Buzzy Linhart, freewheeling fixture of Greenwich Village music scene, dies at 76

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Last edited Sat Feb 22, 2020, 05:40 PM - Edit history (2)

Obituaries

Buzzy Linhart, freewheeling fixture of Greenwich Village music scene, dies at 76

By Harrison Smith
February 19, 2020 at 7:30 PM EST

Buzzy Linhart, a journeyman musician who became a freewheeling fixture of the 1960s and ’70s music scene in Greenwich Village, where he collaborated with Bette Midler and Carly Simon, recorded with Jimi Hendrix and inspired a Youngbloods track that grew into a hippie anthem, died Feb. 13 at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 76.

Mr. Linhart had long struggled with physical and mental-health issues, which contributed to a roughly decade-long stretch of homelessness in which he lived in cars or on the streets, stayed at friends’ homes and found shelter after-hours inside a Los Angeles smoothie shack. He was back on his feet by the early 1990s, said his son Xeno Rasmusson, but stopped performing in 2018 after he had a heart attack and seizure.

Mainstream recognition eluded Mr. Linhart — “I was born under an asterisk,” he once said — but he drew a cult following for his improvised jam sessions, acrobatic concerts and offbeat lyrics, which he punctuated with yells, scatting and cartoonish noises. Known mainly as a singer-songwriter, he also played piano, guitar, drums and vibraphone, sometimes leaping from instrument to instrument while performing at venues such as the Cafe Au Go Go in Manhattan.

“He would play his guitar wildly,” songwriting partner Moogy Klingman said in a 2006 documentary, “Famous: The Buzzy Linhart Story.” “He would sing scat for 20 minutes, play a vibes solo for 20 minutes, morph one song into another song so by the time he finished a single drum beat he would have done 10 songs to that one drum beat. There was nothing like Buzzy.”

Trained as a percussionist, Mr. Linhart began recording professionally at 16 and came to New York in 1963 to perform with singer-songwriter Fred Neil, whose song “Everybody’s Talkin’?” became a hit for Harry Nilsson. He went on to appear on dozens of records, including for Tim Hardin, Richie Havens, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Stephen Stills and John Sebastian, a onetime roommate later known as the lead singer of the Lovin’ Spoonful.

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Read more Washington Post obituaries

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The obits at the end are not recent, just related.

Famous: The Buzzy Linhart Story
11,755 views • Feb 19, 2015

samechick
381 subscribers

Famous: The Buzzy Linhart Story is a celebration of the life and times of Buzzy Linhart, a fixture of the 60s and 70s NYC Greenwich Village Scene, his obvious love of making music and the energy with which he attacks a song are traits that are rarely seen in the industry today. His songs blur the lines between genres, blending jazz, rock, folk, blues and even raga so seamlessly that it's easy to understand why no other artist has ever attempted to follow in his footsteps.

This documentary explores Buzzy's life through his own words and those of his peers, weaving his stories and his music together in what can best be described as a musical diary.

For more information about Buzzy please visit: www.BuzzyLinhart.com

Sunday, December 21, 2003: Anybody Here Remember 'The Groove Tube' ???

[marble falls]

1. Yep, with Buzzy Linhart running naked after a naked hippie chick.