Kenny Loggins

Template:Infobox musical artist 2

Kenny Loggins (born Kenneth Clark Loggins on January 7, 1948 in Everett, Washington) is an American singer and songwriter best known for a number of soft rock and adult contemporary hit singles beginning in the 1970s. Originally a part of the duo Loggins and Messina, he has also recorded as solo artist and written hit songs for other artists.

Biography

Loggins was born in Everett, Washington, and raised in Alhambra, California. His early 20s found him in the band Gator Creek with Mike Deasy. An early version of "Danny's Song" (later recorded by Loggins and Messina) was included on an effort on Mercury Records. Two covers are featured as well, Jackson Browne's "These Days" and "Don't Try to Lay no Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll" which was made famous by Long John Baldry.

Loggins continued his career in the 1970s. After attracting the attention of fellow singer-songwriter Jim Messina, the two began a duo career as Loggins and Messina. It lasted until 1976. In 1977 Loggins went on to produce his first solo album, Celebrate Me Home, which included the hit "I Believe In Love," originally sung by Barbra Streisand in A Star is Born (1976)Nightwatch, a popular album released in 1978, included the hit "Whenever I Call You Friend", a duet with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. He followed this in 1979 with Keep the Fire In 1982 he recorded the album "High Adventure," on which he collaborated with Michael McDonald on "Heart to Heart" and also with Journey lead singer Steve Perry to record "Don't Fight It", both Billboard Top 20 hits that year.

Loggins also wrote the song "What a Fool Believes" with Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers. Over the next decade, Loggins recorded many hit songs for movie soundtracks. This began with "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack. Hits followed with "Footloose" and "I'm Free (Heaven Help this Man)" from Footloose, "Meet Me Halfway" from Over the Top, "Danger Zone" and "Playin' With The Boys", from Top Gun. Loggins also performed "Nobody's Fool" from the movie Caddyshack 2. He also performed as a member of USA for Africa on the famine-relief fundraising single We Are the World.

In the 1990s, Loggins continued his album career, including the popular 1994 children's album Return to Pooh Corner, which included the title single, a reworking of "House at Pooh Corner" written for his newborn song Luke In 1991, Loggins recorded and produced Leap of Faith, an important album in his career featuring the hit "Conviction of the Heart." Former vice president Al Gore billed this song as "the unofficial anthem of the environmental movement." On Earth Day in 1995, Loggins performed at The National Mall in Washington, D.C. for a live audience of 500,000.

Loggins married Julia Cooper in 1992 and the couple divorced in 2004. They had two children together. Previously, Loggins had been married to Eva Ein (1978-1990) with whom he had three children. The oldest is named Crosby Loggins, who cut his first CD in 2007 entitled We All Go Home. In 2008 Crosby Loggins was a participant on an MTV reality show called Rock The Cradle.

In recent years Kenny Loggins has continued to record and produce within the Adult Contemporary genre and scored a No. 1 single on Billboard's AC chart in 1997 with "For The First Time." (the Oscar nominated song from One Fine Day)

In 2005, Loggins reconnected with Jim Messina. The two decided to hit the road again; the result was a successful nationwide tour that resulted in the CD and DVD "Loggins and Messina Sittin' In Again."

After a gap of nearly four years, 2007 saw Loggins join start-up label 180 Music for the release of his "How About Now" album. It also saw him inducted into Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard RockWalk.^[1]

Discography

References

^ Kenny Loggins Inducted Into RockWalk. Associated Press. March 9, 2007.

External links

[1] Kenny Loggins Inducted Into RockWalk. Associated Press. March 9, 2007.

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