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Kenny Loggins
Pop singer, songwriter

Michael Jackson may be the king of pop, but the media have often crowned Kenny Loggins the king of the movie soundtrack. It would be difficult to remember the Tom Cruise smash hit Top Gun without humming "Danger Zone" at the same time. However, Loggins's movie music career actually accounts for only a small portion of his pop-rock past. Beginning with a $100 per week job writing music for others, and peaking with platinum albums and Grammy Awards, Loggins has continued to write and perform music that people like to hum.

Loggins was born January 7, 1948, in Everett, Washington. His love of music became evident when he began playing the guitar at age 12. His father was a salesman, and the family also lived in Seattle and Detroit before moving to California. Loggins knew by the time he was in high school that he wanted a career in music. He even had trouble studying for final exams in his senior year because he was busy writing the song "House at Pooh Corner." Twenty-eight years later, Return to Pooh Corner—a children's album—became one of his best-selling records.

When Loggins was attending Pasadena City College, he was a member of a folk group, and later joined a rock group called Gator Creek. Gator Creek did some recording for Mercury, but Loggins later joined another band called Second Helping. By 1969, when Loggins was 21, he quit Second Helping to take a steady job in Los Angeles, writing music for a publishing company called Milk Money. The job proved to be a launching pad for his very successful career. While working as a writer, he toured with members of the Electric Prunes, and then met the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Later, a family friend who was an employee of Columbia thought that Loggins might be good enough to record a solo album. That friend, Don Ellis, introduced Loggins to Jim Messina. Loggins's pop-rock career success began after that introduction.

Jim Messina was a guitarist for the band Poco and then the band Buffalo Springfield. He never intended to become a part of a musical duo; he just wanted to produce a few acts for Columbia. He liked the songs Loggins wrote for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and in 1971, decided to take on Loggins as his first project. After Loggins signed for Columbia, Messina began working with him on a new album. The two decided that the songs sounded best when they played together, and they decided to record the album as a duo. Thus, "Loggins and Messina" was born.

Their first album in 1972 was appropriately called Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In-what Messina assumed he was doing. They didn't break up until 1976, seven albums later. Three of the albums went platinum, the other four were gold. The duo produced several hits. The first album went platinum with hits like "Danny's Song" and "Vahevala." The platinum follow-up album, Loggins and Messina, (no more "sittin' in"), yielded the songs "Your Mama Don't Dance" and "Thinking of You." The next album, Full Sail, also went platinum in 1973. The next four albums went gold, but were discouraging. After they broke up in 1976, two more albums were released, a greatest hits, called Best of Friends, and a live album, called Finale.

Loggins did not wait long to release his first solo effort, Celebrate Me Home. The album sold over a million copies in 1977, as did the follow-up album Nightwatch. The popular song from Nightwatch was "Whenever I Call You Friend," sung with Stevie Nicks. That song reached number five on the pop charts and sealed Loggins's reputation for being optimistic, even cheerful, in his songwriting. Keep the Fire went platinum in 1979 and included a favorite sports anthem, "This Is It." In 1981 Loggins won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal for "This Is It." Loggins had already won his first Grammy in 1980 for cowriting the Song of the Year, "What a Fool Believes," with the Doobie Brothers.

In 1985 Loggins tried his hand at producing his own album, Vox Humana. Ralph Novak of People commented, "Loggins is as polished as they come in the pop-rock business, with a precision and versatility that save him from ever being bad." Loggins's wife at the time, Eva Ein, helped to write some of the songs on the album. Vox Humana sold poorly and Loggins waited three years before releasing Back to Avalon in 1988.

Loggins's next album, Leap of Faith, was released in 1991. About this time, his music had shifted from Pop-Rock to New Age to Adult Contemporary. A Stereo Review critic remarked, "With little more than his positive, spiritual attitude and supple falsetto to lead the way, it may take a leap of faith, indeed, for his audience, New Age or otherwise, to follow." Leap of Faith was a very personal album for Loggins, with songs about his children and about his divorce with wife Eva. It also contained a song about the planet, "Conviction of the Heart," which marked the beginning of Loggins's public concern for the environment.

Loggins followed Leap of Faith with a live album called Outside: From the Redwoods. That album yielded a concert video tape with the same name, aired by the Public Broadcast Network in 1993. Loggins was not new to television. The previous year he had a TV special called "This Island Earth" for the Disney Channel. That special earned him a Cable Ace Award and two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Song and Outstanding Achievement in Writing. In 1994 Loggins released Return to Pooh Corner with a concert videotape that included interview segments. Loggins explained to Billboard why he made the children's record. He said, "I wanted to create an atmosphere for bedtime that was also listenable to me as a dad."

Loggins started making songs for movie soundtracks in the early 1980s. The first, "I'm Alright," was for the movie Caddyshack. "I'm Alright" made it to number seven on the pop charts. Next came songs for the Footloose soundtrack: "I'm Free (Heaven Help the Man)" and "Footloose," which topped the pop chart in 1984. "Forever" from Vox Humana was written for a short film called Access All Areas. His next big movie hit was "Danger Zone" from Top Gun. "Danger Zone" made it to number two in 1986. The movie Over the Top, with Sylvester Stallone, yielded the top 20 hit "Meet Me Halfway." "Nobody's Fool" from the movie Caddyshack II reached the top ten in 1988. In 1996 Loggins earned rave reviews, an Oscar nomination, and a live appearance on the Academy Award show for his song "For the First Time" from the One Fine Day soundtrack.

