Biography
Born on March 3, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Buzzy Linhart counted Agnes Linhart, a music educator, as his mother. The crows heard singing in the 1941 Walt Disney animated feature Dumbo supplied his earliest musical spark. His father served as grand master in a Mason lodge, and Linhart recounted to AMG during a May 2002 interview: "He played some percussion and did novelty songs with an act called the Cornpoppers in their lodge so I saw this stuff when I was two and three years old. Rock & roll wasn't in yet, my parents liked to produce shows....They would do these big stage extravaganzas, a lot of music from the 1890s, they would write entire shows...including minstrel shows, so I really heard a lot of good live music when I was very young." Classical drum lessons began for him at age seven, when he also joined the grade-school orchestra.
Reflecting on his debut ensemble, Linhart observed: "When John Coltrane played it was just deeper. I've been trying to hire musicians that give you those goose bumps since I was starting my first band at age 11, the Five Diamonds. It was Dixieland, and we were reading out of the famous combo/orch books." The Bel-Aires followed, distinct from the Scottish ensemble sharing that name, and he maintained a group through junior high and high school, occasionally fronting it under his own name. Robert Matson, the mallet man for the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, instructed him in classical and jazz xylophone; as Linhart recalled, "I got college-level music training when I was 13 and 14, and when I went into the Navy Conservatory's college-level school of music." He drove to Washington, D.C., to enlist in the Navy Symphony, which accepted him despite his 4-F status with the intention of assigning him solely to musical duties. Emphysema struck during the Cuban Missile Crisis after he fought a fire, and "a guy was killed ten feet from me on watch," events that triggered post-traumatic stress disorder. Discharged at nineteen, he noted: "Took my vibes in a car with this wild guy named Goose from Jersey City who got out through the psych ward like I did and we drove straight down to Miami to my friend's house 'cause he had written me a letter about the folk scene down there."
During a coffeehouse tour, a 1943 Jaguar arrived carrying a nineteen-year-old David Crosby, who transported Linhart to a club featuring Crosby alongside his brother Chip Crosby and, onstage, Mama Cass Elliot. The following night brought Fred Neil. Concurrently, Linhart auditioned for Tennessee Williams, whose office promptly summoned him to join the acting staff for the full season. That same evening he encountered Fred Neil, who invited him to play vibes. "I called Tennessee Williams' office the next day, I was young and didn't quite realize what was happening...I wanted to play with him [Fred Neil] so badly that I called Tennessee Williams' office back and said, 'Could you please tell him I'm very sorry but I can't work with him this season [laughing now at the absurdity of what he was doing] but I certainly would enjoy working with him some time in the future.'" Linhart thereby entered the folk-rock milieu "and started really starving." He began associating with Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, and Dylan, remarking that "it was crazy the quality of music we were exposed to."
Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Timeless Love,” arranged by Felix Pappalardi with Linhart on vibes, marked the first New York recording he tracked. He performed in a trio alongside Tim Hardin and Pappalardi while also supplying vibes for Richie Havens at the Night Owl. Record executive Lou Reizner captured demos and pursued a Mercury contract, yet only after Linhart opened for Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels in London did the connection yield a deal, producing the 1969 debut simply titled Buzzy. Music, named for his band, and The Time to Live Is Now both appeared in 1971. His song “The Love's Still Growing” featured on Carly Simon’s 1971 debut, on which he also performed. Kama Sutra issued another album titled Buzzy in 1972, distinguished by insiders as “The Black Album” to avoid confusion with the 1969 release. Pussycats Can Go Far emerged on Atlantic in 1974. His contributions extended to Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys’ 1973 album Last Chance Dance and to vibraphone parts on recordings by producer Jimi Hendrix, a friend from the Cat Mother circle.
At an April 2002 New York City event honoring Linhart, producer/engineer Eddie Kramer described Jimi Hendrix’s vision for the First Rays of the New Rising Sun project and explained how Linhart’s vibes came to appear on the original Cry Of Love album. Jake & the Family Jewels, LaBelle, Barry Manilow, John Sebastian, Mother's Finest, and friend Moogy Klingman, among numerous others, incorporated “the Buzzman” compositions or performances on their releases. Klingman oversaw two notable compilations, Old Times, Good Times: A Musical History and The Buzzy/Moogy Sessions, 1983-1994, that document this history. Perhaps Linhart’s most recognized song, co-written with Mark Klingman, remains “Friends,” which has appeared on multiple Bette Midler albums and functions almost as her signature theme. His website identifies him as head songwriter, comedy writer, and Bill Cosby’s sidekick Buzzy on the 1976 family-hour variety program Cos; it further notes his role as music director of The Groove Tube and composer of the score for the film Rush It starring Tom Beringer, as well as music for the off-Broadway musical The Trials of Oz.
