Buzzy Linhart

Buzzy Linhart
Born William Linhart
(1943-03-03) March 3, 1943
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation Musician, Actor

William Linhart (born March 3, 1943), better known as Buzzy Linhart, is an American rock performer, composer, multi-instrumentalist musician and actor.

Early life

Linhart was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he began playing percussion for symphony at the age of seven, switching to vibraphone at ten. At fourteen he entered the Cleveland Music School Settlement. Because of this training he led bands all through school and at the age of 18 entered the U.S. Navy School of Music as a percussionist.

Career

In 1963, he moved to New York City and became friends and roommates with John Sebastian. He also became a protégé to the senior guitarist and folk singer Fred Neil. One of his first bands, with fellow musicians Steve De Naut, Serge Katzen, and Max Ochs, was Seventh Sons, who released a raga-rock LP for ESP Records. Linhart later released a series of solo albums from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s starting with his Philips debut buzzy (the title with a small "b") in 1969.

In 1971 Linhart was signed to Eleuthra Records.[1] Although closely associated with the Greenwich Village folk-rock scene for much of his career, he recorded that first complete solo album in London and Wales with the Welsh prog-rock band Eyes of Blue serving as the backing band.

His skill on the vibraphone led to work as a session musician on recordings by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Richie Havens, Carly Simon, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, and Jimi Hendrix (on the Cry of Love album and he is credited on Electric Ladyland). In 2005 he recorded "Mr. Cool" on the CD Life Goes On, with Monica Dupont and Gary Novak.

Linhart is joint composer of "(You Got To Have) Friends," a collaboration with Mark "Moogy" Klingman, which became singer Bette Midler's de facto theme song. This was the end of his major label career, but although he never achieved commercial success, Linhart has continued to write, record, sing and compose music to this day.

Linhart had significant visibility as an actor in the mid-1970s. He also achieved some notoriety from his appearance in the opening sequence of the cult movie The Groove Tube, as a hippie hitchhiker. He was also a regular on the 1976 television show Cos, starring Bill Cosby.[2] However, there appears to be little or no surviving footage from the series, unlike the several subsequent Cosby television series.

Discography

  • buzzy - (Philips Records, 1969)
  • Music - (Eleuthera Records, 1970)
  • The Time to Live is Now - (Kama Sutra Records, 1971)
  • Buzzy (The Black Album) - (Kama Sutra Records, 1972)
  • Pussycats Can Go Far - (Atco Records, 1974)
  • "Tornado" - (Accord Records, 1981)
  • Four Sides of Buzzy Linhart - 4-song EP (Caromar Records, 1982)
  • The Buzzy/Moogy Sessions: 1983-1994 - (Moogy Music, 2000)
  • Buzzy Linhart Loves You: Classic Recordings - (Razor & Tie, 2001)
  • Studio - (BuzzArt Inc., 2006)
  • Electric Lady Dream - (BuzzArt Inc., 2012)
  • Live Cafe Au Go Go (1971) - (BuzzArt Inc., 2013)
  • Peace in the Country (unplugged) - (BuzzArt Inc., 2015)

References

  1. ↑ "Talent in Action". Billboard. 13 March 1971. pp. 28–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  2. ↑ "Cos (1976– ) Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.


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