In March of 1997 Loggins released Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow—The Greatest Hits of Kenny Loggins. Along with all of Loggins's chart topping hits, there was a new song on the album called "The Rest of Your Life." In the liner notes, Loggins wrote, "This song is a centerpiece from the upcoming album The Unimaginable Life. I consider this project to be the most ambitious, artistic undertaking of my career." Loggins and his second wife Julia wrote a book called The Unimaginable Life, and the album The Unimaginable Life is "a soundtrack for the book," to quote Loggins's words. The book and the album were released simultaneously in July of 1997. Loggins recorded the album at his home studio in Santa Barbara, California, so he could be with his wife and four children.

Loggins released December in 1998, a holiday album covering classics like Irvin Berlin's "White Christmas" and originals like the title cut. He was joined by David Crosby and Graham Nash on the traditional "Coventry Carol." Next, Loggins issued More Songs From Pooh Corner, a children's album. The album's eclectic selection featured Randy Newman's "That'll Do" from Babe, Pig in the City, and Paul McCartney and John Lennon's "Good Night." In 2001 Columbia Records issued The Essential Kenny Loggins, a career retrospective featuring over 35 songs, including his best-known hits, followed in 2003 by It's About Time, an album that included a collaboration between Loggins and country music singer Clint Black on "Alive 'N' Kickin'."

Following the release of the compilation The Best of Loggins and Messina: Sittin' In Again in 2005, Loggins re-teamed with ex-partner Jim Messina for a number of concert dates. The same year, the duo released Live: Sittin' in Again at Santa Barbara Bowl, documenting one of the early shows. "It's a warm, friendly show, with just the right amount of slickness," wrote Stephen Thomas Erlewine in All Music Guide. While Loggins enjoyed the shows and a chance to revisit old material, he soon felt constricted by the format. "I found myself playing 30-year-old music night after night," he told Gary Budzak in the Columbus Dispatch, "and was dying to put new material into the show."

In 2006 Loggins added a fresh element to his songs, performing with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Ohio. "It's a nice change of pace," he told Budzak, "and the audience loves it. And I've got so much material that lends itself to the symphonic approach that it's really fun to do."

Loggins is well known for his environmental efforts and applauds the environmental groups who try to make a difference. Loggins lectures informally on the joy of spiritual growth and relationships. One line from "The Rest of Your Life" is "Oh I believe there's a god watching over me." He must believe that someone up there likes him, but his success has proved that he also appeals to many down here. Loggins continues to inspire a large audience and he created enough music to please them all.

Selected discography

With Jim Messina on Columbia Records
Loggins and Messina, 1972.Full Sail, 1973.On Stage (Live), 1974.Mother Lode 1974.So Fine, 1975.Native Sons, 1976.Best of Friends (Collection), 1977.Finale (Live), 1977.The Best of Loggins and Messina: Sittin' In Again, Rhino, 2005.
Solo albums; on Columbia Records, except where noted
Celebrate Me Home, 1977.Nightwatch, 1978.Keep the Fire, 1979.Kenny Loggins Alive (Live), 1980.High Adventure, 1982.Vox Humana, 1985.Back to Avalon, 1988.Leap of Faith, 1991.Outside: From the Redwoods, 1993.Return to Pooh Corner, Sony Wonder, 1994.Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow—The Greatest Hits of Kenny Loggins, Sony, 1997.The Unimaginable Life, Sony, 1997.December, Sony, 1998.More Songs From Pooh Corner, Columbia, 2000.It's About Time, All the Best, 2003.

Soundtracks
Caddyshack (includes "I'm Alright"), 1980.Footloose, 1984.Top Gun, CBS, 1986.Over the Top, 1987.Caddyshack II, 1988.One Fine Day, 1996.
Albums with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Make a Little Magic, 1980.Jealousy, 1981.Let's Go, 1982.
With Others
Gator Creek, Mercury, 1970.(With Sanford & Townsend) Sanford & Townsend Band, 1976.(With Sanford & Townsend) Smoke from a Distant Fire, 1976.(With Phoebe Snow) Never Letting Go, 1977.(With Pages) Future Street, 1979.(With Max Gronenthal) Whistling in the Dark, 1979.(With Bill Champlin) Runaway, 1981.(With Michael McDonald) If That's What It Takes, 1982.(With Donna Summer) Donna Summer, 1982.(With Don Felder) Airborne, 1983.(With Graham Nash) Innocent Eyes, 1986.Child's Celebration of Song, 1992.(With the Winans) All Out, 1993.(With Benoit Freeman Project) Benoit Freeman Project, 1994.
Sources
Books
The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, edited by Patricia Romanowski, Fireside, 1995.

Periodicals
Billboard, December 21, 1996; February 22, 1997.
Columbus Dispatch, July 22, 2006.
Entertainment Weekly, August 20, 1993.
People, May 6, 1985; September 26, 1988.
Publishers Weekly, May 16, 1994; July 15, 1996.
Rolling Stone, November 3, 1988.
Stereo Review, January, 1992.

Online
"Kenny Loggins," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com/ (November 9, 2006).
Additional information for this profile was obtained from Columbia Media Department press material, 1997, and liner notes by Kenny Loggins to Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow—The Greatest Hits of Kenny Loggins, 1997. Information for this profile was also provided by the Internet website http://www.kennyloggins.com.

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