Three Dog Night Artistfacts

1967–1976, 1981-
Danny HuttonVocals
Chuck NegronVocals1967–1985
Cory WellsVocals1967–2015
Michael AllsupGuitar1967–1974, 1981–1984, 1991-
Joe SchermieBass1968–1973
Floyd SneedDrums1968–1974, 1981–1984
Jimmy GreenspoonKeyboards1968–2015
Paul KingeryVocals, guitar, bass1982–1983, 1985–1988, 1996-
Pat BautzDrums, vocals1993-
Three Dog Night might be the most successful cover band in history. In the late 1960s and early 1970s they had huge hits with smooth, clean remakes of other people's songs. Among them:

"One" (originally by Nilsson)
"Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" (originally by Eric Burdon & The Animals)
"Eli's Coming" (originally by Laura Nyro)
Their special sauce was the vocal harmonies of the band's three founders: Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and Danny Hutton, who all met in 1967. As Negron told Classicbands, "In Three Dog Night, the whole concept was three lead singers doing three different things. So we always had someone viable on the charts. I did 'One,' 'Easy To Be Hard.' Then Cory and Danny and I did 'Eli's Coming,' which was a whole other sound."
Their voices harmonized, but that's about it.

Hutton, Wells, and Negron clashed constantly. Each had a world-class voice and bristled at the idea of being just one cog in a trio. While three-part harmony was their bread and butter, each singer wanted to be lead on the hit songs, which caused discord.

It got so bad that they refused to ride in elevators together or to sleep in the same hotel. It got drastically worse when Negron developed a heroin habit that severely disrupted recording and live shows.

They reached a breaking point in 1976, when the trio parted ways. Wells and Hutton returned with the 1981 re-launch of Three Dog Night, but Negron never came back. He did some solo work and managed and financed a punk band called Fear. After Wells died in 2015 from multiple myeloma, Hutton and Negron made their peace with each other and with their legacy as Three Dog Night.
The Ajax Lady from the movie Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke named the band (maybe).

What's certain is that the band's name refers to Aboriginal Australians sleeping with dingoes for warmth on cold nights in the Outback. An especially cold night was one that required three dingoes to stay warm. As to who thought of it as a band name, there are two versions of the story - one is way more interesting than the other.

The interesting one is that it came from the infamous Ajax-snorting woman in the stoner classic Up in Smoke. Her name was June Fairchild. She started as a go-go dancer and moved on to some film roles. She also dated Danny Hutton. The story from the Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965–1975 anthology has it that Fairchild had been reading a magazine article about the Australian Aboriginal tribes and suggested the term as a name for the band.

In 2018 producer/songwriter Van Dyke Parks ruined the fun with an X post claiming that he knew and liked Fairchild, but that he was the one who actually read about the Aboriginals in Mankind magazine and thought of the name.

Unfortunately Fairchild isn't available to defend her position as namer of Three Dog Night, because in an incredible example of mimesis (life imitating art), she struggled with drug addiction that destroyed her career and left her variously homeless or living in pay-by-night motels. She did eventually get sober, and died in 2015.
The band first called themselves Redwood and nearly signed with the Beach Boys' label. They recorded with Beach Boys captain Brian Wilson, a notorious perfectionist who, unbeknownst to friends, was just starting a period of paranoia and hallucinations believed to result from LSD. Wilson didn't think Redwood were good enough, so he stopped working with them. It was a blessing in disguise, as the group renamed themselves Three Dog Night and became one of the best-selling acts of their generation.
On April 29, 1972, they played the first-ever concert at Nassau Coliseum in New York. Security was bolstered because police anticipated an army of dope fiends descending upon their city in a cloud of patchouli and tie dye, but the audience represented all age groups, including whole families, and the event was peaceful and wholesome. Village Voice editor Robert Christgau wrote that not since seeing the teen heartthrob David Cassidy had he "smelled less grass at a concert."
Three Dog Night played the very first Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve in 1972. This may sound alien to younger readers, but at that time, media options were quite limited, and Clark's show drew big viewing numbers and was about as culturally relevant as anything else going at that time. It was a marker of their popularity that Three Dog Night led the billing.

The show ran on NBC from 1972 to 1974 and then moved to ABC. During the original '72 broadcast, the band hosted and performed.
Three Dog Night drummer Floyd Sneed brought a flair and inventiveness so powerful that fans swore he levitated. While the band will always be most remembered for their voices, Sneed was low-key one of the most respected and innovative drummers of his era. His fast, aggressive style is still commented on by modern drummers today. Beyond his musical skill, he was just a creatively mad kind of guy. He once made a custom stage suit entirely out of Holiday Inn towels to absorb all his sweat, and would set his sticks aside mid-song and pound tom-toms with bare hands. He also drew his own psychedelic art on his kits.

But the peak of his inventiveness came when he began gluing Zickos acrylic shells with hundreds of rhinestones to his drums. During at least one outdoor show, some fans at the very back of the lawn recall how the sparkling reflections of the rhinestones gave the drums the appearance that they were literally floating in the air above the stage. He passed away on January 27, 2023.
In Louisville, Kentucky, where they kicked off a tour in 1975, Chuck Negron was arrested on drug charges just hours before the show. He dealt with the situation by singing to onlookers as police carted him away. Sadly, no one ever mentioned exactly what song he chose to belt out, but one imagines it must have been "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," if there's nay humor or poetry whatsoever to this universe.
In 1969 they toured with Led Zeppelin. The bands were on equal footing, and would alternate who got to open and who to close.
Three Dog Night didn't get much respect from critics, in part because they didn't write most their own songs, including all of their hits. But the numbers don't lie: They were one of the top-selling bands of their era, and many of their songs still show up on classic rock playlists.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

A Bar Song (Tipsy)Shaboozey

Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" is a country reworking of J-Kwon's hip-hop hit "Tipsy," with the setting changed from a club to a dive bar.

In Metallica's 1986 metal classic "Master Of Puppets," the "Master" represents drugs, controlling the user like a puppet. Lead singer James Hetfield wasn't an addict at the time, but 15 years later he needed rehab to treat his alcoholism.

Mr. Tambourine ManThe Byrds

"Mr. Tambourine Man" is the only song Bob Dylan wrote that became a #1 hit on the Hot 100. The Byrds' cover topped the chart in 1965.

Watching The WheelsJohn Lennon

In the late '70s, John Lennon slowed his roll, becoming a househusband who baked bread and took care of his young son Sean. This inspired his song "Watching The Wheels," where he discovers the benefits of taking it easy.