Tandyn Douglas Almer (July 30, 1942 – January 8, 2013) was an American songwriter, musician, and record producer who wrote the 1966 song "

Along Comes Mary "Along Comes Mary" is a song composed by Tandyn Almer, originally recorded by American sunshine pop band the Association. It was the group's first hit, released on their debut album, '' And Then... Along Comes the Association'' (1966). Back ...

" for

the Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and " Along Comes Mary") a ...

. He also wrote, co-wrote, and produced numerous other songs performed by artists such as

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

the Purple Gang The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers comprised predominantly of Jewish gangsters. They operated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1920s of the Prohibition era and came to be Detr ...

, the Garden Club, and Dennis Olivieri. In the early 1970s, he was a close friend and collaborator of

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop music, pop composition, ex ...

, co-writing the Beach Boys' singles "

Marcella Marcella is a Roman cognomen and Italian given name, the feminine version of Marcello (Mark in English). Marcella means warlike, martial, and strong. It could also mean 'young warrior'. The origin of the name Marcella is Latin. Marcella may refer ...

" (1972) and "

Sail On, Sailor "Sail On, Sailor" (mislabeled "Sail On Sailor" on original pressings) is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1973 album ''Holland''. It was written primarily by Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson with Ray Kennedy, Tandyn Almer, an ...

" (1973).

Early life

Almer was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...

. During his adolescence, he attended a music conservatory in Minnesota and became fascinated with the music of

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

and

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Biography Early life Jamal was born Fr ...

. At age 17, he quit high school and moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

to become a jazz pianist. In the early 1960s, he relocated once more to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

where his musical interests shifted to pop and rock after he became enamored by the oeuvre of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. During this period, he attended

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campu ...

Career

His most prominent achievement was writing the 1966 U.S. Top 10 hit "

" for

. Claudia Ford, then married to Association producer

Curt Boettcher Curtis Roy Boettcher (January 7, 1944 – June 14, 1987), sometimes credited as Curt Boetcher or Curt Becher, was an American singer, songwriter, arranger, musician, and record producer from Wisconsin. He was a pivotal figure in what is now t ...

, claimed that Almer wrote "Along Comes Mary" as a slow song. Boettcher helped Almer arrange the tune, sang the vocal on the demo and accelerated the tempo. That version, as provided to the Association, became the group's breakthrough single from their debut album, which Boettcher produced. The two also co-wrote "Message of Our Love", another song on the same album. After the success of "Along Comes Mary", Almer was featured alongside

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...

, and

on '' Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution'', a 1967

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...

documentary presented by

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

. Almer's sole non-posthumous commercial release under his own name was "Degeneration Gap", a piano-driven single released by Warner Bros. in 1969. In 1970, he produced the Dennis Olivieri album ''Come to the Party''. While a songwriter for

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

in the early 1970s, he was introduced to and became friends with Wilson; in a 2010 interview, Wilson characterized Almer as his "best friend". According to musician Joseph Deaguero, who introduced Almer to Wilson, "Everyone thought he was going to be the next Dylan or

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

. Tandyn was totally an eccentric, but he was in a league of his own. You listen to his music and say, 'God, this guy was really good.'" Although they ultimately became estranged owing to a variety of factors (including Almer's alleged theft of recording equipment from the

Beach Boys Studio Beach Boys Studio (also known as Brother Records Studio, Brother Recording Studio, and 10452 Bellagio Road) was a private recording studio owned by the Beach Boys. It was located within Brian Wilson's home at 10452 Bellagio Road in Los Angeles. ...

and an alleged extramarital affair between

Marilyn Wilson Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford (née Rovell; born February 6, 1948) is an American singer who is best known as the first wife of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Raised in Los Angeles, she started her singing career in the late 1950s, initially as part ...

and Almer), the two collaborated in the early 1970s on several projects, including an aborted album of re-recorded Beach Boys songs with more topical lyrics for A&M, an intensive weeklong study of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

's "

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition written by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work premiered i ...

" and the Beach Boys singles "

" and "

". Almer invented a

water pipe Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Heating and cooling (HVAC), waste removal, and potable water delive ...

called the Slave-Master, described by Jack S. Margolis and Richard Clorfene in ''A Child's Garden of Grass'' as "the perfect

bong A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the gas flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right. ...

". He moved to the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

in the mid 1970s to work on a film soundtrack; after the project fell through, Almer lived there for the remainder of his life. Although he wrote songs for the annual

Hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A '' regular hexagon'' has ...

satirical revue and several fake books (consisting of simplified arrangements of popular songs), he mainly subsisted on "intermittent royalty checks". His

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevat ...

often resulted in "erratic mood swings" and abject

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

; according to Thomas Bernath (a musician who befriended Almer), "He used to tell me the music got better the longer he stayed awake. He didn’t feel like playing until he had been awake for two or three days." Almer continued to record prolifically, amassing a private collection of hundreds of tapes.

Death

Almer died on January 18, 2013, aged 70, from a combination of illnesses, including atrial fibrillation,

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

, and

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

. Shortly after, ''Along Comes Tandyn'', an album consisting of demos of his early songs recorded by professional studio musicians, was released in 2013 on

Sundazed Records Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...

. In the liner notes, Parke Puterbaugh, a former senior editor of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', called Almer “one of the lost and hidden voices of the '60s," adding that Almer "left behind a body of work that's ripe for rediscovery.”

References

External links

"The Psychodramas and the Traumas Gone, the Songs Are Left Unsung: Tandyn Almer, 1942-2013,"
career overview by Dawn Eden, January 14, 2013
Tandyn Almer songwriting repertoire page 1

page 2
at BMI.com
''Along Comes Tandyn''
album at Sundazed Records
Williams, Richard, "Tandyn Almer: Sunshine and Psychodramas,"
at ''The Blue Moment'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Almer, Tandyn 1942 births 2013 deaths Musicians from Minneapolis Songwriters from Minnesota American inventors American rock musicians Record producers from Minnesota American jazz pianists American male pianists Los Angeles City College alumni Mensans 20th-century American pianists Jazz musicians from Minnesota 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians American male songwriters