Ep. 20 - JOHN SEBASTIAN ("Do You Believe in Magic?")
Growing up in Greenwich Village, New York, John Sebastian cut his teeth on American roots music. He formed the Lovin\u2019 Spoonful in the mid-1960s, blending folk, blues, country, rock, and pop to create a string of seven consecutive Top 10 hits, including \u201cDo You Believe in Magic,\u201d \u201cYou Didn\u2019t Have to Be So Nice,\u201d \u201cDaydream,\u201d \u201cDid You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind,\u201d Summer in the City,\u201d Rain on the Roof,\u201d and \u201cNashville Cats.\u201d Each of them was written or co-written by Sebastian, and two of his compositions - \u201cSummer in the City\u201d and \u201cDo You Believe in Magic\u201d- are listed in Rolling Stone magazine\u2019s ranking of \u201cThe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.\u201d In 1976 he scored a #1 solo hit with \u201cWelcome Back,\u201d the theme song to the popular TV show Welcome Back Kotter. He has continued to create engaging roots-oriented sounds with his celebrated J-Band. The Lovin\u2019 Spoonful was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and Sebastian became a member of the Songwriter\u2019s Hall of Fame in 2008. His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, B.B. King, Sarah Vaughan, Quincy Jones, John Mellencamp, Dolly Parton, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, the Everly Brothers, Isaac Hayes, Flatt & Scruggs, Art Garfunkel, the Bee Gees, The Mamas and the Papas, Bell and Sebastian, Rumer, and many others.