Biography
Truett Pratt, a native of San Antonio, Texas, first sang in his church choir before joining a rock band while still in high school. Jerry McClain, from Pasadena, California, likewise performed in a choir. In the mid-1960s McClain crossed paths with Michael Omartian; together they formed American Scene and cut sides for Dot Records. Omartian launched a production career in 1970 whose credits later encompassed hits by Christopher Cross, Cher, Dion, Tom Johnston, Jermaine Jackson, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, and Dionne Warwick, among them “Love at First Sight,” “Deja Vu,” and “Don’t You Ever Take Your Love Away.” He brought McClain and Pratt together, after which the pair formed Brother Love and began cutting commercial jingles.
Rechristened Pratt & McClain, they landed a deal with ABC/Dunhill Records and issued one album. Producers Omartian and Steve Barri then placed them on the Warner Bros. subsidiary Reprise, where they were tapped to record the theme for the long-running ABC-TV series Happy Days. Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel wrote the song, having already supplied themes for the network’s Love American Style, Wonder Woman, Laverne and Shirley, and The Love Boat. Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” had served as the program’s original theme. The resulting single, “Happy Days” backed with “Cruisin’ With the Fonz,” climbed to number five pop in spring 1976 and was featured on the duo’s second LP, Pratt & McClain Featuring Happy Days. Their follow-up, a cover of Mitch Ryder’s “Devil With the Blue Dress On,” reached number 71 pop in summer 1976. Although the pair never returned to the charts, the lone hit continues to accompany the show’s opening and closing credits in perpetual syndication reruns and on Nickelodeon’s Nick at Nite block. Pratt & McClain’s “Happy Days” appears on the Rhino anthologies Super Hits of the ’70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18 and Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box.
Rechristened Pratt & McClain, they landed a deal with ABC/Dunhill Records and issued one album. Producers Omartian and Steve Barri then placed them on the Warner Bros. subsidiary Reprise, where they were tapped to record the theme for the long-running ABC-TV series Happy Days. Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel wrote the song, having already supplied themes for the network’s Love American Style, Wonder Woman, Laverne and Shirley, and The Love Boat. Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” had served as the program’s original theme. The resulting single, “Happy Days” backed with “Cruisin’ With the Fonz,” climbed to number five pop in spring 1976 and was featured on the duo’s second LP, Pratt & McClain Featuring Happy Days. Their follow-up, a cover of Mitch Ryder’s “Devil With the Blue Dress On,” reached number 71 pop in summer 1976. Although the pair never returned to the charts, the lone hit continues to accompany the show’s opening and closing credits in perpetual syndication reruns and on Nickelodeon’s Nick at Nite block. Pratt & McClain’s “Happy Days” appears on the Rhino anthologies Super Hits of the ’70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18 and Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box.
Albums