Linhart performed on the August 1998 premiere of the Fox and Friends morning news magazine on the Fox News Network, after which a clip of his singing served as a music bumper for several years. He and Moogy Klingman returned for the program’s third-anniversary broadcast, delivering “Friends” to 177 countries at once. Later associates included rhythm guru Muruga, George Clinton, Buddy Miles, David Peel, Harvey Mandel, and the Cannabis Healers. BuzzArt Publishing Company maintains fifteen songs under BuzzArt Publishing Catalog, Vol. One. The site also records that Buzzy Linhart resides in the Bay Area of Northern California; although wheelchair-bound from degenerated knees, he persists in writing, recording, and performing within the limits of his health.
Reflecting on his debut ensemble, Linhart observed: "When John Coltrane played it was just deeper. I've been trying to hire musicians that give you those goose bumps since I was starting my first band at age 11, the Five Diamonds. It was Dixieland, and we were reading out of the famous combo/orch books." The Bel-Aires followed, distinct from the Scottish ensemble sharing that name, and he maintained a group through junior high and high school, occasionally fronting it under his own name. Robert Matson, the mallet man for the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, instructed him in classical and jazz xylophone; as Linhart recalled, "I got college-level music training when I was 13 and 14, and when I went into the Navy Conservatory's college-level school of music." He drove to Washington, D.C., to enlist in the Navy Symphony, which accepted him despite his 4-F status with the intention of assigning him solely to musical duties. Emphysema struck during the Cuban Missile Crisis after he fought a fire, and "a guy was killed ten feet from me on watch," events that triggered post-traumatic stress disorder. Discharged at nineteen, he noted: "Took my vibes in a car with this wild guy named Goose from Jersey City who got out through the psych ward like I did and we drove straight down to Miami to my friend's house 'cause he had written me a letter about the folk scene down there."
During a coffeehouse tour, a 1943 Jaguar arrived carrying a nineteen-year-old David Crosby, who transported Linhart to a club featuring Crosby alongside his brother Chip Crosby and, onstage, Mama Cass Elliot. The following night brought Fred Neil. Concurrently, Linhart auditioned for Tennessee Williams, whose office promptly summoned him to join the acting staff for the full season. That same evening he encountered Fred Neil, who invited him to play vibes. "I called Tennessee Williams' office the next day, I was young and didn't quite realize what was happening...I wanted to play with him [Fred Neil] so badly that I called Tennessee Williams' office back and said, 'Could you please tell him I'm very sorry but I can't work with him this season [laughing now at the absurdity of what he was doing] but I certainly would enjoy working with him some time in the future.'" Linhart thereby entered the folk-rock milieu "and started really starving." He began associating with Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, and Dylan, remarking that "it was crazy the quality of music we were exposed to."
Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Timeless Love,” arranged by Felix Pappalardi with Linhart on vibes, marked the first New York recording he tracked. He performed in a trio alongside Tim Hardin and Pappalardi while also supplying vibes for Richie Havens at the Night Owl. Record executive Lou Reizner captured demos and pursued a Mercury contract, yet only after Linhart opened for Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels in London did the connection yield a deal, producing the 1969 debut simply titled Buzzy. Music, named for his band, and The Time to Live Is Now both appeared in 1971. His song “The Love's Still Growing” featured on Carly Simon’s 1971 debut, on which he also performed. Kama Sutra issued another album titled Buzzy in 1972, distinguished by insiders as “The Black Album” to avoid confusion with the 1969 release. Pussycats Can Go Far emerged on Atlantic in 1974. His contributions extended to Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys’ 1973 album Last Chance Dance and to vibraphone parts on recordings by producer Jimi Hendrix, a friend from the Cat Mother circle.
At an April 2002 New York City event honoring Linhart, producer/engineer Eddie Kramer described Jimi Hendrix’s vision for the First Rays of the New Rising Sun project and explained how Linhart’s vibes came to appear on the original Cry Of Love album. Jake & the Family Jewels, LaBelle, Barry Manilow, John Sebastian, Mother's Finest, and friend Moogy Klingman, among numerous others, incorporated “the Buzzman” compositions or performances on their releases. Klingman oversaw two notable compilations, Old Times, Good Times: A Musical History and The Buzzy/Moogy Sessions, 1983-1994, that document this history. Perhaps Linhart’s most recognized song, co-written with Mark Klingman, remains “Friends,” which has appeared on multiple Bette Midler albums and functions almost as her signature theme. His website identifies him as head songwriter, comedy writer, and Bill Cosby’s sidekick Buzzy on the 1976 family-hour variety program Cos; it further notes his role as music director of The Groove Tube and composer of the score for the film Rush It starring Tom Beringer, as well as music for the off-Broadway musical The Trials of Oz.
Linhart performed on the August 1998 premiere of the Fox and Friends morning news magazine on the Fox News Network, after which a clip of his singing served as a music bumper for several years. He and Moogy Klingman returned for the program’s third-anniversary broadcast, delivering “Friends” to 177 countries at once. Later associates included rhythm guru Muruga, George Clinton, Buddy Miles, David Peel, Harvey Mandel, and the Cannabis Healers. BuzzArt Publishing Company maintains fifteen songs under BuzzArt Publishing Catalog, Vol. One. The site also records that Buzzy Linhart resides in the Bay Area of Northern California; although wheelchair-bound from degenerated knees, he persists in writing, recording, and performing within the limits of his health.
Albums
