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Cory Wells (born Emil Lewandowski; February 5, 1941 – October 20, 2015) was an American singer, best known as one of the three lead vocalists in the band
Three Dog Night Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, founded by vocalists Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and Danny Hutton. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup (guitar), and Floyd Sn ...
.


Early life

Wells came from a musical family and began playing in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
-area bands in his teens. His biological father, who was married to someone other than his mother, died when Cory was a small child, leaving his mother to struggle financially until she eventually married. She gave Cory her birth surname, although Cory eventually changed his surname to Wells (a shortened version of his birth father's surname, Wellsley). His full stage name "Cory Wells" was suggested by The Enemys' first manager, Gene Jacobs, who had a son named Cory. Having survived childhood in a low-income, blue-collar neighborhood and an even more brutal home environment fueled by an abusive stepfather, this according to manager Joel Cohen's band biography, ''Three Dog Night And Me,'' Wells joined the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
directly out of high school. While in the Air Force, he formed a band of interracial musical performers, inspired by his boyhood love of a similar popular band called The Del-Vikings, who had a national hit with the
doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...
song, " Come Go with Me".


Career

Following his military tour of duty, Wells returned to Buffalo and was asked to join a band named the Vibratos. Gene Jacobs, the brother-in-law of the Vibratos guitar player, Mike Lustan, suggested to him that the Vibratos travel to California if they were serious about making it in music. They took his advice and changed the name of the band to " The Enemys." They soon began working the clubs in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Sacramento, and they became the
house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...
at the
Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed The Whisky) is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boulev ...
. They were also featured in the television shows ''
The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor backwoods family ...
'', '' Burke's Law'', '' Riot on Sunset Strip'', and the film '' Harper'', with Paul Newman. While at the Whisky a Go Go,
Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
asked the band to tour with
Sonny & Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of spouses Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as rhythm and blues, R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. ...
. It was on this tour that Wells met
Danny Hutton Daniel Anthony Hutton (born September 10, 1942) is an Irish-American singer, best known as one of the three lead vocalists in the band Three Dog Night. Hutton was a songwriter and singer for Hanna-Barbera Records from 1965 to 1966. Hutton had a ...
, a former songwriter/performer for
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...
Productions who became his future partner in the rock band Three Dog Night. The Enemys had minor hits with
recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
of "Hey Joe" and "Sinner Man". Wells moved to Phoenix in 1967 where he formed The Cory Wells Blues Band, whose bass player was future Three Dog Night bass player, Joe Schermetzler (stage name Joe Schermie). In 1968, Wells returned to Hollywood where he "couch-surfed" while Danny Hutton worked to convince him of the feasibility of forming a group with three lead singers and a back-up band.


Three Dog Night

Hutton and Wells formed Three Dog Night in 1968. They found a third lead singer in Chuck Negron, whom Hutton had met at a Hollywood party. Hutton, Wells, and Negron met
The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...
'
Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...
, and they recorded
demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...
under the name "Redwood" with Wilson as producer. The sessions produced a potential single, " Time to Get Alone," but Beach Boy member
Mike Love Michael Edward Love (born March 15, 1941) is an American singer and songwriter who is one of the vocalists of the Beach Boys, of which he was an original member alongside his cousins Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson and their frien ...
wanted to save the song for the next Beach Boys album. Having perfected their three-part
harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
sound, Wells, Hutton and Negron added a four-piece backing group consisting of guitarist Michael Allsup, organist Jimmy Greenspoon, bassist Joe Schermie, and drummer Floyd Sneed. The group began performing as Three Dog Night in 1968, and became one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Wells sang the lead vocal on Three Dog Night's ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' No. 1 hit song "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)". He said that
Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...
, who wrote the song, later called him on the phone and said: "I just want to thank you for putting my kids through college." Unlike many other rock musicians of the day, Wells managed to abstain from alcohol and other drugs. Also, he didn't squander his earnings on the lavish lifestyles of many other successful rock stars; rather, he chose to live a somewhat more moderate existence. After Three Dog Night broke up in 1976, Wells tried a solo career, recording the albums '' Touch Me'' (1978) and Ahead of the Storm (1979) for
A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
. Wells helped re-launch Three Dog Night in the early-1980s, recording an EP called '' It's a Jungle'', released in 1983. In 1985, a falling out with Negron left Hutton and Wells with the name "Three Dog Night" as an entity, and the pair (along with original member Mike Allsup) toured regularly each year. Original member Jimmy Greenspoon also toured with Three Dog Night until his diagnosis of metastatic melanoma in late 2014, which led to his death on March 11, 2015.


Death

Wells died in his sleep on October 20, 2015, at Brooks Memorial Hospital in
Dunkirk, New York Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk ...
at the age of 74. His family later confirmed he had been fighting
multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...
, a form of blood cancer since September. He was survived by Mary Jane Catalano, his wife of 50 years. They had two daughters, Dawn Marie and CoryAnn, and five grandchildren.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Cory 1941 births 2015 deaths Deaths from multiple myeloma in the United States Musicians from Buffalo, New York American male singers Three Dog Night members American people of Polish descent Singers from New York (state) United States Air Force airmen