He Should Be As Famous As Paul Simon, But His Potential Was Never Realized

Paul Simon wrote many nearly perfect songs, and while he's a standard-bearer of folk rock who showed the world what he was capable of, that wasn't the case for a comparable contemporary: singer-songwriter Fred Neil. Between 1965 and 1971, Neil recorded and issued four studio albums, and none of them ever sold well enough to make it onto the national album chart. But he was more about the individual songs anyway — sensitive, introspective, and thoughtful fare that reflected the deep-voiced Neil's folk scene background and connection to the ambitious, let's-change-the-world vibe of the hippie and counterculture communities. None of those became hit singles either, at least not as Neil made them; he's the source of many 60s flop songs that turned into smash hits when covered by other artists.

Nor did Neil stick around to see what would happen. Deciding that fame, fortune, performing in front of crowds of strangers, and being a part of the messed up music industry of the 1970s wasn't for him, Neil dropped out of show business and retreated into obscurity. Nevertheless, the work he left behind constituted a legacy, as did the many artistically significant and famous admirers who did their part to keep the name of Fred Neil alive.

In 1956, Buddy Holly made one of the first songs he committed to wax, "Modern Don Juan," written by a teenage Fred Neil. From there, Neil became an influential presence in the early 1960s folk  movement, creating lifelong admirers out of future stars like John Sebastian, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Bob Dylan. Roy Orbison covered Neil's "Candy Man" for the B-side of his 1961 No. 2 hit "Crying," although it later made the Top 30 on its own and inspired Orbison to name his backing band the Candymen. "The Dolphins," from Neil's second and self-titled 1966 LP, got more exposure when acclaimed folk singer Tim Buckley added his version to his live show. "The Other Side of This Life," essentially the title song of Neil's final LP, was frequently performed and recorded by major acts of the era, including the Lovin' Spoonful, Jefferson Airplane, the Youngbloods, and Peter, Paul & Mary, who made it a Top 40 soft rock hit.

By far Neil's biggest success was "Everybody's Talkin'." Alluding to the composer's general unease and suggesting his imminent exit from the public eye, "Everybody's Talkin,'" as performed by Harry Nilsson, hit the Top 10 in 1969 after it was used as the theme song to the Oscar-winning "Midnight Cowboy." Neil's time in the spotlight wouldn't last. In 1970, he started the animal welfare group the Dolphin Project, and that's reportedly how the retired musician occupied his time until his death at age 64 in 2001.