Everyday Creation

In college, Kris Kristofferson was a Rhodes scholar and a Golden Gloves boxer who also happened to play guitar and write music. After Oxford, he moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting and eventually managed to gain Johnny Cash's attention by delivering a demo tape by helicopter to Cash's home. Cash ended up recording Kristofferson's song "Sunday Morning Coming Down," which became a hit.

So began Kristoffer...

Multi-instrumentalist J.D. Souther achieved his greatest musical success by writing songs for the Eagles and other 1970s rock stars. It was Souther who suggested that Linda Ronstadt hire Glenn Frey and Don Henley for her back-up band. That connection eventually led to the formation of the Eagles.

Souther released his own albums to modest success. His biggest hit single was "You're Only Lonely" in 1979. You can hear th...

The Jackson 5 started as a trio and became a quintet with the addition of Michael and Marlon. Older brother Tito was one of the group's original members. After his brothers pursued solo careers, he worked as a session musician and producer.

Tito became a blues performer in 2003 and had his first commercial hit "Get It Baby" in 2016. The song reached number 20 on Billboard's R&B chart. To watch the lyrics vide...

Sérgio Mendes had a 60-year career, marked by perseverance and a decision to stay in the U.S. after a lukewarm tour. His success in the U.S. began after being signed by trumpeter Herb Alpert and forming Brasil '66 with two female singers. The group went on to have three Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and two Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late 1960s. 

Mendes' first American hit was "Mas que Nada,"...

Scott Simon joined Sha Na Na in 1970 after responding to an ad for a keyboard player; he stayed with the group until they stopped touring in 2022.

The image in this episode's thumbnail is the cover of the album "Sha Na Na: Woodstock 20 Years After." Simon is pictured at the far left. In the chapters, there's also a photo of Simon signing autographs in 2009.

To watch Simon and the rest of Sha Na Na perform "Wh...

Actor and singer James Darren's breakthrough role was as Moondoggie in the 1959 film "Gidget," where he also sang the title song. The film was a hit, and he became a heartthrob.

The image in this episode's chapters and thumbnail is an ABC Television photo of James Darren and Shelley Fabares on "The Donna Reed Show" in 1959.

Darren had equal success with acting and singing. His song "Goodbye Cruel Wo...

The music career of Maurice Williams spanned more than six decades, with groups that evolved from the Junior Harmonizers to the Royal Charms, the Gladiolas and, finally, the Zodiacs.

Williams recorded his first hit, "Little Darlin'," with the Gladiolas in 1957. The song reached number four on Billboard's R&B chart.

He was only 17 in 1955 when he wrote "Stay" after unsuccessfully trying to convince a ...

John Mayall's influence extended to such notable musicians of the 1960s and '70s as Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Mick Taylor. In October 2024, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a musical influencer.

Mayall was known as the godfather of British blues. His music was not mainstream popular, though his albums performed better than his singles. To hear...

Duke Fakir and his friends, Levi Stubbs, Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton, formed the Four Tops in Detroit. They became one of the biggest acts of the 1960s.

"Reach Out I'll Be There" was their second #1 hit on the Billboard chart and the second Motown hit to top the UK charts. Go here to watch them performing the song on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1966.

The public domain photo of Fakir in this episod...

Sandy Posey began her career as a session singer in Memphis, working with artists such as Percy Sledge and Elvis Presley. She had three top 20 hits in the 1960s: "Born a Woman," which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 1 million copies; "Single Girl"; and "I Take It Back." 

The image of Posey in this episode's chapters and thumbnail is from her album "Single Girl: The V...

As a singer, Jerry Fuller had hits early in his career with "Betty, My Angel" and "Tennessee Waltz," but he made it big as a songwriter and producer. He wrote over 400 songs in eight years and discovered several talents, including Glen Campbell, the Knickerbockers, and Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. He produced the top 10 hits "Young Girl," "Lady Willpower" and "Over You'" a...

In 1961, Bob Newhart won a Grammy for Album of the Year for his first album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," which topped the Billboard album chart for 14 weeks. His second album, "The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back," was rushed out and reached number two on the Billboard chart.

The 1987 photo in this episode's thumbnail was taken by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, and is available on Wikimedia Commons. In the ...

Bernice Johnson Reagon was multifaceted: a singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, historian, college professor, and documentarian.

Born in Georgia during the dawning of the modern Civil Rights Movement, she recognized the power of music in activism and co-founded the Freedom Singers. The ensemble performed across the South and at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival.

In 1973, she formed another a cappella group, Swe...

Singer-songwriter Dave Loggins, a second cousin to Kenny Loggins, gained initial success when Three Dog Night recorded his song "Pieces of April." It reached 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973.

Dave Loggins went on to write 14 number one country hits for artists such as the Oak Ridge Boys, Wynonna Judd, Reba McEntire and Kenny Rogers.

His duet with Anne Murray, "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do," became a number one c...

Kinky Friedman, who formed the band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, was known for outrageous song titles such as "Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In Bed" and "Ride 'em Jew Boy." 

He was a good writer not only of songs but also detective novels, stories for Texas Monthly and more. One of his pieces in the magazine was a beautifully written tribute to Lottie Cotton, a woman who had cared for ...

After serving in the Vietnam War, Mark James moved to Memphis and soon his songwriting career took off. In just two years — 1968 and '69 — he wrote "Eyes of a New York Woman," "Hooked on a Feeling" and "It's Only Love" for B.J. Thomas. 

Next, he wrote "Suspicious Minds." He recorded his own version to little acclaim, but the song became a major hit for Elvis Presley, revita...

Richard Sherman and his brother Robert wrote two hit songs — "Tall Paul" and "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful (And You're Mine)" — before Walt Disney hired them to write exclusively for him. 

In 1965, they won an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film "Mary Poppins." The score included "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "Chim Chim Cher-ee." The lat...

Vocalist and keyboardist Doug Ingle is known for writing Iron Butterfly's iconic rock song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," originally over 17 minutes long. The song, which had only 30 words, turned out to be a happy accident for the band. It reached 30 on Billboard's Hot 100 and the album reached number four on the 200 chart.

You can go to this video to hear the full 1968 version of the song with "CD sound and 3D"...

David Sanborn learned to play the alto sax at age 11; by his early teens, he was  playing in blues clubs. As a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he performed at Woodstock; in the '70s and '80s, he collaborated with such major artists as Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen. 

Sanborn also released his own albums, 17 of which made Billboard's 200 chart, and four reached number two on the jazz chart....