James Messina (born December 5, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist, recording engineer and record producer. He was a member of the

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

group

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", rele ...

, a founding member of the pioneering country rock band

Poco Poco was an American country rock band originally formed in 1968 after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina, former members of Buffalo Springfield, were joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bassis ...

, and half of the

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

duo

Loggins and Messina Loggins and Messina was an American rock- pop duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved their success in the early to mid-1970s. Among their well-known songs are "Danny's Song", "House at Pooh Corner", and " Your Mama Don' ...

with

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...

Early life

James Messina was born in

Maywood, California Maywood is a small Gateway city in Los Angeles County. At , Maywood is the third-smallest incorporated city in Los Angeles County. It is bordered by the cities of Bell on the south, Vernon on the north and west, Huntington Park on the southwes ...

, in 1947, and raised in Harlingen, Texas, until he was eight. He spent much of his childhood split between his father's home in California and his mother's home in Texas. His father was a guitarist and greatly influenced his son's musical career. Messina began playing the guitar at the age of five. He later became interested in the music of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

and

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

Career

Jim Messina and His Jesters

When he was 16 years old, he recorded an LP with "His Jesters" titled ''The Dragsters'', which was released in November 1964. One notable track was "The Jester", on which he played lead guitar; it was included on the 2003 CD ''Lost Legends of Surf Guitar Volume 1''.

Buffalo Springfield

While with

, Messina served as a recording engineer, producer, and musician, replacing

bass player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...

Bruce Palmer Bruce Palmer (September 9, 1946 – October 1, 2004) was a Canadian musician best known as the bassist in the seminal Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Early y ...

on two songs from their final album, ''

Last Time Around ''Last Time Around'' is the third and final studio album by the Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, released in July 1968. The line-up at the time officially consisted of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Dewey Martin, ...

''.

Poco

After Buffalo Springfield disbanded, Messina and

Richie Furay Paul Richard Furay (born May 9, 1944) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member (with Buffalo Springfield). He is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bru ...

, a founding member of Buffalo Springfield, formed

in 1968. Switching back from bass to guitar, Messina played lead guitar and supplied vocals and some songwriting to the band. After

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

two studio albums and one live album, he left Poco due to exhaustion from touring and to focus on becoming a record producer.

Loggins and Messina

After

, Messina signed a contract with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

as an independent producer. Messina was first introduced to the idea of producing

in the summer of 1970 while still performing on the road with Poco. Loggins first met Messina in December 1970 at Messina's home, where the two recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's living room. Loggins at the time was a songwriter for ABC Dunhill and not a performing artist. Loggins had no agent, no manager, no business manager, and no prior experience as a performing artist. Messina felt Loggins needed some kind of an edge, and should embrace a more modern sound. In the course of deciding how to produce Loggins' first solo album, Messina met with

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

, then president of Columbia Records. Messina proposed to Davis that he be allowed to sit in with Loggins on his first solo album in the same way that jazz artists had done in the past, and stated that Loggins also needed more upbeat and diverse material to help him gain appeal as a pop music artist. After reluctantly agreeing, Davis pursued the "Sitting In" concept through to the end. With music trends moving away from folk, Messina presented Loggins with a number of songs that spilled over from his days with Poco and Buffalo Springfield. He felt Loggins could do both country rock and R&B styles extremely well, especially after hearing Loggins perform "

Danny's Song "Danny's Song" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. It first appeared on an album by Gator Creek and a year later on the album '' Sittin' In'', the debut ...

." Among the material Messina contributed was "

Listen to a Country Song ''Listen to a Country Song'' is a studio album by Country music singer Lynn Anderson, released in 1972. This was the second album released by Anderson in 1972, the other being her album ''Cry'', which featured the No. 1 hit of the same name. Th ...

