Emitt Rhodes
Emitt Lynn Rhodes (February 25, 1950 – July 19, 2020)[3][4] was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer. At the age of 14, Rhodes began his career in musical ensembles The Palace Guard as the group's drummer before joining The Merry-Go-Round as a multi-instrumentalist.[5] He has been called the "One-Man Beatles" due to the style and skill of his songwriting and instrumentation.[6]
Emitt Rhodes
Emitt Lynn Rhodes
February 25, 1950
Decatur, Illinois, U.S.
Hawthorne, California, U.S.
July 19, 2020 (aged 70)
Hawthorne, California, U.S.
Vocals, drums, guitar, piano, bass guitar, percussion
1964–2020
As a member of The Merry-Go-Round, Rhodes wrote or co-wrote eleven of the twelve songs on the band's first and only album, released in 1967. Over the next two years, Rhodes wrote and recorded several songs in order to fulfill a contractual obligation the band had with A&M Records. Following the band's dissolution, those songs were released as the album The American Dream (1970), an album credited to Rhodes but released without his input.
Rhodes's debut solo album is generally considered to be his self-titled 1970 release, which he recorded in his home studio. He went on to record and release two more solo albums, Mirror (1971) and Farewell to Paradise (1973). His career ended in 1973 because of a trial with his label.[7]
Silent for 43 years, he was a cult figure of psychedelic pop music when he released his last album, Rainbow Ends, in 2016.[8]
Recording career[edit]
Emitt Rhodes was born on February 25, 1950, in Decatur, Illinois. In 1955 his parents moved to Hawthorne, California. He began his musical career in 1964 at age 14 as the drummer of the band the Palace Guard in Los Angeles.[9] He left the band in 1966.[10]
In Summer 1966 he created the band the Merry-Go-Round with three friends. He played guitar and wrote the lyrics. In 1967 their only album was released. Their first single "Live" reached number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100.[9]
The Merry-Go-Round had a recording contract with A&M Records when the group disbanded in 1969. Rhodes recorded songs at A&M to fulfill that contract, but A&M decided to not release them at the time. (They were later released as the album The American Dream.)[11] Rhodes then decided to go out on his own and bought equipment to make a recording studio in his parents' garage. Rhodes recorded his first album, Emitt Rhodes, in that home studio. He got a recording contract with ABC/Dunhill Records, which released his album as well as the next two albums he recorded (Mirror and Farewell to Paradise). Rhodes got a $5,000 advance for Emitt Rhodes, which he spent on recording equipment.[12]
His first album was a critical success – Billboard called Rhodes "one of the finest artists on the music scene today" and later called his first album one of the "best albums of the decade". The album reached number 29 on the Billboard charts. The single "Fresh as a Daisy" reached number 54 on the pop chart. Rhodes opened at the Troubadour nightclub on February 9, 1971, concurrent with a large earthquake that struck the Los Angeles area. An ad that ran in Billboard said "That wasn't an earthquake, that was Emitt Rhodes opening at the Troubadour!" Meanwhile, shortly after Emitt Rhodes was released by Dunhill, A&M decided to release their old recordings of The American Dream, which confused record buyers. Mirror was released in 1971 and did reach the top 200 on Billboard's album chart. In 1973 Dunhill released Rhodes's Farewell to Paradise.[13] His musical style was so close to the Beatles and especially to Paul McCartney that some fans thought it was a Beatles record. "It was really flattering," Rhodes said. "Those guys were my idols."[7]
Rhodes wrote all of the songs on his albums. On Emitt Rhodes, Mirror, and Farewell to Paradise, he played all of the instruments and sang all of the vocals while recording himself in his home recording studio. He used a four-track recorder for the instruments for Emitt Rhodes and transferred those to an eight-track recorder to add the vocals. He used an eight-track recorder for Mirror and Farewell to Paradise. The mixdown engineer on Farewell to Paradise was Curt Boettcher, the producer and musician who is best remembered for his work on the "soft pop" albums by Sagittarius and The Millennium.
Rhodes' contract with Dunhill called for an album every six months (six albums over three years) – a schedule that was impossible for Rhodes to meet, due to writing all of the songs and recording each instrument and vocal individually by himself.[13] Dunhill sued Rhodes for $250,000 and withheld royalties because of his failure to deliver albums on the timescale required by the contract. Emitt Rhodes took nearly a year to record, the album Mirror took nine months, and Farewell to Paradise took over a year.
Discography[edit]
Studio albums[edit]
with The Merry-Go-Round: