FRED NEIL
Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer, and is mainly known through other people’s recordings of his material – particularly “Everybody’s Talkin’”, which became a hit for Harry Nilsson after being used for the film Midnight Cowboy. Though highly regarded by contemporary folk singers, he was reluctant to tour (something he shared with Nilsson), and mainly spent the last 30 years of his life assisting with the preservation of dolphins. (More from Wikipedia)
Barbara Sullivan’s connections at Capitol Records didn’t pan out either. Nik Venet was the point man at Capitol for folk-rock music and would have been a natural to work with Jim Sullivan. He had produced albums for Fred Neil – to whom Sullivan is often compared – Lothar and the Hand People, and Linda Ronstadt’s first band the Stone Poneys, plus more mainstream acts like the Kingston Trio and the Beach Boys. But Venet turned him down.
(October 2011)
