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The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success during the 1970s, the group's current lineup consists of founding members Tom Johnston (guitars, keyboards, harmonica, vocals) and Patrick Simmons (guitars, banjo, recorder, vocals), alongside Michael McDonald (keyboards, synthesizers, vocals) and John McFee (guitars, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, banjo, violin, cello, harmonica, vocals), and touring musicians including John Cowan (bass, vocals), Marc Russo (saxophones), Ed Toth (drums), and Marc Quiñones (percussion, backing vocals).

The Doobie Brothers

The Doobies

  • 1970 (1970)–1982 (1982)
  • 1987 (1987)–present

Other long-serving members of the band include guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (1974–1979, 1987, 1992), bassist Tiran Porter (1971–1980, 1987–1992) and drummers John Hartman (1970–1979, 1987–1992), Michael Hossack (1971–1973, 1987–2012), and Keith Knudsen (1973–1982, 1987, 1992, 1993–2005).[4]


Johnston provided the lead vocals for the band from 1970 to 1975, when they featured a mainstream rock sound with elements of folk, country and R&B. Michael McDonald joined the band in 1975 as a keyboard player and second lead vocalist, to give some relief to Johnston, who was suffering health problems at the time. McDonald's interest in soul music introduced a new sound to the band. Johnston and McDonald performed together as co-lead vocalists for one album, Takin' It to the Streets, before Johnston retired fully in 1977.


Frequent lineup changes followed through the rest of the 1970s, and the band broke up in 1982 with Simmons being the only constant member having appeared on all of their albums. In 1987, the Doobie Brothers reformed with Johnston back in the fold. McDonald, who had previously made several guest appearances since their reformation, returned to the band full-time in 2019 for their 50th anniversary tour.


The group's fourteen studio albums include six top-ten appearances on the Billboard 200 album chart, including 1978's Minute by Minute, which reached number one for five weeks, and won the band a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, while the single "What a Fool Believes" from the album won three Grammys itself.


The band's sixteen Billboard Hot 100 top-40 hits include "Listen to the Music", "Jesus is Just Alright", "Long Train Runnin'", "China Grove", "Black Water" (#1 in 1974), "Takin' It to the Streets", "What A Fool Believes" (#1 in 1979), and "The Doctor", all of which receive rotation on classic hits radio stations.


The band has released six live albums, and numerous greatest hits compilations, including 1976's Best of the Doobies, which was certified diamond by the RIAA for reaching album sales of ten million copies, the band's best selling album.


The Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004,[5] and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 7, 2020.[6] The group has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.[7][8]

Career[edit]

Original incarnation[edit]

Drummer John Hartman arrived in California in 1969 determined to meet Skip Spence of Moby Grape and join an aborted Grape reunion. Spence introduced Hartman to singer, guitarist, and songwriter Tom Johnston and the two proceeded to form the nucleus of what would become the Doobie Brothers. Johnston and Hartman called their fledgling group "Pud" and experimented with lineups (occasionally including Spence) and styles as they performed in and around San Jose. They were mostly a power trio (along with bassist Greg Murphy) but briefly worked with a horn section.


In 1970 they teamed up with singer, guitarist, and songwriter Patrick Simmons and bassist Dave Shogren. Simmons had belonged to several area groups (among them "Scratch", an acoustic trio with future Doobies bassist Tiran Porter) and also performed as a solo artist. He was already an accomplished fingerstyle player whose approach to the instrument complemented Johnston's rhythmic R&B strumming.


While still playing locally around San Jose, the group adopted the name "Doobie Brothers".[9][10] Their friend Keith "Dyno" Rosen,[11][12] who lived with[9] or next-door[10] to the band, came up with the name after the band had difficulty coming up with one on their own.[9] According to Tom Johnston, Rosen said, "Why don't you call yourself the Doobie Brothers because you're always smoking pot?"[9] Hartman has said he wasn't involved with choosing the name, and didn't know that "doobie" meant a marijuana joint until Rosen told him.[12] Everyone in the band agreed that "Doobie Brothers" was a "dumb" or "stupid" name.[9][10] Simmons has said the band intended to use the name only for a few early performances until they came up with something better, but they never did.[13]


The Doobie Brothers improved their playing by performing live all over Northern California in 1970. They attracted a particularly strong following among local chapters of the Hells Angels and got a recurring gig at one of the bikers' favorite venues, the Chateau Liberté[14] in the Santa Cruz mountains, playing there through the summer of 1975 (although some of these concerts did not include all band members and were of an impromptu nature). A set of demos, which showcased fuzz-toned dual lead electric guitars, three-part harmonies and Hartman's drumming, caught the ear of Warner Brothers' staff A & R representative Ted Templeman, and eventually earned the group a contract at Warner Bros. Records before the year was out.


