History of America still being written
Veteran band comes to Stranahan Thursday
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Three sons of U.S. servicemen living in England who shared a love of British rock and the Beach Boys formed a folkpop trio named America and became one of the biggest bands on either side of the Atlantic.
That’s the short version of America’s chapter in pop-music history, and it doesn’t follow the usual rock and roll outline. The book is still being written for this veteran band, which comes to town for a concert Thursday night at the Stranahan Theater.
Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek first teamed up in 1967 when they were students at Central High School in London.
For the first few years the trio played cover tunes and had no dreams of gold records or radio hits, Beckley said from a tour stop in Charleston, W.Va.
“We were a high school band playing Top 40 stuff,” he said. “I don’t want to say
there was no magic because we had a lot of fun doing that stuff. But when we got
out of high school and started playing original material, I think there was something
special right from the start.”
After developing their acoustic-rock sound in 1970, the trio quickly became a
hit on the London club circuit, opening for such big names as Elton John and the Who. They landed a record deal with Warner Bros. and the group's first single, "A Horse with No Name," burst out of the gate, reaching No. 3 on the British charts and then, three months later, hitting No. 1 in America.
"The album and single came out a little later in the States than in England, so we were a little bit primed for a club tour in America," Beckley said. "But the song just caught fire. Both the album and the single went to No. 1."
Beckley, who was only 19 at the time, said that hearing their first single on the radio everywhere they went on their first U.S. tour was an incredible experience, but it also was hard to put things into perspective.
"It's not that we expected such success, but when you're kids and you record an album you hope it does well. It really was crazy. But it was a wonderful time," he said. "The label, of course, was just ecstatic. They said, 'Do you realize what you've done?' We had nothing to compare it to. We hadn't had three or four letdowns. This was our first release."
"A Horse with No Name" was written by Bunnell, who sang lead on the tune, and the band's next hit was the slow, romantic ballad "I Need You," penned and sung by Beckley.
The change in singers and styles helped get America off to a solid start for long-term success, Beckley said.
"It set the stage very well for us because right away we established that we could have a different singer and a different style," he said. "We didn't have to put the whole trajectory of the band on Dewey's shoulders. And we followed it shortly after with Dan's single, 'Don't Cross the River.' So it helped us share the load. There was not just one singer or songwriter, but we could bat it back and forth, and it helped us divvy it up."
The group's self-titled debut album earned a 1973 Grammy Award for best new artist, and America's second LP, "Homecoming," quickly earned gold record status for sales of more than 500,000 copies.
Beckley said that in the early years, all three members of the band were consumed with America, from songwriting and recording to touring and performing.
"Music was our entire life. If you are fortunate enough to have some success, then the other parts of life's puzzles come into play - being a husband, having a family, being in relationships," he said. "So if you do succeed, you start getting distracted and challenged by your success. You're no longer worrying about what chord to put on the next song, you're worrying about what color leather to get in the Mercedes."
People often said they wished they had his kind of problems, according to Beckley, but although he wasn't complaining, the reality was that "a lot of artistic energy comes from being connected to the heart and mind." The trappings of fame and fortune can sap that creativity and energy, he said.
When the group's third album, "Hat Trick," achieved only moderate success, topping out at No. 28 on the U.S. charts and yielding just one chart single, "Muskrat Love" - their first single that was not an original America composition - Warner Bros. decided to bring in a heavyweight producer for the next album.
George Martin, the legendary studio genius who had worked with the Beatles, was entrusted with saving America.
"We worked with George on seven albums but I group all of those together as really one of the big highlights of my career," Beckley said. "George Martin is a wonderful guy and we stay in touch to this day. He's 82 now and just won a Grammy for the Vegas production of 'Love' with his son. He came to our latest show in London. It was a wonderful time working with him."
The group's first collaboration with Martin was "Holiday," which became a gold record and produced the hit singles "Tin Man" and "Lonely People," helping to re-establish America's status at the top of the music world.
"George is quite openly on record saying that financially he did much better with America than he did with the Beatles," Beckley said. "It was only when they did the [Beatles] `Anthology' deal that they restructured his contract. With America he had a good deal financially from the start."
During the Martin years, America found itself in the midst of a streak in which the title of all its albums started with the letter "H": "Homecoming," "Hearts," "History," "Hideaway," and "Harbor."
"It started by accident," Beckley said. "After three we realized there was a streak there, so we made a conscious effort, just for the heck of it, to keep it going. It was never anything deeper than that, and it helped us narrow down the choices and kind of became a challenge."
It was after "Harbor" that Peek quit the band, a move that Beckley said was difficult but for the good of all concerned.
"When Dan left, he had been going through a lot of personal issues that were very, very troubling for him and which made it hard for the band to work," he said. "We couldn't commit to touring, we couldn't commit to recording. It jeopardized the band. So as much as it was destructive to the triangular structure where we were at the time, it freed Dewey and I up. It was a huge weight off our shoulders."
The split allowed America to continue as a duo and gave Peek a chance to "sort things out," Beckley said.
Peek turned his life around and became a born-again Christian and began making albums for the Christian market.
Beckley said there never has been a reunion with Peek, but the third original America member joined him once for an encore at a concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Other than that, the musicians have not kept in touch.
"We haven't spoken to him in over 20 years," Beckley said.
In September, America released another "H" album, "Here & Now," a two-disc set released by Burgundy Records and the band's first studio recording in nine years.
It features production by the unlikely duo of James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins and Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, who co-own the New York City studio where the discs were recorded, and guest appearances by Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, and members of Nada Surf.
The album comprises a dozen new original tunes and a dozen updates of classic hits that reflect the way the songs - and America - have evolved over the decades.
America will be in concert at 8 p.m. Thursday with the Toledo Symphony at the Stranahan Theater. Tickets range from $25 to $65, available from the Toledo Symphony, 419-246-8000, or online at www.toledosymphony.com.
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Contact David Yonke at: dyonke@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.
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