William Charles "Buzzy" Linhart (March 3, 1943 – February 13, 2020) was an American rock performer,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, multi-instrumentalist musician and actor.

Early life

Linhart was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. 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. Buzzy had a sister, Abby Linhart, and a brother, Gair Linhart.

Career

In 1963, he moved to New York City and became friends and roommates with John Sebastian. He also became a protégé of the senior guitarist and folk singer Fred Neil. One of his first bands, with fellow musicians Steve De Naut, Serge Katzen, and

Max Ochs Max Ochs (born Maxwell David Ochs in Queens, New York, Dec 31, 1940) is a fingerstyle acoustic guitarist and folklorist who recorded for Takoma Records among other labels. Biography His family moved to Annapolis, Maryland in 1945, where Ochs s ...

, was Seventh Sons, who released a raga-rock LP for

ESP Records ESP-Disk is a New York-based record company and label founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman. History Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, beginning with its second release (Albert Ayler's '' Spiritual Unity''), ESP ...

. 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. Although he entered military service to play in the Navy band, Linhart claimed that during his naval service he was unexpectedly called upon to help fight a fire with inadequate breathing apparatus, causing him chronic lung damage. As a result, Buzz Linhart was decades ahead of his time in objecting to tobacco smoke in the clubs where he wanted to play. A frequent guest of radio host Vin Scelsa, he complained of feeling ill "singin' in the smoke." (source: The Closet, hosted by Vin Scelsa, WFMU 91.1FM, 1967 - 1969) In 1971 Linhart was signed to Eleuthera Records. 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 Phil Ryan (21 October 1946 – 30 April 2016) was a Welsh keyboardist and composer known for his work with Man and Pete Brown. Early career Born in Port Talbot, Ryan played trombone in the National Youth Orchestra, but his rock career starte ...

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 Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul (both of which he frequently covered), and rhythm and blues. He had a rhythmic guitar style ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys Cat Mother and The All Night Newsboys was an American musical group, originally formed in New York and later based in Mendocino, California, most active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. History Cat Mother and The All Night Newsboys was co-foun ...

, and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

(on the ''

Cry of Love ''The Cry of Love'' is a posthumous album by American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Recorded primarily in 1970, it features new material that Hendrix was working on for his planned fourth studio album before his death later t ...

'' 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 was joint composer of "

(You Got To Have) Friends In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

," a collaboration with Mark Moogy Klingman, which became singer

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

's de facto theme song. This was the end of his major label career, but although he never achieved commercial success, Linhart continued to write, record, sing and compose music for many years afterward. Shelley Toscano created a highly acclaimed film documentary, ''Famous: The Buzzy Linhart Story'' ©2006 samechick different dogg productions. 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 Cos, COS, CoS, coS or Cos. may refer to: Mathematics, science and technology * Carbonyl sulfide * Class of service (CoS or COS), a network header field defined by the IEEE 802.1p task group * Class of service (COS), a parameter in telephone sys ...

'', starring Bill Cosby. However, there appears to be little or no surviving footage from the series, unlike the several subsequent Cosby television series.

Illness and death

Linhart suffered a heart attack in May 2018. He died on February 13, 2020.

Discography

*''buzzy'' - ( Philips Records, 1969) *''Music'' - (Eleuthera Records, 1970) *''Jake and the Family Jewels'' - ( Polydor Records 244029, 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

External links

* * * *
Interview from October 2008 with Buzzy and Robert Silverstein, founder of Music Web Express 3000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linhart, Buzzy 1943 births 2020 deaths American rock singers American session musicians Musicians from Pittsburgh American vibraphonists Male actors from Pittsburgh