John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter and musician who founded the rock band the Lovin' Spoonful in 1964 with Zal Yanovsky. During his time in the Lovin' Spoonful, Sebastian wrote and sang some of the band's biggest hits such as "Do You Believe in Magic", “Summer in the City”, "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind", and "Daydream". Sebastian left the Spoonful after the 1968 album Everything Playing to focus on a solo career, releasing John B. Sebastian in 1970.
He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – Lovin' Spoonful Biography , rockhall.com. Retrieved June 4, 2015. and scored a U.S. No. 1 hit in 1976 with "Welcome Back", which was used as the theme song on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
Sebastian was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 as a member of the Lovin' Spoonful.
Early life
Sebastian was born in New York City and grew up in Little Italy and Greenwich Village. His father, John Sebastian ( John Sebastian Pugliese), was a noted classical harmonica player, and his mother, Jane (born Mary Jane Bishir), was a radio script writer.March, Jeff, and Marti Childs. Echoes of the Sixties: Intimate Profiles of 43 of the Musical Composers and Performers Who Influenced an Entire Generation. Billboard Books, 1999, p. 375–379; His godmother was the actor Vivian Vance, who was a close friend of his mother.Office of the State Historian (New Mexico), "Vivian Vance", newmexicohistory.org. Retrieved June 3, 2015. His godfather and first babysitter was children's book illustrator Garth Williams, a friend of his father.Boehme, Mike, "Payoff Time for John Sebastian: Pop Music: The Former Lovin' Spoonful Leader, at the Coach House Tonight, Hasn't Had a Record Since 1976, But Not For Want of Trying", Los Angeles Times, latimes.com, April 2, 1993. Eleanor Roosevelt was a neighbor who lived across the hall.
Sebastian grew up surrounded by music and musicians, including Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie, and hearing such players as Lead Belly and Mississippi John Hurt in his own neighborhood.Songwriter Hall of Fame John Sebastian biography. . Retrieved January 5, 2009.John Sebastian biography at www.johnbsebastian.com . Retrieved January 6, 2009. He graduated from Blair Academy, a private boarding school in Blairstown, New Jersey, in 1962.Blagden, Nellie, "Talk About a Steady Job— Miss Ellen Has Toiled at Blair Academy For 69 Years," People, September 26, 1977, archived online at People.com. Retrieved June 3, 2015. He next attended New York University for just over a year, but dropped out as he became more interested in musical pursuits.Tuma, Debbie, "John Sebastian: Finding His Roots" (interview with John Sebastian), die-augenweide.de. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
Early career In the early 1960s, Sebastian developed an interest in blues music and in playing harmonica in a blues style, rather than the classical style of his father. Through his father's connections, he met and was influenced by blues musicians Sonny Terry and Lightnin' Hopkins (for whom Sebastian served as "unofficial tour guide and valet" when Hopkins was in New York City).Williamson, Chet, "A Lovin' Spoonful of Blues: The John Sebastian Trio With Paul Rishell and Annie Raines," Worcester Magazine, June 12, 2002, p. 64.Bob Ruggiero, "John Sebastian & Lightnin' Hopkins: The Odd Couple," Houston Press, houstonpress.com, September 25, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2015. Sebastian became part of the folk and blues scene that was developing in Greenwich Village, which in part later gave rise to folk rock.Ruiz, Toni, & Henri Llach, "Fred Neil: The Other Side of 60s Greenwich Village Folk Scene," Perfect Sound Forever, July 2003, available online at furious.com. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
In addition to harmonica, Sebastian played guitar and occasionally autoharp. One of Sebastian's first recording gigs was playing guitar and harmonica for Billy Faier's 1964 album The Beast of Billy Faier. He also played on Fred Neil's album Bleecker & MacDougal and Tom Rush's self-titled album in 1965. He played in the Even Dozen Jug Band and in the Mugwumps, which split to form the Lovin' Spoonful and the Mamas & the Papas. Bob Dylan invited him to play bass on his Bringing It All Back Home sessions (though Sebastian's parts, from the first day of the recording session, did not appear on the album)Unterberger, Richie. Turn! Turn! Turn! The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution. Backbeat Books, 2002, p. 109–110. . and to join Dylan's new electric touring band, but Sebastian declined in order to concentrate on his own project, the Lovin' Spoonful.Sounes, Howard. Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. Doubleday, 2001, p. 121. .
The Lovin' Spoonful
Sebastian was joined by Zal Yanovsky, Steve Boone, and Joe Butler in the Spoonful, which was named after "The Coffee Blues," a Mississippi John Hurt song. The Lovin' Spoonful, which blended folk-rock and pop with elements of blues, country, and jug band music, became part of the American response to the British Invasion, and was noted for such hits as "Do You Believe in Magic", "Jug Band Music", "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice", "Daydream", "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?", "Summer in the City", "Rain on the Roof", "Nashville Cats", "Darling Be Home Soon", and "Six O'Clock".Bogdanov, Vladimir, et al., ed. All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music, 4th ed. Backbeat Books, 2001, p. 240.
