Remembering Nicolette Larson

She died 12 years ago today. Such a sweet voice. Was married to longtime session drummer, Russ Kunkel, they have a daughter.

I just watched "It''s Gonna Take Alotta Love" on YT the other day. Fantastic song. Also just love Captain and Tenille''s "Do That To Me One More Time". I watched it before Larson, so that''s why I''m thinking about it.
Didn''t know she died. Whahappened?
Got lost on the way to iVillage?
So if you look in my direction\ \ And we don''t see eye to eye\ \ You''ve got an erection\ \ And so do I....
So if you are out there waiting\ \ I hope you show up soon\ \ You know I need fellating\ \ Not stinky poon
She had a brain aneurysm [sic]. I think she also had drug troubles. Sang back-up for Linda Ronstadt, Linda helped her get her record deal. She briefly toured with Commandy Cody and the Lost Airmen - again [sic].
Barks
Larson died on December 16, 1997 in Los Angeles as a result of complications arising from cerebral edema triggered by liver failure. According to her friend Astrid Young, Larson had been showing symptoms of depression and her fatal seizure "was in no small way related to her chronic use of Valium and Tylenol PM".[3]\ \ Larson is buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolette_Larson
Laura Branigan had the brain aneurysm.\ \ From wiki:\ Larson died on December 16, 1997 in Los Angeles as a result of complications arising from cerebral edema triggered by liver failure. According to her friend Astrid Young, Larson had been showing symptoms of depression and her fatal seizure "was in no small way related to her chronic use of Valium and Tylenol PM".[3]
12 years ago?! She was only let go from Desperate Housewives, what, 2 years ago?
Lotta Love was one of the sweetest songs of the 70s.
Rhumba Girl
I still listen to Lotta Love on a regular basis. What a great song.
Larson was an amazingly untalented lead singer. No range, no individuality, no energy. She did well as a background singer because of it. On one of her records, she did a "duet" with Michael McDonald and it really did sound like a McDonald solo with her as a background singer. I think she switched over to country shortly after that. She did do a pretty clever cover of "I Only Want to be with You" but that was more due to some crafty producing.\ \ Experimented with lesbianism in LA and had a home in Echo Park with the butchest looking woman I''ve ever seen.
It''s quite an honor to have the leading nicotine gum named after you.
So three gay(ish) women have done versions of I Only Want To Be With You?
I HATED that song, by god. "Lotta Love" was pablum puke inducing. Sorry that singer died but she was so far down on the list of music I could barely endure. It was like elevator music in hell.
"Lotta Love" had a perfect rollerskating groove to it. In my short shorts, I used to rollerskate throughout Las Vegas in 1979 and peek into hotel bedrooms at people having sex.
This cover is for you R16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELakJxPiieU
Neil
OP is confused.%0D\ %0D\ Larson had a sweet voice. Too bad she wasn''t more popular.
Saw her play Mary Magdalene in a summer stock production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Kansas City''s Starlight Theatre. David Cassidy played Jesus.
You meant, r15, r17.
Tremendous song ("Lotta Love"), and a wonderful, human person she was. She''s missed.\ \ Here''s another one the gay geezers like here at the Mold-O-Sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEfgWPOgYDk
The MellowSound of 98FM
R17 Nicolette''s version technically was the cover. It was Neil Young''s song originally - he wrote it. I think they were involved at the time. She listened to his demo, and he offered her the song. Both recorded it, and I think his album version appeared before her single. I like hers better actually.
My bad.
Hated the Neil Young version, too. I think it is because I had to HEAR it so much for years and years after it came out. That song got ENDLESS radio play back in the day. I also hated Edie Brickell with a passion. "Choke me in the shallow water before I get too deep." Gladly.
I thought Russ Kunkel was married to Cass Elliott''s sister, and later Carly Simon??
Well you can get your Nicolette fix by buying the Knots Landing and Desperate Housewives DVD?
[quote]It''s quite an honor to have the leading nicotine gum named after you.\ \ Yeah, but it''s only sold in Asia.
it was a nice song.
Was she the one with insanely long hair, a la Crystal Gayle?
Lotta Love came out my senior year in high school. Always brings back such memories.
Great production on that song by Ted Templeman who also worked with Doobie Bros. and Little Feat. Sax solo by Andrew Love is classic. I like her duet with Michael McDonald "Let Me Go Love" sometimes heard on lite f.m.
