John Sebastian

John Sebastian (born John Benson Sebastian, Jr. on March 17, 1944, in Greenwich Village, New York City) is an American songwriter and harmonica player. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. His tie-dyed denim jacket is prominently displayed there.

Life and early career

Sebastian's father, John Benson Sr., was a noted classical harmonica player and his mother was a radio script writer. He is the godson of Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy). He grew up surrounded by music and musicians, including Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie and hearing such players as Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt in his own neighborhood.

One of his first recording gigs was playing harmonica for Fred Neil on his Bleecker & MacDougal album in 1965. He came up through the Even Dozen Jug Band and The Mugwumps, which split to form the Lovin' Spoonful and The Mamas & the Papas. Sebastian was joined by Zal Yanovsky, Steve Boone and Joe Butler in the Spoonful, which was named after a Mississippi John Hurt song. Sebastian also played autoharp on occasion.

The Lovin' Spoonful became part of the American response to the British Invasion and was noted for such folk-flavored hits as "Jug Band Music," "Do You Believe in Magic", "Summer in the City", "Daydream," "Nashville Cats," "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind," "Six O'Clock," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," and "Younger Girl." The band, however, began to implode after a 1967 marijuana bust in San Francisco involving Yanovsky, a Canadian citizen. Facing deportation, he gave up the name of his dealer, which caused a fan backlash and internal strife. Neither John Sebastian nor Joe Butler was involved in the matter; they weren't even in San Francisco at the time. Yanovsky subsequently left the band and was replaced by Jerry Yester.

Solo career

Woodstock Reunion 1969.

Sebastian left the Lovin' Spoonful in 1968 although he and the original band reunited briefly to appear in the film One Trick Pony starring Paul Simon and Blair Brown. In December of 1968, a musical he composed the music and lyrics for, Jimmy Shine, opened on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in the title role.

He embarked on a moderately successful solo career after leaving the Lovin' Spoonful in 1968. Sebastian was popular among the rock festival circuits. He had a memorable, albeit unscheduled appearance at Woodstock, appearing after Country Joe McDonald's set, playing songs such as "I Had A Dream," "Rainbows All Over Your Blues" and "Younger Generation" which he dedicated to a newborn baby at the festival. Documentary remarks by festival organizers revealed that Sebastian was under the influence at the time, hence his spontaneity and casual, unplanned set. Sebastian also returned for Woodstock '94, playing harmonica for Crosby, Stills and Nash. Sebastian released his eponymous LP John B. Sebastian in 1970, which featured him accompanied by various L.A. musicians.

Sebastian played harmonica with The Doors on the song Roadhouse Blues under the pseudonym G. Puglese to avoid problems with his contract, which was featured on Morrison Hotel album. He also played on "Little Red Rooster" on the live album Alive, She Cried and on seven songs on Live In Detroit. He is also credited with playing harmonica on Crosby Stills Nash & Young's "D?j? Vu" from the album of the same name.

In 1976, Sebastian had a number one single with, "Welcome Back", the theme song to the Welcome Back, Kotter television show, which found new life decades later when a sample from it became the hook for rapper Mase's 2004 hit "Welcome Back". Recently, he has played with John Sebastian and the J-Band, a jug band including Fritz Richmond from the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Yank Rachell, an original jug-band leader, and Geoff Muldaur.

Several modern musicians cite him as a large influence, including renowned blues harmonica player, Mike Tetrault. As a songwriter, Sebastian's songs have been covered by Elvis Costello ("The Room Nobody Lives In"), Dolly Parton, Del McCoury, Helen Reddy, Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Bobby Darin, Slade, Joe Cocker and Jimmy Buffett ("Stories We Could Tell").

Later career

With David Grisman, 2009

Starting in 1978 John wrote the music for the animated special The Devil and Daniel Mouse and was even the singing voice for the character of Daniel Mouse. In the 1980's, Sebastian continued to write and perform music for several productions from Nelvana Limited Productions, a reputable Canada-based animation studio whose more recent output includes the TV series Braceface (which starred, and was co-produced by, Alicia Silverstone.) and the same studio which produced The Devil and Daniel Mouse. John wrote and sang the theme song/narration for Nelvana's TV pilot The Get Along Gang (none of which was kept, however, when DIC Entertainment took over the project thereafter). Sebastian also composed and performed "Care Bear Countdown," the theme song for Nelvana's Care Bears TV series, along with numerous tunes for the The Care Bears Movie trilogy which preceded it (consisting of Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland).