" (which would be a hit single for Lynn Anderson when she recorded it the following year), "Nobody But You," "Same Old Wine," and "The Trilogy," which included "Peace of Mind." He provided the rehearsal space, amps, and instruments and lent his talents as an arranger, vocalist, and guitarist. Messina worked long hours with Loggins and encouraged him to purchase an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

and play it on his solo debut album. Messina assembled "The Kenny Loggins Band" by summoning old friends drummer Merel Bregante and bassist/singer Larry Sims (both formally of

The Sunshine Company The Sunshine Company was an American sunshine pop band from Los Angeles, California. Originally the duo of Mary Nance (November 7, 1947 – November 24, 2019) and Maury Manseau, the group later added the rhythm section of bassist Larry Sims and dr ...

), multireedist/violinist Al Garth, multireedist Jon Clarke (performing with the Don Ellis Jazz Band), and a friend of Loggins, keyboardist Michael Omartian, who played on the album but dropped out once the touring began. However, Omartian played on the next two albums, and the ensemble was also augmented on each of their studio releases by Los Angeles-based session percussionist

Milt Holland Milton Holland (born Milton Olshansky; February 7, 1917 – November 4, 2005) was an American drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and writer in the Los Angeles music scene. He pioneered the use of African, South American, and Indian percus ...

. Though the album was originally intended to be Loggins' first solo album, the two decided that Messina's contribution was so substantial that the album was finally released as '' Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In'', in November 1971. Messina had been reluctant to perform and tour, having begun the collaboration with the sole interest of producing. Nonetheless, by the end of 1972, the group, now renamed "

", had toured extensively; they would eventually sell over 20 million albums. After the release of ''Sittin' In'', Messina went on to write, perform and produce seven more albums with Loggins. Those albums were ''

'' (1972), '' Full Sail'' (1973), '' On Stage'' (1974), '' Mother Lode'' (1974), '' So Fine'' (1975, a covers album), '' Native Sons'' (1976, their last studio release) and '' Finale'' (1977, released by Columbia after the duo's split). Loggins ultimately decided to strike out on his own, and in 1976 the duo split after a final concert in Hawaii. Both went on to solo careers.

Solo career, 1976–1993

In 1979, Messina met with Don Ellis (not to be confused with

Don Ellis Donald Johnson Ellis (July 25, 1934 – December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time signatures. Later in his lif ...

the jazz musician who recorded for the same label) of Columbia Records subsidiary A&R to plan his first solo album. He learned that Ellis did not like Messina's new musical direction, towards

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which ...

with a rock edge, because it did not sound like a Loggins and Messina album. Messina toured to support the debut LP, which sold 150,000 copies, about the same sales as ''Sittin' In'' had had. However, without the support of the record company, the album stalled, peaking at #58 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

, and Messina asked Columbia Records president Bruce Lundvall for a release from the label. Its single, ''New And Different Way'', slightly missed the Top 40 on the AC chart, peaking at #43. In 1981, Messina signed with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

and recorded and released his second solo effort, ''Messina'', which included folk, rock, Latin and light jazz elements. The album featured singer

Pauline Wilson Seawind was an American jazz fusion band from Hawaii, consisting of its lead singer Pauline Wilson, guitarist Bud Nuañez, bassist Ken Wild, drummer Bob Wilson, keyboardist, flutist and saxophonist Larry Williams, saxophone and flute player Kim ...

, who sang a duet with Messina on "Stay the Night". In 1983, Messina released his third solo album with Warner Bros., ''One More Mile''. The album leaned more toward rock, and Messina used a number of young and upcoming studio musicians as his rhythm section. The album also featured Edie Laymen and Pauline Wilson singing background and harmony parts. On the song "The Island", he shows his influence of

slack key Slack-key guitar (from Hawaiian ''kī hōalu'', which means "loosen the uningkey") is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii after Portuguese cowboys introduced Spanish guitars there in the late 19th century. The Hawaiia ...

, a Hawaiian style of playing the guitar. In 1993, Brooks and Dunn recorded "Mexican Minutes" written by Jim Messina and co-authored with Kent Robbins in Nashville.

