Harry Nilsson

USA, 1962–1994

American singer and songwriter (1941-1994) who almost never toured and wrote for himself rather than an audience. A three-and-a-half-octave range, close multi-tracked harmony and a taste for the maudlin sat inside pop songs on Nilsson Schmilsson and Harry.

MusicRoots documents 6 artists who influenced Harry Nilsson and 1 artist Harry Nilsson influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Harry Nilsson?

• Ray Charles — R&B is what Nilsson followed before he wrote anything — the phrasing under a voice usually described as a pop instrument.
• The Everly Brothers — Nilsson sang in an Everly Brothers-type duo before he recorded, and close two-part harmony stayed the centre of his multi-tracked vocal writing.
• The Coasters — One of the acts Nilsson listened to closely in Los Angeles — the comic narrative song, which he kept.
• Phil Spector — Nilsson's first professional songwriting was done with Spector, who wrote three songs with him in the early 1960s and is described as his mentor.
• The Beatles — Pandemonium Shadow Show is openly indebted to them — its Beatles cover quotes seventeen other Beatles songs, and the Beatles heard it and became his advocates.
• Randy Newman — Nilsson gave a whole album to Newman's songs in 1970, learning a writer's voice by singing nothing else.

Which artists did Harry Nilsson influence?

• Mika — One of the artist-songwriters Mika kept returning to — the model of a pop record built around a voice nobody else has.