Today we salute another aging rocker--Jim Messina. Messina turns 62 today.
If the name is familiar, it's because Messina was part of the mid-1970s commercial success, Loggins and Messina. But, it's in a couple of groups prior to that where Messina was a key contributor and, artistically, proved his musical chops.
Messina joined super-group Buffalo Springfield in 1968--an outfit which included Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. Messina played bass and was in the band only long enough to participate on their last album, Last Time Around.
After the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, Messina and Furay formed Poco--an innovative group credited with being a key architect of the southern California country rock sound. Poco was a favorite of album-oriented rock radio stations in the 1970s but had uneven commercial success as only a handful of hits entered the top 20 charts during that time.
Messina left Poco in October 1970. He became a studio producer for Columbia Records which is where he met Kenny Loggins. Messina was producing Loggin's solo record but ended up sitting in on several cuts, singing back-up vocals and playing guitar. The album ultimately was titled Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In. The rest, as they say, is history as the duo ended up making several popular, successful albums before splitting in 1976.
Happy Birthday--Jim Messina!
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