Also she does a great version of Lowell George''s "Trouble" on her best album "In the Nick of Time."
scottina sue
Neil Young is over-rated -- so is James Taylor. And don''t get me started on Joni Mitchell.\ \ Nicolette Larson was OK, but no Emmylou Harris.
Neil Young has written classic tunes, two of which were featured in this summer''s hit film "Eat Pray Love." He''s not overrated. Neither is Joni Mitchell. Nicolette & Linda used to rent a house together in the Hollywood Hills and roll back the carpet in their living room and rollerskate to Elvis Costello songs. This was during the making of "Mad Love."
The song ends terribly. Just peters out when it should have had a more dramatic ending.
It was made for radio and most radio songs have fade out endings.
I agree, R36, but that tended to be the old school way. Now, with automation so widespread in radio, what''s used is a quick 1-2 second fade at the end, which makes for a tight segue with the next thing that plays. \ \ Stations do this by fading the audio at the end when the song is ripped into the computer...or they have the automation trim the track with data markers stored along with the audio file.\ \ Winamp and other players do this automatically if you choose the audio overlap option.\ \ Club DJ''s still appreciate long fades, however.
Yes, she did have long hair but not as long as Crystal Gayle. And yes, Andrew Gold of Linda''s band produced the cover of "Only Wanna Be With You."
Here''s an old Nicolette Larson interview from 1979.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VsFlgLsXns
I miss pop stars like her and Linda who were self effacing and genuinely nice people and didn''t have to provoke and be controversial to garner attention to themselves. Thanks a lot, Madonna!
Barkley
Videos like that at R39 make me nostalgic for the authenticity of the 1970''s. Everything''s so slick now... %0D\ %0D\ I am officially getting old.
J. Alfred Prufrock
And overly produced, and all about the producer and "studio magic." Plus, we didn''t know as much about the singers as we are forced to now. Retaining some mystery is good.
Barkline Vagine
You said it, r41.
what about the other singers who sang with Ronstadt: Rosemary Butler and Valerie Carter? What do we know about them? (Barkley)
Valerie Carter played downtown NYC a couple of summers ago at the Living Room. Didn''t go but heard she was good. She has a website, has released a live cd, but the last studio cd was "The Way It Is" from 97 maybe.
barklina
There''s a current pic of Rosemary Butler somewhere on Linda''s site. She does shows at some cafe in L.A., she doesn''t tour with Jackson Browne anymore I don''t think. She''s gotten fat.
Did Nic have drug probs? I seem to remember that when she died someone said she was in NA and David Crosby was her sponsor?
Whatever happened to Karla Bonoff ? I used to really like her.
Karla still performs occasionally. Not sure if she does albums, she must have a site. Her voice was boring, I did like "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" kind of a hooker''s lament.
Save me, free me from myself this time.
R49%0D\ %0D\ I liked Karla''s version of The Water is Wide.
"Personally" was Karla''s only hit, she also had "Somebody''s Eyes" on the "Footloose" soundtrack, plays when they''re doin'' it at a picnic.
barks
Sound is a bit off, but it''s also a good video.%0D\ %0D\ I loved "Lotta Love," and it''s too bad Nicollette Larson didn''t receive a Grammy nomination for Female Pop Vocal Performance. Wonderful voice. %0D\ %0D\ %0D\ I think there was a lack of good material for Larson - and that''s why her career didn''t take off much thereafter (1979).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXfROqR_p1A&NR=1
Nicolette looked like a gypsy back then. I know she has passed away since then. Shucks, even Rickie Lee Jones looked like a long lost hippie when she came out with "Chuck E''s In Love" in 1979.
Nicolette was first to record "Fallen" the Lauren Wood (lez) song that was a hit from "Pretty Woman." It''s on her best album "In the Nick of Time."
Barks
Valerie Carter''s cover of "Ooh Child" was just amazing. Her career didn''t take off because of her really, really bad heroin problem. She was very unprofessional and lost gigs because of it. Fuck, she even had Prince offering to produce for her because he was so inspired by her singing. After a short while, he gave up and said she just didn''t want to do it.
Val recorded a Prince song on her "Find A River" mini-cd. I guess the heroin explains her recording career gap from late 70s "Wild Child" (which is really excellent) to mid-90s "The Way it Is". Linda Ronstadt had her on tour with her in mid-90s for her "Feels Like Home" tour. They did Neil Young''s "After the Goldrush" - stellar.
