The Doobie Brothers, The #59 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

(Continued from Part One above...)

Johnston had to be rushed to the hospital for a bleeding ulcer as the group was beginning a tour.  Baxter suggested a keyboardist who had played with him in Steely Dan, Michael McDonald.  With Johnston unable to perform, the other members of the group pitched in and split his vocal duties.  Thus began a new phase in the career of the Doobie Brothers.

 

While Johnston's time as primary singer and songwriter was characterized by guitars and Rock & Roll, McDonald's presence coincided with a shift to keyboard-oriented softer Rock.  This change in sound was immediately evident on the 1976 album Takin' It to the Streets.  The title song stalled at #13.

The single "It Keeps You Runnin" is another outstanding song, its #37 peak position notwithstanding.

The album was the Doobie Brothers fourth straight Top 10 album and another album to go over one million in sales.

The group released the compilation Best of the Doobies, which has gone of the 10-million mark in sales.

 

In 1977, the group released the album Livin' on the Fault Line, promoted by an appearance on the PBS weekly series Soundstage.  The single "Little Darling (I Need You)" was virtually ignored despite its quality.

The album became the group's seventh straight Gold release.  Johnston continued to help out occasionally in the studio and returned to performing briefly in 1976 before once again exiting the group from exhaustion.  He finally left the group and began a brief solo career.

  

In 1978, the Doobie Brothers recorded the best album of the career, Minute by Minute.  Kenny Loggins teamed with McDonald to write "What A Fool Believes", a #1 smash in both the U.S. and Canada and #10 in the Netherlands. It is one of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era!" 

  

The album rose to #1 and gave radio stations great material for nearly two years.  The title song was underrated at #14.

 

The album has sold over three million copies in the U.S. alone.  "Dependin' On You" is another fine song.

  

The song earned the Doobie Brothers a Grammy Award for Record of the Year, while the album scored another for Pop Vocal Performance by a Group and was nominated for Album of the Year. If you haven't heard this tasty instrumental, we will treat you to that just now.  

The title song also landed a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year, one of the few times in history that one artist was nominated twice in the same year for that category.  The group was also nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "South Bay Strut".  Nicolette Larson and Johnston each contributed vocals on the album.

But Baxter, a key part of the early sound of the group, resisted the band's new sound and left the Doobie Brothers, as did Hartman.  Drummer Chet McCracken and string player John Mc Fee (formerly with the band Clover with Huey Lewis) came into the fold.  Multi-instrumentalist Cornelius Bumpus also joined the group, which went on an extended tour to promote Minute by Minute.

 Bobby LaKind, who had been a member of the Doobie Brothers' lighting crew and had contributed congas on previous tracks, joined as a full-time member for the 1981 album One Step Closer.  "Real Love" reached #2 in Canada and #5 in the United States.

 

It was a seventh consecutive Top 10 album for the supergroup.  The title song stalled at #24.

The group released the compilation album Best of the Doobies Volume II, which was certified Gold.

The group lost another long-time member as Porter left, replaced by Willie Weeks for the tour.  After the tour, the final original member, Patrick Simmons, also resigned.  

With no original members remaining and a sound completely different than the group started out with, the Doobie Brothers broke up.  They were joined by Johnston, Simmons, Porter, Hossack and Hartman for a "Farewell Tour" in 1982.

By 1987, Knudsen was an integral part of the Vietnam Veterans Aid Foundation, and he recruited 11 former Doobie Brothers alumni to play in a concert for the cause.  Longtime fans responded in large numbers, and the one-off show became a 12-city tour.  A show at the Hollywood Bowl reportedly was the fastest sell-out there since the Beatles' famous performance in 1964.

 

The group decided to get back together with Johnston, Hartman, Hossack, LaKind, Porter and Simmons combining to release the album Cycles on Capitol Records in 1989.  The single "The Doctor" rose to #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart and 39 overall.

Cycles went Gold, and a successful tour spanned two years, with the group joined by Bumpus on the tour.  In 1991, the Doobie Brothers released the album Brotherhood, but this time, the magic wasn't there and a subsequent tour failed miserably.

Still, the group continued to perform in various combinations, co-headlining a 1994 tour with Foreigner.  In 1995, Michael McDonald reunited with the band for a tour with the Steve Miller Band.

In 1999, the box set Long Train Runnin' 1970-2000 was released by Rhino Records.  The group joined legendary Chicago on tour to help promote the compilation--the combination was compatible, as the two bands repeated the pairing in 2008, 2010 and 2012.  

In 2004, the Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

In 2009, the Doobie Brothers played at halftime of the Orange Bowl football game in Miami, Florida.  The following year, the group released the album World Gone Crazy, with longtime producer Ted Templeman overseeing the project.

The group continues to tour and make other public appearances.

The Doobie Brothers scored 21 career hits with seven Top 10 songs and one #1.

At one time, the Doobies enjoyed a streak of nine consecutive studio albums to go Gold or better.  The band earned two Grammy Awards out of four nominations.