Albert Hammond is one of the more
successful pop/rock songwriters to come out of England during the 1960's and
1970's, and has also enjoyed a long career as a successful recording artist,
his work popular in two languages on three continents across four decades. Hammond was born in London
in 1942 (some sources say 1944) -- his family actually came from the British
colony on Gibraltar, but wartime considerations caused his mother to be
evacuated to London,
where she gave birth. He spent his childhood and youth in Gibraltar,
where he was raised fluent in both English and Spanish, and displayed an
interest in music even as a boy. He came of age just as rock & roll was
taking hold on British youth, even in the colonies, and in his teens, he took
up the guitar and started playing on Gibraltar and in Spain. By his
own account, Hammond
also played and sang in a Moroccan strip club -- in an interview with John
Tobler, he recalled performing in front of audiences of American servicemen,
s 18318r1720s inging Dion repertory such as "The Wanderer."
He was part of a duo during the late 1950's and in 1960,
with his singing partner Richard Cartwright, he formed the Diamond Boys, the
two of them handling guitars and vocals, Hammond's younger brother Leslie on
saxophone, Luis Balloqui on bass, and Luis Vinet playing drums. The group
actually managed to get a single, "New Orleans"
b/w "Fool in Love", out on Parlophone in England. By 1962, following a tour
of Morocco and a win at a music festival in Madrid, the group was signed to RCA
Victor's Spanish division and released an EP that included their cover of
"What's I Say." The group disbanded soon after and Hammond and
Cartwright eventually headed for England, where they briefly became
a part of a band called Los Cincos Ricardos, through which they cut one single.
One of the songwriters contributing to that band's repertory was Mike Hazelwood
-- Hammond had
been writing songs since childhood, but his contact with Hazelwood caused him
to push that side of his music career harder than his performing for the first
time. Hammond, in collaboration with Hazelwood
and others, including Scott English ("Frisco Annie") and future star
producer/songwriter Tony Macaulay, among others, made a particular specialty
out of writing American-style songs, trading in images and references from the United States.
One Macaulay-Hammond song, "Oklahoma Sunday Morning", was even
recorded by Glen Campbell in his pre-stardom days. Hammond and Hazelwood found
their first success on a television series in England, entitled Oliver in the
Overworld, for which they wrote all of the songs, among them a novelty tune
called "Gimme Dat Ding."
Hammond also picked up work as a session singer in London, appearing on the
work of such acts as Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick &
Tich. In 1967, with Hazelwood and their friend Steve Rowland, they formed
Family Dogg, which managed to make some noise in the
press and chart one single, "A
Way of Life," in 1969, but never quite lived
up to their publicity. Hammond and Rowland also wrote and recorded several
singles together, issued under various aliases. His principal collaborator,
however, was Hazelwood, and one of the songs they'd come up with was "It
Never Rains in Southern California," based on a melody by Hammond and inspired by a photo-book owned by
Hazelwood. The song languished for years, past a point where the two enjoyed
hits with "Little Arrows" (1968) by Leapy Lee, "Make Me an
Island" (1969) (a Top Three hit) and "You're Such a Good-Looking
Woman" (1970) by Joe Dolan, "Gimme Dat Ding" by the Pipkins
(1970), "Good Morning, Freedom" by Blue Mink, and "Freedom Come,
Freedom Go" (1971) by the Fortunes. Hammond
also found time to sing on Michael Chapman's fourth album, Wrecked Again, in
1971, and worked briefly with the Magic Lanterns, on recordings of his and
Hazelwood's songs and other material.
By sheer chance, the two writers ended up in the United States in connection with a theatrical
show (Welcome Home) that never got produced, and in the course of deciding his
next move, Hammond tried knocking on the doors
of various record companies in Los
Angeles. He underwent a frustrating period of
rejection, his string of chart hits as a songwriter either failing to impress
executives sufficiently to take him seriously as a performer or, in at least one
case, at A&M Records, getting him rejected by one songwriter-turned-artist
who saw a competitor in the wings. He was finally signed to a new label, Mums,
co-founded by ex-Dunhill Records partner Bobby Roberts within the Columbia
Records organization, on the strength of a brace of new songs that he brought
to the audition. A series of demos impressed all concerned, enough to get them
released as singles, but it was "It Never Rains in Southern
California," finished in California with
some of the top session musicians in Los Angeles, that broke Hammond
as a recording artist around the world.
That song reached number five in America
and became a million-seller around the world, the first in a string of eight
charting singles that Hammond
enjoyed over the next five years. Also introduced on that album, along with
"Down by the River" and "If You Gotta Break Another
Heart" -- which was recorded by Cass Elliot in a slightly rewritten
version -- and "The Air That I Breathe". The latter was Hammond's favorite song on
the album, and it was later to become the last major
international hit by the Hollies. Meanwhile, Hammond's follow-up album, The Free Electric
Band (its title-track salvaged from the unproduced musical), was nearly as
impressive musically as its predecessor, although it sold far fewer copies
without a huge hit to drive its sales. His next hit, "I'm a Train",
came amid a flurry of activity surrounding Hammond's career. He produced records by
Johnny Cash ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup," a Hammond-Hazelwood
composition), collaborated with Richard Carpenter and John Bettis ("I Need
to Be in Love") and wrote songs with Art Garfunkel, and, growing out of
the latter project, recorded a self-titled third album produced by Garfunkel
producer Roy Halee. By the mid-1970's, he was working with producer/engineer
Phil Ramone and collaborating with lyricist Hal David, generating a number one
single on the adult contemporary charts with "99 Miles From L.A." --
the label, however, resisted releasing the accompanying LP or its successor,
When I Need You, the latter only getting released in America after Leo Sayer
generated a hit single with his version of the title song (which was also later
cut by Perry Como), whose singing career started before Hammond was born.
By the end of the 1970's, Hammond was one of the busiest
men in music, maintaining two full-fledged recording careers -- not only his
string of English-language hit singles and albums, but also a late- 70's series
of releases aimed at Spanish-speaking audiences -- and a songwriting career
that included material recorded by Starship ("Nothing's Gonna Stop Us
Now") and Chicago ("I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love"), in
collaboration with Diane Warren, and a monster hit for Willie Nelson and Julio
Iglesias in "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (with Hal David). Hammond has continued
working into the 21st century, and has been followed into music during the
first decade of the new century by his son, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., a
member of the Strokes. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