Valerie toured with James Taylor a lot and performed on his albums. I think they may have been riding the white horse together.
On Valerie Carter''s debut album, she had SoCal usual suspects: James, Linda, J.D. But she also had tracks produced by Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire with that sound. Very interesting.
Larson was an adequate backup singer, but was not meant to be a solo singer. Her voice as a solo was mediocre.%0D\ %0D\ She had an affair with Neil Young. It ended badly, but he did give her her only hit "Lotta Love."%0D\ %0D\ She was a minor talent. %0D\ %0D
Somebody asked about Karla Bonoff earlier. She''s still married to Robbie Benson. Has been forever. He''s an acting teacher at some university on the east coast. North Carolina I think. Whatever she''s doing, singing or being the housewife, it''s based out of there, which is why the rest of the country never hears of her.
Wrong Karla R61. Robby''s married to the former Karla DiVito, Meat Loaf''s old backup singer.
I just realized that. Never mind. I''d never heard of Karla Bonoff before, which is obviously why I got them mixed up.
R59%0D\ %0D\ Whatever happened to JD Souther ?
JD Souther released a new CD a year or so ago - called ''If the World was You'' - which was quite good (fortunately, as I ended up with two copies by accident!)%0D\ %0D\ Link to his website below...
http://www.jdsouther.net/
By the way, I''m not sure that DataLounge has reported on the recent death of Kenny Edwards.%0D\ %0D\ He had been unwell for some time, then collapsed while on tour with Karla Bonoff, was air-lifted home and died a week or two later.%0D\ %0D\ Apparently Kenny was a very nice and kind man.
Linda Ronstadt had quite a hot and heavy affair with J.D. Souther. Supposedly she was crushed when it ended.
It''s nice to see the Valerie Carter love here, she''s a fave. I love Ooh Child, and the atmospheric Face of Appalachia a lot. Sorry to hear about the smack, destroyer of worlds.
Yes but she did rise like a phoenix to do the first NYC dates she''d done since the 70s a few years back. JD Souther played Iridium the jazz club in Times Square a few months ago.
Just googled Valerie Carter and found out she was arrested for coke & crack possession in Florida a couple years ago. She had to do court ordered rehab and was released, supposedly sober, James Taylor was at her "graduation." She hasn't done much since I suspect.
barkley
barkley - where have you been?
I remember a movie that opened with people roller skating in some vast park as the opening credits rolled on by. The song being played was Larson's "Lotta Love." I have no recollection of the name or even who starred in this movie. It may have been some small independent film. Just remembered that the song fit them all skating perfectly.
She has a pleasant enough voice, with an interesting husk in it at times. But Neil Young's version is so much more plaintive.
I like remembering Nicolette. RIP.
Is she still dead too? What's wrong with these people. Jesus only took three days to rectify his death.
If you miss Nicolette, you can revel in her daughter. Unlike her mom, she actually seems kind of cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHwq_64qbGo
She had one hit, who cares. She's worse than Charlie Dore, at least she wrote Sheena Easton's Strut as well as her own hit.
She did have a second Top 40 record, Let Me Go Love, that charted in 1980.
The%20Billboard%20Chart%20Troll
I'm in my twenties, and obviously have none of the associations that many of you have with the song - roller skating, 'lite F.M.', et cetera. It was one of my favorite songs in high school, though - I'm glad I was able to discover it then, and buy her Greatest Hits album as a result.
Let Me Go Love is a really sweet lovely tune and whoever said it sounds like she is back up for Michael McDonald is right. Isn't JD Souther writing music for the TV show Nashville now?
Yes he is and he has a new album and is currently touring. I don't like the songs on that "Nashville" show, at least the ones I heard when I watched 1 and 1/2 episode of it. Yeesh, it sucks! I've been getting into Andrew Gold's stuff, "Heartaches in Heartaches", & "Endless Flight" which Leo Sayer covered on his hit album of the same name. Really brilliant production, melodies, vocals...he was a major talent and I guess involved with Nic. His mom Marni is still alive and he has two daughters. His version of "Thank You For Being A Friend" is so much more layered, heartfelt and complex than the "Golden Girls" version.
he%20deserves%20a%20musical