Harry Nilsson's Debut Years 1963-67: The Songwriter (Part 2)

While Harry Nilsson had not released any true album yet, he had already written songs for close to 20 different singers or groups... which confirmed his writing talent in addition to his incredible voice that led him to be the great singer he was… and one of the most covered singer-songwriters ever! (incl.: H. Belafonte, E. Fitzgerald, Liza Minelli, B. Streisand, Ringo Starr, Fred Astaire, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, M. Faithful & many more) ... not inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame yet !!!

This video was produced by Nilsson’s music enthusiasts as a tribute to his great singing & songwriting talent during the 25th Anniversary Year of his passing. We post weekly memories on social networks. This "Week 6" video is the third one among four videos covering his Debut Years from 1963 to 1967, and the second one in a series of three on his songwriting early experience. This 'Part 2' mostly tells the story about his first experience of working with the famous Phil Spector from mid-1965 to early 1966, as well as his work at Rock Music Co. together with Perry Botkin, Jr, and George Tipton, during this pivotal year of 1966.

No copyright infringement is intended. Only very short songs’ excerpts were included. If any excerpt or other media comes from copyrighted material, it was included in the spirit of a fair use only to support comments on historical events in relation to the original productions, with full credit to the original work clearly and simultaneously indicated in the video as well as in references at the end of the video and here below. Also, being a iMovie video, it includes iMovie/iTunes shareable soundtracks called "Narrative" and "Spy".

All excerpts in this video (Part 2) are songs written or co-written by Harry Nilsson (except one Johnny Cole's song), mostly in 1965 and 1966, listed below:

Songs solely written by Harry Nilsson and performed by himself: "Growin’ up*" & "Do You Believe*" and "Good Times**" (last performed together with The New Salvation Singers) (all 3, Rock Music Co., 1965, Tower Records). See more of Harry's written & performed songs in Week 3 video about "Harry, The Singer".

Songs solely written by Harry Nilsson sung by other singers: "Countin' " Mike Clifford (Rock Music Co., 1965, Cameo Records 1966) and "Baby, It's Over**" Debbie Burton (Rock Music Co., 1966, Capitol Records)

Co-written songs (and/or co-composed music) with Phil Spector sung by other singers: "This Could Be The Night" The Modern Folk Quartet, as well as "Paradise" and "Here I Sit" both performed by The Ronettes. All recorded at the Gold Star Studios in October 1965, engineered by Larry Levine and arranged by Jack Nitzsche, released in UK in 1976 (Phil Spector Wall of Sound Vol. 5 & 6, Rare Masters 1 & 2) and in US in 1991 for the first two (Back to Mono, ABKCO) and 1992 for the third (The Best of The Ronettes, ABKCO) (All by Phil Spector Records)

Co-written songs with Perry Botkin, Jr, performed by other singers: "Paradise" The Ronettes (see details above), "Paradise" The Shangri-Las (Rock Music Co., Shadow Morton prod., Arr. Artie Butler, Red Bird 1966), "Headlines" The Sunday Funnies (Rock Music Co., Capitol Records 1966) ("Paradise" & "Headlines" are also cowritten with Gil Garfield) and "The Next Day**" Debbie Burton (Rock Music Co., 1966, Capitol Records)

Co-written song with Scott Turner in 1963 and performed by Slim Whitman: "A Travelin' Man" ("A Travelin' Man" album, Liberty-E.M.I. Records, 1966)

Co-written song with John Marascalco, sung by H. Nilsson: "Born in Grenada*" (Robin Hood Music, Tower Records, 1965).

Co-written song with John Marascalco, sung by Buster and James: "Count The Tears" (Robin Hood Music co., Cee-Jam Records, 1965)

Co-written song with J.R. Shanklin (or Sebastian Stores as in copyright) sung by H. Nilsson: "She's Yours*" (Rock Music Co., Tower Records, 1965)

Co-written song with Johnny Cole: "Headlines" The Sunday Funnies (Rock Music Co., Capitol Records 1966) and "Let Me Go" Pat & Andre (Rock Music Co., Dick Glasser prod., Arr. Gene Page, Warner Bros Records 1966). Also, written solely by Johnny Cole: "The Path that Leads to Trouble**" The New Salvation Singers feat. Harry Nilsson (Tower Records, 1965)

(*) Arranged by George Tipton
(**) Arranged by Perry Botkin, Jr

Here are some references of much wider informative material on Harry Nilsson's life and music:
Main Biography: "Nilsson, The Life of a Songwriter" Alyn Shipton (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Main documentary film: "Who’s Harry Nilsson (and why is everybody talking’ about him)?" John Scheinfeld (Lorber Film, 2010)
Phil Spector's book: "Back to Mono (1958-1969)" Phil Spector (ABKCO Music, Inc; © 1991 ABKCO Records)