Alan O'Day goes to Rock N Roll Heaven

[stevations]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/undercover-angel-singer-alan-oday-525059

Story says he wrote Angel Baby for Helen Reddy.....story was probably written by someone who was not born yet when Angie Baby was released. My Angel Baby was by Toby Beau. I did not know Alan wrote Rock N Roll Heaven. Music and radio was so great back then.

 

[Ultimajock]

...the Helen Reddy hit was "Angie Baby," which O'Day indeed composed. There had been a hit in the early days of the Rock Era, "Angel Baby," by Rosie & The Originals, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts in 1960...

 

[ixnay]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/undercover-angel-singer-alan-oday-525059

Story says he wrote Angel Baby for Helen Reddy.....story was probably written by someone who was not born yet when Angie Baby was released. My Angel Baby was by Toby Beau. I did not know Alan wrote Rock N Roll Heaven. Music and radio was so great back then.

"Undercover Angel" was a hit when O'Day was quite literally in middle age (for him), as things turned out. I had no idea he wrote "Angie Baby" or "R&RH" either. I turned 13 in 1974, the year they were hits.

As an aside, I remember thinking as I arrived at the R&RHOF during a Northeast Ohio vacation in 1999, Well, here I am, at the gates of rock and roll heaven. Let's find out what's so cool about this place.... Even as Diana Ross's "Love Hangover" was playing on the speaker outside the entrance.

RIP, Alan.

ixnay

 

[Smittian]

...the Helen Reddy hit was "Angie Baby," which O'Day indeed composed. There had been a hit in the early days of the Rock Era, "Angel Baby," by Rosie & The Originals, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts in 1960...

And "My Angel Baby" (different song) was a hit for Toby Beau in 1978

 

[Fastphilly]

I wonder if his song was the only top 40 hit on the Pacific Record label?

 

[RIN3GUY]

I wonder if his song was the only top 40 hit on the Pacific Record label?

No, it wasn't the only one. Alan had one other minor follow-up hit entitled, "Started Out Dancing, Ended Up Making Love." It reached #73 Billboard, #93 Cash Box. The flip side was his own rendition of "Angie Baby." His first chart credit was "The Drum," a #29 hit he wrote for Bobby Sherman in 1971. He also wrote one of Cher's Top 40 hits. But his creative talents were in no way limited to the '70s. He released a new album as recently as 2008, and just last year he wrote and sang the title tune for the film, "You Don't Say." And he was busy with many other musical projects in the interim!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u3saq0vo1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ZCF5BFRJ0

 

[Ultimajock]

I wonder if his song was the only top 40 hit on the Pacific Record label?

No, it wasn't the only one. Alan had one other minor follow-up hit entitled, "Started Out Dancing, Ended Up Making Love." It reached #73 Billboard, #93 Cash Box. The flip side was his own rendition of "Angie Baby."

...well, that would actually not be a Top 40 hit if it barely cracked the Top 75. As for the Pacific Records label, I can't recall any other hits they cracked the Top 40 of the Billboard or Cash Box charts with; I was about to say that Hot's "The Angel in Your Arms" would have been another, but I checked and that actually came out on another WEA subsidiary label, Big Tree...

 

[lost45]

Gonna Miss Alan "Undercover Angel" O'Day. Sweet guy. Great songwriter..."Angie Baby" "Rock & Roll Heaven" "Train of Thought" (Cher). Miss ya Alan! I have interviewed over 850 artists, but you were one of the funniest and most genuine of them all!

 

[Thomps2525]

O'Day also wrote Bobby Sherman's The Drum and co-wrote a lot of songs for the Muppet Babies tv series. See, what I think happened in 1984 was that someone from the Jim Henson Company decided that Elmo and Grover weren't nearly irritating and annoying enough: "Hey, I have a great idea---let's make a new show where they're babies!"