The band, however, began to implode after a 1966 marijuana bust in San Francisco involving Boone and Yanovsky, a Canadian citizen. Facing deportation, they revealed the name of their dealer to police, which caused a fan backlash and added to the internal tension already created by the diverging interests of the band members. Neither Sebastian nor Butler were involved in the matter, both being away from San Francisco at the time. Yanovsky subsequently left the band and was replaced by Jerry Yester, after which the band's musical style veered away from its previous eclectic blend and became more pop-oriented.Boone, Steve, with Tony Moss. Hotter Than a Match Head: My Life On the Run with The Lovin' Spoonful. ECW Press, 2014. .Kiersh, Edward. Where Are You Now, Bo Diddley? The Artists Who Made Us Rock and Where They Are Now. Doubleday, 1986, p. 36–37. .
Sebastian would reunite with the band in 1980 and appear in the film One-Trick Pony. He would later be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, this was the last time Sebastian would play with the original line up.
In 2020 Sebastian reunited with Lovin Spoonful members Joe Butler and Steve Boone.
Solo career 1960s–1970s
Broadway musical composer One of Sebastian's first projects after leaving the Spoonful was composing the music and lyrics for a play with music, Jimmy Shine, written by Murray Schisgal. It opened on Broadway in December 1968, with Dustin Hoffman in the title role, and ran until April 1969, for a total of over 150 performances."Theater: Urban Picaresque", Time, Time.com, December 13, 1968. Retrieved June 5, 2015.Pollock, Bruce. By the Time We Got to Woodstock: The Great Rock 'n' Roll Revolution of 1969. Backbeat Books, 2009, p. 94–95.Bordman, Gerald. Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930–1969. Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, p. 429. .Playbill Vault, "Jimmy Shine" (database entry), playbillvault.com. Retrieved June 5, 2015.The total number of Jimmy Shine performances reported varies: Pollock reports 166 performances, compared to 161 by Playbill Vault and 153 by Bordman. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sebastian wrote a stage musical adaptation of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web in consultation with his godfather Garth Williams, who illustrated White's original book. The proposed musical included 20 songs, some of which Sebastian performed in concert, but the musical was never produced.Samuels, Lennox, "'Charlotte's Web' Captures Sebastian" , Milwaukee Sentinel, August 8, 1980, Section Let's Go, p. 3."Sha Na Na Revisits the 50s and 60s", The New York Times, March 13, 1981, archived at NYTimes.com. Retrieved June 8, 2015."Lot 36090, (E. B. White). John Sebastian. Charlotte's Web, (Musical) Based on the Book by E. B. White. Music and Lyrics by John Sebastian. Adaptation by John Sebastian." (auction lot listing for script). Originally published at https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/10770633_e-b-white-john-sebastian-charlottes-web, February 8, 2012. Archived at Webcitation.org, June 8, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
Woodstock appearance
In August 1969, Sebastian made an unscheduled appearance at Woodstock. He traveled to the festival as a spectator, but was asked to appear when the organizers suddenly needed an acoustic performer after a rain break because they couldn't set up amps on stage for Santana until the water was swept off.Myers, Marc, "The Story Behind 'Darling Be Home Soon' by the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian", The Wall Street Journal, wsj.com, December 28, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2016. Sources that have tried to reconstruct the Woodstock running order differ on the exact time and position of Sebastian's unplanned set, with some stating that he played on Saturday, August 16, immediately after Country Joe McDonald;Evans, Mike, and Paul Kingsbury. Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World. Sterling Publishing Co., 2009, p. 120. .Perone, James E. Woodstock: An Encyclopedia of the Music and Art Fair. Greenwood Press, 2005, p. 43. others saying that on that Saturday, Santana followed McDonald and Sebastian appeared after Santana;Woodstock Lineup, Woodstock.com. Retrieved June 4, 2015.Graff, Gary, "Woodstock Box Set Unearths Famous Festival's Rarities", Billboard, billboard.com, June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2015.Peppard, Alan, "Pop Culture Blog: Welcome Back, John Sebastian, Playing at Poor David's", Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com, September 25, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2015. and still others, including McDonald, recalling that Sebastian actually played on Friday, August 15, at some point after Richie Havens opened the festival.Spitz, Bob. Barefoot in Babylon: The Creation of the Woodstock Music Festival, 1969. Penguin (Plume), 1979, p. 268–270. .McDonald, Joe, "Country Joe's Place: Woodstock's 40th Anniversary: 'If you can remember the 60s ...'", countryjoe.com. Retrieved June 5, 2015.Monck, Chip (attributed by Joe McDonald via original link at http://www.countryjoe.com/woodstock40.htm), "Woodstock 1969 Lineup and Songlist", originally published at digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com, archived at archive.org July 19, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2015.Fornatale, Pete. Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock. Touchstone, 2009, p. 49–50. .