Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 16, 1994 TAG: 9401160153
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
The singer-songwriter died in his sleep at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills, said his manager, David Spero. Nilsson, whose real name was Harry Edward Nelson III, had been recovering from a massive heart attack he suffered last Valentine's Day.
On Thursday, Nilsson had completed work on a new album called "Lost and Found."
"He was strong enough to go into the studio and live a pretty normal life but not strong enough to get bypass surgery," Spero said in a telephone interview from Cleveland.
He said Nilsson would be missed by the people within the entertainment industry who knew him as a talented artist and compassionate human being.
"Everyone who knew him loved him," Spero said. "He was that kind of person. He never looked out for himself. He always cared about everybody else."
"This is a very sad day for me," said Mark Hudson, the album's producer. "Working with him the past year has been a great lesson for me and I'll never forget it."
Nilsson won a Grammy award for best male contemporary vocal in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin," the theme song to the Academy Award-winning movie "Midnight Cowboy" starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
He also won a best male pop vocal Grammy in 1972 for "Without You," a song rerecorded this year by Mariah Carey.
Although Nilsson was admired for his writing skills, both of the songs that earned him Grammys were written by others. Fred Neil wrote "Everybody's Talkin" and Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger wrote "Without You."
Among Nilsson's compositions were hits for the Monkees ("Cuddly Toy"), Three Dog Night ("One"), the Yardbirds and Herb Alpert.
by CNB