room Nobody Lives In"),
Dolly Parton,
Del McCoury,
Helen Reddy,
Brenda Lee,
Johnny Cash,
Bobby Darin,
Slade,
Joe Cocker and
Jimmy Buffett ("Stories We Could Tell").
Later career
right
Starting in 1978 John wrote the music for the animated special
The Devil and Daniel Mouse and was even the singing voice for the character of Daniel Mouse. In the 1980's, Sebastian continued to write and perform music for several productions from
Nelvana Limited Productions, a reputable Canada-based animation studio whose more recent output includes the TV series
Braceface
(which starred, and was co-produced by,
Alicia Silverstone.) and the same studio which produced The Devil and Daniel Mouse. John wrote and sang the theme song/narration for Nelvana's TV pilot
The Get Along Gang
(none of which was kept, however, when
DIC Entertainment took over the project thereafter). Sebastian also composed and performed "Care Bear Countdown," the theme song for Nelvana's
Care Bears
TV series, along with numerous tunes for the
The Care Bears Movie
trilogy which preceded it (consisting of
Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation
and
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland
).
In later years, Sebastian hosted several
television programs regarding '60s' music, including
infomercials for compilations sets, and a half-hour program called
The Golden Age of Rock and Roll
, which was usually composed of video footage of 1960s bands performing on variety shows. He also hosted a Spoonful retrospective broadcast over
PBS in March 2007, talking about various Spoonful numbers in between vintage video clips of the band up to the time he left.
In the early 1990s, Sebastian made a cameo appearance on the sitcom
Married With Children
, together with other famous rockstars. In 2005, he appeared on
Eels'
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
.
[9]
In 2007, Sebastian released a guitar instructional DVD for Homespun Video teaching solo guitar adaptations of eight of his Spoonful hits including "Daydream", "Nashville Cats", and his solo hit "Welcome Back". He has also released an instructional DVD teaching beginning level autoharp. (Sebastian played both harmonica and autoharp on Shanachie's 2002 compilation CD "Man of Constant Sorrow".)
Sebastian and the J Band appear in the documentary about the roots and influence of jug band music,
[10] [11] which screened in August 2007 at the and made its film festival debut in October 2007 at the
Woodstock Film Festival. In the film, Sebastian humorously explains, with musical accompaniment, how his hit song "Younger Girl" was inspired by
Gus Cannon's "Prison Wall Blues." He also performed at the festival with other musicians featured in the film, including
Geoff Muldaur,
Maria Muldaur,
Jim Kweskin and
David Grisman.
He was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.
The title of a novel by British writer
Tony Parsons -
Stories We Could Tell
- comes from the Sebastian song.
Solo discography
Original U.S. Singles
Release Year
| Label/Catalog #
| Titles (A-side / B-side)
| Billboard Top Singles
| Cashbox
|
1969
| Kama Sutra KA-256
| She's A Lady / The Room Nobody Lives In
| 84
| 62
|
1970
| Reprise 0902
| Magical Connection / Fa-Fana-Fa
| --
| --
|
1970
| Reprise 0918
| What She Thinks About / Red Eye Express
| --
| --
|
1970
| MGM 14122
| Rainbows All Over Your Blues / You're A Big Boy Now
| --
| --
|
1971
| Reprise 1026
| I Don't Want Nobody Else / Sweet Muse
| --
| --
|
1971
| Reprise 1050
| Well Well Well / We'll See
| --
| --
|
1972
| Reprise 1074
| Give Us A Break / Music For People Who Don't Speak English
| --
| --
|
1976
| Reprise 1349
| Welcome Back / Warm Baby
| 1
| 1
|
1976
| Reprise 1355
| Hideaway / One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
| 95
| --
|
Original U.S. Vinyl Albums
Release Year
| Label/Catalog #
| Album Title
| Billboard Album Chart
|
1970
| Reprise RS 6379
| John B. Sebastian
| 20
|
1970
| MGM SE-4654
| John B. Sebastian
(exact same album as above, with a different cover)
| --
|
1970
| MGM SE-4720
| John Sebastian Live
| 129
|
1971
| Reprise MS 2036
| Cheapo Cheapo Productions Presents Real Live John Sebastian
| 75
|
1971
| Reprise MS 2041
| The Four of Us
| 93
|
1974
| Reprise MS 2187
| Tarzana Kid
| --
|
1976
| Reprise MS 2249
| Welcome Back
| 79
|
Miscellaneous albums
- 1982 John Sebastian Teaches Blues Harmonica
Homespun Tapes
- 1993 Tar Beach
Schanachie
- 1995 John Sebastian
Line
- 1996 I Want My Roots
John Sebastian and the J-Band; Music Masters
- 1996 King Biscuit Flower Hour
[live] King Biscuit Flower
- 1996 John Sebastian Teaches Beginning Blues Harmonica
Homespun Tapes
- 1997 Do What Know?
With Jimmy Vivino & The Rekooperators Music Masters
- 1999 Chasin' Gus' Ghost
Hollywood
- 2001 One Guy, One Guitar
[live] Hux; concert performances from 1981 and 1984, originally broadcast on the BBC
- 2001 Faithful Virtue: The Reprise Recordings
Rhino Handmade
- 2002 Man of Constant Sorrow: Instrumental Impressions of the American Heartland
Schanachie, as licensed to the St. Clair Entertainment Group. [12]
- 2007 Satisfied
John Sebastian And David Grisman Acoustic Disc
Samples
Audio samples of music of John Sebastian
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
References
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry for the Lovin' Spoonful. Accessed January 5, 2009.
- Songwriter Hall of Fame John Sebastian biography. Accessed January 5, 2009.
- John Sebastian biography at www.johnbsebastian.comAccessed January 6, 2009.
- Sony Legacy Recordings biography entry for The Lovin' Spoonful. From Allmusic biography by Richie Unterberger. Accessed January 5, 2009.
- Time Magazine, December 13, 1968
- The Doors, Morrison Hotel Remastered Liner Notes, Page 7, David Frickle, 2006
- The Doors Live in Detroit CD Review at www.doors.com Accessed January 6, 2009.
- Allmusic entry for The Doors Live in Detroit. Accessed January 6, 2009.
- Pop Matters entry for review of ''Blinking Lights and Other Revelations''. Accessed January 12, 2009.
- ''Chasin' Gus' Ghost'' documentary web site.
- IMDB entry for ''Chasin' Gus' Ghost documentary.
- Playing harmonica on one song with Brian Keane, "Wagoner's Lad".