Harry Nilsson

Singer / Songwriter

Harry Nilsson worked at a bank and wrote songs on the side, mostly jingles and pop tunes in the mid-1960s. Under contract with RCA, his first record was a flop, but it yielded hits for The Monkees and Three Dog Night. In the late 1960s Nilsson was everywhere: pal to the Beatles (especially John and Ringo); singer of "Everybody's Talkin'," the theme to the movie Midnight Cowboy (1969); singer of the theme to the TV show The Courtship of Eddie's Father; composer of the soundtrack to the animated movie The Point (with its hit single "Me and My Arrow"); and singer of the number one hit, "Without You." Nilsson had great vocal range and a pop sensibility that was at turns lyrical and whimsical. He released records in the mid-70s and '80s, but he was no health nut and no stranger to alcohol. He died of an apparent heart attack in 1994.

Extra credit: Nilsson's apartment in London is where Mama Cass died, and where The Who's Keith Moon died.