In later years, Sebastian hosted several television programs regarding '60s' music, including infomercials for compilations sets, and a half-hour program called The Golden Age of Rock and Roll, which was usually composed of video footage of 1960s bands performing on variety shows. He also hosted a Spoonful retrospective broadcast over PBS in March 2007, talking about various Spoonful numbers in between vintage video clips of the band up to the time he left.

In the early 1990s, Sebastian made a cameo appearance on the sitcom Married With Children, together with other famous rockstars. In 2005, he appeared on Eels' Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.

In 2007, Sebastian released a guitar instructional DVD for Homespun Video teaching solo guitar adaptations of eight of his Spoonful hits including "Daydream", "Nashville Cats", and his solo hit "Welcome Back". He has also released an instructional DVD teaching beginning level autoharp. (Sebastian played both harmonica and autoharp on Shanachie's 2002 compilation CD "Man of Constant Sorrow".)

Sebastian and the J Band appear in the documentary about the roots and influence of jug band music, which screened in August 2007 at the San Francisco Jug Band Festival and made its film festival debut in October 2007 at the Woodstock Film Festival. In the film, Sebastian humorously explains, with musical accompaniment, how his hit song "Younger Girl" was inspired by Gus Cannon's "Prison Wall Blues." He also performed at the festival with other musicians featured in the film, including Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Jim Kweskin and David Grisman.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.

The title of a novel by British writer Tony Parsons - Stories We Could Tell - comes from the Sebastian song.

Solo discography

Original U.S. Singles
Release Year
Label/Catalog #
Titles (A-side / B-side)
Billboard Top Singles
Cashbox
1969
Kama Sutra KA-256
She's A Lady / The Room Nobody Lives In
84
62
1970
Reprise 0902
Magical Connection / Fa-Fana-Fa
--
--
1970
Reprise 0918
What She Thinks About / Red Eye Express
--
--
1970
MGM 14122
Rainbows All Over Your Blues / You're A Big Boy Now
--
--
1971
Reprise 1026
I Don't Want Nobody Else / Sweet Muse
--
--
1971
Reprise 1050
Well Well Well / We'll See
--
--
1972
Reprise 1074
Give Us A Break / Music For People Who Don't Speak English
--
--
1976
Reprise 1349
Welcome Back / Warm Baby
1
1
1976
Reprise 1355
Hideaway / One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
95
--
Original U.S. Vinyl Albums
Release Year
Label/Catalog #
Album Title
Billboard Album Chart
1970
Reprise RS 6379
John B. Sebastian
20
1970
MGM SE-4654
John B. Sebastian (exact same album as above, with a different cover)
--
1970
MGM SE-4720
John Sebastian Live
129
1971
Reprise MS 2036
Cheapo Cheapo Productions Presents Real Live John Sebastian
75
1971
Reprise MS 2041
The Four of Us
93
1974
Reprise MS 2187
Tarzana Kid
--
1976
Reprise MS 2249
Welcome Back
79
Miscellaneous albums
1982 John Sebastian Teaches Blues Harmonica Homespun Tapes
1993 Tar Beach Schanachie
1995 John Sebastian Line
1996 I Want My Roots John Sebastian and the J-Band; Music Masters
1996 King Biscuit Flower Hour King Biscuit Flower
1996 John Sebastian Teaches Beginning Blues Harmonica Homespun Tapes
1997 Do What Know? With Jimmy Vivino & The Rekooperators Music Masters
1999 Chasin' Gus' Ghost Hollywood
2001 One Guy, One Guitar Hux; concert performances from 1981 and 1984, originally broadcast on the BBC
2001 Faithful Virtue: The Reprise Recordings Rhino Handmade
2002 Man of Constant Sorrow: Instrumental Impressions of the American Heartland Schanachie, as licensed to the St. Clair Entertainment Group.
2007 Satisfied John Sebastian And David Grisman Acoustic Disc

Samples

Audio samples of music of John Sebastian
"Welcome Back"
by John Sebastian, Welcome Back, Reprise Records 1976. Sample from The Best of John Sebastian, Rhino Entertainment/WEA Corp., 1989, 1990 format=Ogg