Three Dog Night returns to Renaissance Center for Oct. 4 concert

Release Date: 9/10/2002. Expired: 10/4/2002

Two years after their successful symphonic concerts at The Renaissance Center, legendary rock group Three Dog Night returns to the Performance Hall for a concert Oct. 4.

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. show are $35. The Renaissance Center will again be videotaping the concert for possible future television airing.

Three Dog Night was the top-selling rock group in the world 1969-74 and the band is currently touring to support its latest effort: an album of some of its greatest hits accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra, released in May. Along with the new album, the group released DVD and VHS versions of two June 2000 concerts at The Renaissance Center in Dickson in which it made its live symphonic debut backed by the 42-piece Tennessee Symphony Orchestra.

“We are unbelievably thrilled to bring Three Dog Night back to The Renaissance Center after the huge success of their two concerts here two years ago,” said Doug Jackson, executive director. “The group is enjoying new success around the world with the concert video made here at the center, with sales exceeding everyone’s expectation and the video airing on PBS stations across the country.”

During Three Dog Night’s peak in popularity, nobody had more top 10 hits, sold more records or sold more concert tickets around the world. The group had 21 consecutive top 40 records, 18 straight top 20s, 11 songs to hit the top 10 on the charts and three to go all the way to number one. They recorded seven singles that sold more than a million copies apiece and released 12 straight gold albums.

The Hoyt Axton-penned “Joy to the World” was the number one song of 1971 and is part of a long string of hits that includes “One,” “Liar,” “Old-Fashioned Love Song,” “Eli’s Coming,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “One Man Band,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Out in the Country,” “Black and White,” “Family of Man,” “Let Me Serenade You,” “Shambala,” “Never Been to Spain,” “Celebrate,” “Easy to be Hard,” “The Show Must Go On,” “Sure As I’m Sitting Here,” “Play Something Sweet” and many more.

“We had such a good time working with Three Dog Night in one of the biggest projects we have had at The Renaissance Center,” said Steve Hall, senior director of the center’s Multimedia Department, which produced the concert video. “The quality of the final show has opened new doors for similar projects at The Renaissance Center and we expect to see more concerts like the recent Little River Band shows. It is exciting for us to bring Three Dog Night back to The Renaissance Center.”

Three Dog Night resumed touring in 1986 and the group currently includes original members Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, guitarist Mike Allsup and keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon. Rounding out the group are bassist Paul Kingery and drummer Pat Bautz.

Ireland-born Hutton began his music career with the 1965 hit “Roses and Rainbows,” which earned him a spot on a Sonny and Cher national tour that also featured a new group called Cory Wells and The Enemys. Hutton and Wells quickly became friends and began talking about putting a band together that would feature three singers up front who would share lead vocals and be able to harmonize. Chuck Negron, who had sung backup on one of Hutton’s solo albums, became the third voice. In addition to Greenspoon and Allsup, the original band included drummer Floyd Sneed and bassist Joe Schermie, who died earlier this year.

Three Dog Night took its unusual name from the Aborigine tribe’s practice of sleeping with dogs for warmth on cold nights in the Australian outback. The colder the night, the more dogs the tribesmen sleep with, meaning a three-dog night would be pretty chilly.

The new group’s self-titled debut album was released in 1968 and went to number 11 on the charts. That launched a string of 15 albums, including the two live recordings “Captured Lived at the Forum” and “Around the World with Three Dog Night.”

With the advantage of having three lead vocalists with different singing styles, Three Dog Night was able to record music in a variety of styles, using Wells’ love for blues to cover songs like Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” Hutton’s powerful voice gave soul to songs like Argent’s “Liar,” while Negron’s soaring tenor became the signature of “Joy to the World” and “Easy to be Hard,” among others.

While not known for writing any of its own material, Three Dog Night gave international exposure to many then-unknown songwriters. Three Dog Night was the first voice American audiences heard presenting songs by writers like Elton John, Axton, Randy Newman, Paul Williams, Laura Nyro, Nilsson, John Hiatt, Dave Loggins and Leo Sayer. The group also recorded songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Steve Winwood and Stevie Wonder, among others.

Negron briefly rejoined the group when it returned to touring in 1986 before departing for a solo career and Sneed still plays mostly on the west coast with K.A.T.T. and also is gaining a reputation as a pop artist. Schermie was 56 when he suffered a fatal heart attack March 25, 2002.

Three Dog Night’s newest album with the London Symphony Orchestra puts a new powerful sound to many of the group’s biggest hits as well as two brand new songs. The DVD and VHS releases of The Renaissance Center concerts recapture the excitement that made the group the most popular concert attraction of the early 1970s and still keeps it on the road for most of the year.

For more information or to purchase tickets for the Oct. 4 concert, call The Renaissance Center at (615)740-5570. The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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