The band's image originally reflected that of their biggest fans—leather jackets and motorcycles. Released in April 1971, their self-titled debut album departed significantly from that image and their live sound of the period. Produced at Pacific Recorders in San Mateo, the album, which failed to chart, emphasized acoustic guitars and reflected country influences. The leadoff song "Nobody", the band's first single, has surfaced in their live set several times over the ensuing decades. Most recently, this song was re-recorded and added to their 2010 album World Gone Crazy.


In the late spring/summer of 1971, their record label sent the Doobies out on their first national tour in tandem with the group Mother Earth, the "Mother Brothers Tour". Also in 1971, the group toyed with the idea of adding a second drummer, supplementing Hartman's drumming on some of their shows with that of United States Navy veteran Michael Hossack while still touring behind their first album.


Moving to Warner Brothers' newly acquired Amigo Studios in North Hollywood starting in late October 1971, the band recorded several songs for their next album with Shogren on bass, guitar, and background vocals, but Shogren left after disagreements with the group's producer, Ted Templeman. Shogren was replaced in December 1971 with singer, songwriter, and bass guitarist Tiran Porter, while Hossack was added to the lineup at the same time as a regular. Porter and Hossack were both stalwarts of the Northern California music scene, Porter having previously played in Scratch with Simmons. Porter brought a funkier bass style and added his husky baritone to the voices of Johnston and Simmons, resulting in a rich three-part blend.


The band's second album, Toulouse Street (which contained the hits "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus Is Just Alright"), brought their breakthrough success after its release in July 1972. In collaboration with manager Bruce Cohn, producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee, the band put forward a more polished and eclectic set of songs. Pianist Bill Payne of Little Feat contributed keyboards for the first time, beginning a decades-long collaboration that included many recording sessions and even a two-week stint touring with the band in early 1974.[15]


A string of hits followed, including Johnston's "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove", from the 1973 album The Captain and Me. Other noteworthy songs on the album were Simmons' country-ish ode "South City Midnight Lady" and the explosive, hard rocking raveup "Without You", for which the entire band received songwriting credit. Onstage, the latter song sometimes stretched into a 15-minute jam with additional lyrics completely ad-libbed by Johnston. A 1973 appearance on the debut episode of the television music variety show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert featured one such performance of the tune.


In the midst of recording sessions for their next album, 1974's What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits, and rehearsals for a 1973 fall tour, Hossack abruptly departed the band, citing burnout from constant touring. Drummer, songwriter, and vocalist Keith Knudsen (who previously drummed for Lee Michaels of "Do You Know What I Mean" fame) was recruited promptly in September 1973 and left with the Doobies on a major tour a few weeks later (Hossack subsequently replaced Knudsen in the band Bonaroo, which served as an opening act for the Doobies shortly thereafter). Both Hossack's drums and Knudsen's voice are heard on Vices.

– guitar, banjo, recorder, vocals (1970–1982, 1987–1991, 1992, 1993–present)

Patrick Simmons

– vocals, lead guitar, keyboards, harmonica (1970–1977, 1987–1991, 1992, 1993–present)

Tom Johnston

– vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1982, 1987, 1992, 1995–1996, 2019–present)

Michael McDonald

– guitar, mandolin, banjo, violin, cello, pedal steel guitar, harmonica, vocals (1979–1982, 1987, 1993–present)

John McFee

Current official members


Current touring members

Japanese rock musician who has hired most of the Doobie Brothers as his back-up band

Eikichi Yazawa

Edit this at Wikidata

Official website

Doobie Brothers live photo gallery

at AllMusic

The Doobie Brothers

at IMDb

The Doobie Brothers