HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Hoyt Axton, a folksy
baritone, songwriter and actor who
wrote Three
Dog Night's No. 1 hit ``Joy
to the World'' and songs that were
performed by artists from Elvis Presley
to Ringo Starr, died Tuesday. He was
61.
Axton died at his ranch in the Bitterroot
Valley, surrounded by family and
friends. He moved to the area after playing
a sheriff in the movie
``Disorganized Crime,'' filmed there in
1988.
He suffered a heart attack two weeks ago
and another during surgery, said Jan
Woods, a longtime friend in Nashville,
Tenn. He had never fully recovered
from a 1996 stroke and used a wheelchair
much of the time. Axton also had
advanced complications from diabetes.
Axton's mother, Mae Boren Axton, had her
own spot in popular culture history
as the writer of Presley's ``Heartbreak
Hotel.''
``When Mae died three years ago, she left
me Hoyt,'' Ms. Woods said. ``He was
probably one of the most honest, humorous
kids that never grew up.''
``There was nobody that didn't like Hoyt,''
said Fran Boyd, executive
director of the Los Angeles-based Academy
of Country Music. ``Oh God, was he
fun.''
Three Dog Night's recording of his novelty
``Joy to the World'' (``Jeremiah
was
a bullfrog ...'') was on top of the charts for six straight weeks in
1971, making it the top hit of the year.
Axton pitched the song to group
members when he was their opening act
in 1969-70. He also wrote ``Never
Been
to
Spain'' for the band, a song also recorded by Presley.
Axton's own singing hits include ``Boney
Fingers'' (``Work your fingers to
the bone, what do you get? Boney fingers'')
and ``When
the Morning Comes.''
The native of Duncan, Okla., started out
singing folk songs in the clubs of
San Francisco in 1958 and a song he co-wrote,
``Greenback Dollar,'' was a
1963 hit for the Kingston Trio.
He wrote hits for Starr
(``No No Song'') and Steppenwolf (``The Pusher'').
Others who performed songs he wrote included
Joan Baez, Waylon Jennings, John
Denver and Linda Ronstadt.
Steppenwolf's ``The Pusher'' and ``Snowblind
Friend'' were rare forays into a
more serious theme. ``The Pusher'' was
a powerful, passionate song that
condemned drug sellers.
And 1975's ``No No Song'' included the
lines ``No no no no, I don't sniff it
no more. I'm tired of waking up on the
floor.''
But in 1997, police found slightly more
than a pound of marijuana at Axton's
home. Deborah Hawkins, whom Axton wed
later that year, said she gave him
marijuana because it relieved some of
the pain, anxiety and stress he
suffered after his stroke, her lawyer
said.
Axton was given a three-year deferred sentence
and fined $15,000 for
marijuana possession. Hawkins got a one-year
deferred sentence and a $1,000
fine.
A large man, Axton as an actor specialized
in playing good ol' boys on TV and
in films, including ``Gremlins'' and ``The
Black Stallion.'' He sang the
``Head to the Mountains'' jingle used
to advertise Busch beer in the 1980s.
Survivors include Axton's wife and five
children.
|
VICTOR, Montana (Reuters) - Singer-songwriter
Hoyt Axton, who penned a string
of pop hits including Three Dog Night's
''Joy to the World,'' has died at his
Montana ranch at the age of 61, friends
said Tuesday.
The cause of death was not announced, but
Axton, a large man who also acted
in movies and on television, had a history
of ill health, Nashville-based
associate David McCormick said.
Axton was literally born to songwriting.
His mother, Mae Boren Axton, was a
co-author of Elvis Presley's ``Heartbreak
Hotel.''
Axton churned out his own list of hits
beginning with ''Greenback Dollar,''
recorded in 1963 by the Kingston Trio.
Other chart-toppers included Ringo
Starr's
``No No Song'' of 1975 as well as songs performed by Elvis Presley,
John Denver and Linda Ronstadt.
But his best-known song remains the 1971
Three Dog Night smash ``Joy To The
World,'' with its unmistakable opening
line ''Jeremiah
was a bullfrog, was a
good friend of mine...'' The song topped
the charts for six weeks.
Axton also acted in numerous movies and
television shows, stretching from
``Bonanza'' in 1964 to ``Diff'rent Strokes''
in 1984. He is survived by his
wife and several adult children.
|
|
Hoyt
Axton, Singer, Character Actor and Hit Songwriter, Dies
By MYRNA OLIVER, LA Times Staff Writer
Hoyt Axton, the folksy country and pop singer and songwriter who
penned the Kingston Trio's folk classic "Greenback Dollar," Three Dog
Night's pop hit "Joy to the World" and his own humorous recording "Boney
Fingers," died Tuesday at age 61.
