Musicians

La Toya Jackson

Bill Thompson
Photo: Greg Hernandez

She was born into what would become one of America’s most famous music families.

La Toya Jackson is the fifth, and middle, child in the Jackson family. Less well-known than the Jackson Five or little brother Michael, La Toya carved out her own place in pop culture, as a singer and songwriter.

But little by little America learned about the private side of the Jackson family, the side the fan magazines didn’t want to write about. It was a a story of domestic abuse.

I met La Toya in 1992, after her bestselling memoir “La Toya” was published.

So here now, from 1992, La Toya Jackson.

La Toya Jackson will be 65 later this month. Her last music release was an EP album in 2011.

Glen Campbell

Bill Thompson
Photo: Capitol Records

He was the kid from a small town in Arkansas who grew up to become a country and western superstar.

Born in 1936, Glen Campbell first took up the guitar as a young boy. By the time he was in his twenties, he was an in-demand studio musician in Los Angeles, recording with some of the biggest names of the day.

He broke out as a solo artist in the mid-’60s, and had his first big hit — “Gentle on My Mind” — in 1967.

Then came more chart-toppers: “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”.. “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife” .. “Wichita Lineman” ..”Galveston” .. “Rhinestone Cowboy”.. and “Southern Nights.”

He also had his own very popular TV variet show.

But in his personal life, there was also serious substance abuse.

In 1994, Glen Campbell wrote his memoir, a book he called Rhinestone Cowboy. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1994, Glen Campbell

Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2011. He died in 2017. He was 81.

Lionel Hampton

Bill Thompson

When you begin to list the greatest American Jazz percussionists of all time, near the top of that list has to be the great Vibe the harpist and drummer Lionel Hampton.

In a career that began in the 1920s, when he was a teenager, Lionel Hampton rose to primnence in the jazz community, playing alongside such names as Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman.

Later, Hampton became a bandleader himself.

He wrote a memoir in 1989, and that’s what I met him

So here now, from 1989, the great Lionel Hampton.

Lionel Hampton died in 2002. He was 94.

Sonny Bono

Bill Thompson

Long before she was a successful solo act, Cher was half of Sonny and Cher.

Perhaps no married couple in music was popular in the mid-’60s as Sonny and Cher. Sonny Bono wrote hit songs like I’ve Got You, Babe and The Beat Goes On,

Eventually, they even had their own television variety show.

Sonny and Cher went their separate ways in the early ’70s. Sonny became interested in politics, and bwas elected mayor of Palm Springs, California in 1988. And he was elected to Congress in 1992.

I met him in 1991, when he wrote a memoir.

So here now, from 1991, Sonny Bono:

Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident in 1998 at the age of 62

Ronnie Spector

Bill Thompson

They may have called her “the original ‘bad girl of rock and roll’,” but Ronnie Spector was nothing but nice to me, when I met her in 1990.

Spectre was the lead singer in the ’60s girl-group The Ronettes. Their big hit, of couse, was “Be My Baby.” but of course there were others, too.

But Ronnie Spector was also Mrs. Phil Spector. And we get into that a little bit, in this interview.

So here now, from 1990, Ronnie Spector.

Ronnie Spector is 77 now. Her most recent album was released in 2016. She lives in Connectiocut.

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Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight

Bill Thompson
Gladys Knight in 1974. Photo: CBS Television

Midnight Plane to Houston?

Doesn’t sound quite right, does it? And in her 1997 memoir, singer Gladys Knight told the story of how it became the Midnight Train to Georgia.

And in this interview you’re about to hear, she also tells about the connection that Danny Thomas has to another classic Gladys Knight and the Pips song.

So here now, from 1997, Gladys Knight:

Gladys Knight is now 76 years old.

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Skidmore
Photo: Kingkongphoto

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Kitty Carlisle Hart

Bill Thompson

Regular listeners of Now I’ve Heard Everything know that I don’t often get starstruck. But this was one of those times.

If you grew up in the ’60s, as I did, you may best remember Kitty Carlisle as a panelist on the game show “To Tell the Truth.” But her acting career went back many decades before that.

In fact, Kitty Carlisle was a featured performer in the 1935 Marx Brothers classic “A Night at the Opera.”

In 1988, Kitty Carlisle Hart Road an autobiography. That’s what I met her.

So here now, from 1988, Kitty Carlisle Hart:

Kitty Carlisle Hart died in 2007 at age 96.

Graham Nash

Bill Thompson

Graham Nash is actually in the Rock and Roll Hal;l of Fame twice – once as a member of the ’60s pop group The Hollies, and again for his work as a member of Crosby Stills and Nash.

Graham Nash with Bill and Hillary Thompson

Nash been an icon in pop and rock music for decades — and in 2002, he puboished a book about some of the best-known and most iconic songs of our time,

It was called “Off the Record,” and I met Graham Nash when he was on tour promoting that book.

You’ll be humming tunes for hours after hearing this interview.

And .. I also brought my wife Hillary with me that day. You may hear her off-mike a coupole of times…

So here now, from 2002, Graham Nash:

Graham Nash will be 79 in February. He lives in New York.

Isaac Hayes

Bill Thompson

It’s Celebrity Cookbook Week here on Now I’ve Heard Everything. We continue today with a man who my younge listeners may kknow best for his work on South Park.

Photo: William Henderson darkfiber22

But for decades, Isaac Hayes was a major figure in the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he was a songwriter, a session musician and record a producer

I met him 20 years ago, when he published a cookbook that brought together some of his own favorite family recipes, plus those of dozens of celebrities.

So here now, from 2000, Isaac Hayes.

Isaac Hayes died in 2008 just days before his 66th birthday.

Cissy Houston

Bill Thompson

In the music business, backup singers often fade into the background. Few achieve much fame on their own. One who did was Cissy Houston.

Photo: Kingkongphotohttp://www.celebrity-photos.com

After a successful career backing up the likes of Elvis Preslet, Dionne Warick, and Aretha Franklin, Houston struck out on her own — and won two Grammies.

I met Cissy Houston in the spring of 1998, after she’d written her memoir.

So here now, from 1998i, Cissy Houston:

Cissy Houston is now 87 amd still performs. She leads the 200-member Youth Inspirational Choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey.