Starland Vocal Band

Starland Vocal Band
Starland Vocal Band : June 1977
Background information
Origin	Washington, D.C., US
Genres	Pop, folk rock, country, soft rock
Years active	1976–1981
Labels	RCA, Windsong Records
Associated acts	John Denver
Past members	Bill Danoff Taffy Danoff Jon Carroll Margot Chapman Steve Waites

Starland Vocal Band was an American pop band, known primarily for "Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles of 1976.

Career

The group began as Fat City, a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert.

Danoff and Nivert co-wrote the song "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado" and then, with John Denver, "Take Me Home, Country Roads" which became a hit single in 1971. The duo recorded two albums as Fat City, and two more as Bill & Taffy, all released from 1969-1974. In the mid 70s, Starland Vocal Band was formed and subsequently signed to Denver's label Windsong Records.

Starland Vocal Band was also composed of Jon Carroll (keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Margot Chapman (vocals).^[1] Carroll and Chapman married after meeting as members of the group, but later divorced. Their son Ben Carroll is also a musician.

The group's debut album was the self-titled Starland Vocal Band and included "Afternoon Delight". The song was a US #1 hit and the album also charted. They were nominated for four Grammy Awards and won two: Best Arrangement for Voices and Best New Artist. The song also reached #18 in the UK. The follow-up album, Rear View Mirror, did not fare as well, with 13 weeks on the Billboard 200 and a peak of #104.

The band hosted a variety show, The Starland Vocal Band Show, that ran on CBS for six weeks in the summer of 1977. David Letterman was a writer and regular on the show, which also featured Mark Russell, Jeff Altman, and Proctor and Bergman. April Kelly was a writer for the series.

The band broke up in 1981, unable to match their previous success. Danoff and Nivert divorced shortly afterward. Each of the band members went on to a solo career.

In 1998 the Starland Vocal Band reunited for a few concerts, often featuring the children of the four original members as vocalists. In 2007, they appeared on a 1970s special on the New Jersey Network (NJN), singing "Afternoon Delight".

In 2010 Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time.^[2]

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US
1976	Starland Vocal Band Release date: 1976 Label: Windsong	20
1977	Rear View Mirror Release date: April 15, 1977 Label: Windsong	104
1978	Late Nite Radio Release date: March 1978 Label: Windsong	—
1980	4 X 4 Release date: March 11, 1980 Label: Windsong	—
1980	Christmas at Home Release date: November 25, 1980 Label: Breaker Records	—

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Album
		US	CAN	CAN AC
1976	"Afternoon Delight"	1	1	6	Starland Vocal Band
	"California Day"	66	—	22
1977	"Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll!"	71	92	—
	"Liberated Woman"	—	—	—	Rear View Mirror
	"The Light of My Life"	—	—	36
1978	"Mr. Wrong"	—	—	33
	"Love, I Thought I Would Never Find Love"	—	—	—	Late Nite Radio
1979	"Loving You with My Eyes"	71	—	26	4 X 4

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Band won two awards from five nominations.

Year	Nominee/work	Award	Result
1977	Starland Vocal Band	Best New Artist	Won
	"Afternoon Delight"	Record of the Year	Nominated
		Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals	Nominated
		Best Arrangement for Voices (duo, group or chorus)	Won

Trivia

• The March 8, 2011 episode of Glee featured "Afternoon Delight"
• In The Simpsons episode "'Round Springfield", Homer Simpson suggests that Lisa get a tattoo of Bleeding Gums Murphy (who died after Lisa performed "Stars and Stripes Forever" at school) just like he did with Starland Vocal Band (to which Homer realizes his mistake and says that the band sucked); another Simpsons episode ("The Fat and the Furriest") had Lenny, Carl, and Bart dance to and sing Afternoon Delight as Homer is attacked by a bear
• In the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, the main character Will Hunting is forced to visit a hypnotherapist; he pretends to be under hypnosis by telling a youthly trauma, soon converts his story into the lyrics of "Afternoon Delight", and finishes by singing it, showing he was pretending to be hypnotized; the song is played over the closing credits
• In the movie PCU, Jeremy Piven's character selects the Starland Vocal Band's CD from a group and puts it into the player on repeat and then locks the entertainment center forcing the party goers to hear it over and over again
• An episode of Arrested Development involves two different references to "Afternoon Delight": one involved a mixup between a playful term for sex and marijuana; the other was an awkward rendition of the song between relatives Maeby and Michael Bluth and afterwards a duet by George Michael Bluth and Lindsay Bluth
• A Sports Night episode refers to Starland Vocal Band winning a Best New Artist award for 1978, beating out Elvis Costello; however, the year they won was 1977 and they did not compete against Costello—the other nominees were Boston, The Brothers Johnson, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, and Wild Cherry
• In the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, a scene in Ron's office with Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) and Champ Kind (David Koechner) where Ron explains the concept of love by breaking out into a rendition of "Afternoon Delight". Of course the others provide priceless harmonies.

References

1. discogs.com Starland Vocal Band - Albums
2. billboard.com - the 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time

External links

• Starland Vocal Band at AllMusic
• Starland Vocal Band at TV.com
• Starland Vocal Band at the Internet Movie Database
• The Starland Vocal Band Show at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Danoff official website
• Jon Carroll official website