Axton, also a familiar character actor, died at his ranch in Victor, Mont.,
after suffering two severe heart attacks in two weeks. A disabling stroke
three years ago forced him to use a wheelchair much of the time.
The Oklahoma-born entertainer emerged into the limelight as a folk singer
in the 1960s at West Hollywood's Troubadour and Huntington Beach's
Golden Bear. He saw himself more as a songwriter than either a singer or
an
actor, but worked prolifically in all three areas for four decades. He
continually toured in concert and recorded his own songs, often on his
own
label--dubbed Jeremiah for the bullfrog in "Joy to the World."
Yet it fell mostly to others to make the songs Axton wrote into stellar
hits--the Kingston Trio with "Greenback Dollar" in 1962, Steppenwolf with
"The Pusher" in 1968 and "Snowblind Friend" in 1971, and then Three Dog
Night and the international success of "Joy to the World" in 1971.
Axton, who had performed as an opening act for Three Dog Night in 1969
and 1970, went on to write "Never Been to Spain," another hit for the group
in 1972.
"Axton was a substantial songwriting talent who was able to inject his
own fun-loving sensibilities into goofy, feel-good hits, such as 'Joy to
the
World,' " said Robert Hilburn, The Times' pop music critic, on Tuesday.
Chuck Negron, former member of Three Dog Night, said he was saddened
by Axton's death, adding that "thanks to Hoyt's genius, 'Joy' and its
memorable opening lyric, 'Jeremiah was a bullfrog . . .' are arguably a
part of
Americana."
Hilburn added that Axton could also write songs that "reflect with equal
skill on human struggle, notably the drug-themed 'Snowblind Friend.' "
Fran Boyd, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Academy of
Country Music, said: "There was nobody that didn't like Hoyt. He was an
entertainer's entertainer. It's a big loss for country music. Oh, God,
was he
fun."
Described over the years by various Times reviewers as "a good ol' boy,"
"a gravel-voiced bear of a man" and a "rumpled, life-loving, big, burly
man,"
Axton had his own problems with cocaine, as well as alcohol and
dangerously fast driving.
Many of his songs have anti-drug lyrics, including "Snowblind Friend,"
which relates: "He said he wanted heaven / But praying was too slow, /
So
he bought a one-way ticket / On the air line made of snow." Another, "The
No-No Song," recorded by Ringo Starr, was humorous but also warned
against drugs.
Axton's songs found their way into motion picture soundtracks as well,
notably "The Pusher" in the 1969 "Easy Rider"; "You Taught Me How to
Cry" in both the 1980 "Cloud Dancer" and the 1983 "Heart Like a Wheel";
and "Joy to the World" in the 1983 film "The Big Chill" and the 1994 movie
"Forrest Gump."
Axton made his acting debut in 1959 in an episode of television's
long-running western series "Bonanza." After that, he was much in demand
as a country, Western or small-town character, often a sheriff or member
of
the family, as in "The Black Stallion" in 1979. He was the addled inventor
Rand Peltzer in "Gremlins" in 1984, a priest in "We're No Angels" and the
sheriff in "Disorganized Crime" in 1989, Huey P. Long Sr. in the 1995
television movie "Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long" and a mayor in this
year's "King Cobra."
In addition to "Bonanza," Axton was a popular guest star on such
television series as "McCloud," "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Murder, She
Wrote."
He also was remembered for his television commercials, including touting
Big Macs for McDonald's in 1970 and singing the jingle "Head to the
Mountains" for Busch beer in the 1980s.
Songwriting was a natural for Axton, the son of English
teacher-turned-songwriter Mae Boren Axton. She was Hank Snow's publicist
and co-wrote with Thomas Durden Elvis Presley's mega-hit "Heartbreak
Hotel." (She died in 1997 and Durden died Oct. 17.)
The success of that song had a profound impact on Axton, who once told
an interviewer that he "started out to write prose; I wanted to be Jack
London." After Presley made his mother and Durden famous, Axton decided
he might find success by writing music.
From his mother, Axton learned to sing ballads as a child. He also studied
classical piano and experimented with boogie and rock 'n' roll, learning
to
play guitar in his teens.
Football was far more important than music initially, when Axton won a
scholarship and became a football star at Oklahoma State University. But
after dropping out of college and serving in the Navy, he started singing
folk
songs in coffeehouses and clubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Hilburn, who first reviewed Axton at the Troubadour 30 years ago, said
he ". . . was limited as a singer, which is why his songs were more successful
on record when covered by other artists. But he was especially winning
on
stage, where his easygoing, informal manner added a warm edge to the
natural appeal of his songs."
The thrice-divorced Axton is survived by his wife, Deborah, and five
adult children.
|
|
OBITUARY