Reunion tours

In 1989, Poco's original lineup (consisting of Messina, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner) regrouped for a successful reunion tour. That same year, they released the album ''

Legacy In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

''. Messina played guitar and mandolin on the album. He wrote and sang on three of the songs: "Follow Your Dreams", "Look Within" and "Lovin' You Every Minute." He also co-wrote the song "Call It Love", which was sung by Rusty Young. That song reached number 18 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in August 1989. In 2005, Messina and Loggins hit the road as a duo again. They had a successful nationwide tour that produced a CD and DVD entitled '' Live: Sittin' In Again at the Santa Barbara Bowl''. Messina also pulled from the vaults the original master analog recordings that he had produced and mixed for Loggins and Messina at Columbia Records, which were released as the 2005 digitally mastered compilation album '' The Best: Sittin' in Again''. The duo reformed again in 2009 for an extensive tour.

Recent solo career

In 2009, Messina released the CD ''Under a Mojito Moon-Part 1'', on which the only guitar he played was his

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

. The Latin-based arrangements feature trumpet, percussion, drums, piano and nylon acoustic guitar in melodies reminiscent of the music of Cuba and Spain. In 2012, Messina released the CD and DVD ''Jim Messina LIVE at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts'' containing songs by The Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Loggins & Messina as well as his solo material. He continues to work in the field of publishing, production and electronics as a recording and mixing engineer and as a recording studio owner, as well as performing on tour. He is both the creator and facilitator of "The Songwriters' Performance Workshop", wherein he leads 6-day intensive workshops for songwriters and singers at retreats, resorts and hotels around the country.

Personal life and family

In 1970, Messina married actress Jenny Sullivan; the marriage ended ten years later in 1980. They had no children. Messina has a son, recording engineer and musician Julian Messina (born 1992), from a relationship in the early 1990s. In 2001, Messina met his second wife, Michaela Laza Messina, an opera singer and a music teacher. They have a daughter, Josey (born 2006). Messina currently resides near Franklin, TN.

Discography

Jim Messina and His Jesters

* ''The Dragsters'' (1964)

Buffalo Springfield

* ''

'' (1968)

Poco

* '' Pickin' Up the Pieces'' (1968) * ''

'' (1969) * ''

Deliverin' ''Deliverin’'' is the third album, and first live album, by the American country rock band Poco. Jim Messina (musician), Jim Messina quit the band in October 1970, prior to the release of the album. WBCN (FM), WBCN DJ Charles Laquidara wrote th ...

'' (1970) * ''

'' (1989)

Loggins and Messina

* '' Sittin' In'' (1971) * ''

Loggins & Messina Loggins and Messina was an American rock- pop duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, who achieved their success in the early to mid-1970s. Among their well-known songs are "Danny's Song", "House at Pooh Corner", and "Your Mama Don't ...

'' (1972) * '' Full Sail'' (1973) * '' On Stage'' (1974) * '' Mother Lode'' (1974) * '' So Fine'' (1975) * '' Native Sons'' (1976) * '' Finale'' (1976) * '' The Best of Friends'' (1977)

Jim Messina

* ''Oasis'' (1979, US Billboard Album Chart 58) * ''Messina'' (1981, US Billboard Album Chart 95) * ''One More Mile'' (1983) * ''Watching The River Run'' (1996) * ''Watching The River Run (Revisited)'' (2005) * ''Under a Mojito Moon Part-1'' (2009) * ''"Live" at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts'' (2012) * ''"In The Groove"'' (2017)

Jim Messina solo singles

* ''New and Different Way'' (1979, US Record World Singles Chart 132) * ''Do You Want to Dance'' (1980, US Billboard Singles Chart 110) * ''Stay the Night'' (1981, US Billboard Singles Chart 110)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Messina, Jim American male singer-songwriters American rock singers American country rock singers Record producers from Texas 1947 births Living people American audio engineers American country rock musicians American country guitarists American country singer-songwriters American folk guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Fingerstyle guitarists Lead guitarists Resonator guitarists American mandolinists Buffalo Springfield members Poco members Columbia Records artists Warner Records artists American woodworkers American metalsmiths 20th-century American painters American male painters People from Maywood, California People from Harlingen, Texas Musicians from Los Angeles County, California Singers from Los Angeles Singer-songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists Record producers from California Country musicians from California Singer-songwriters from California