Emitt Lynn Rhodes (February 25, 1950 – July 19, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer. A cult figure of baroque pop and power pop, he is best known for his solo albums, released from 1970 to 1973, on which he played every instrument and pioneered home recording techniques. He was nicknamed the "One-Man Beatles" due to his musical and vocal style.
At the age of 14, Rhodes began his career as the drummer of the Emerals (later renamed the Palace Guard). He then formed the band The Merry-Go-Round for which he was the leader and primary songwriter on the band's only album, The Merry-Go-Round (1967). In 1969, Rhodes left the band and began a solo career. His self-titled 1970 album, recorded in his parents' garage and on which he played all instruments, was acclaimed upon release. After its first single "Fresh as a Daisy" reached #54 on the Billboard pop charts, A&M Records released an album of Rhodes's The Merry-Go-Round songs as The American Dream (1970), credited solely to Rhodes and released without his input.
Rhodes recorded and released two more albums, Mirror (1971) and Farewell to Paradise (1973). However, he could not meet demands required by his contract with ABC/Dunhill Records and quit performing after 1973 to work as a recording engineer and producer. In 2014, Rhodes began working with producer Chris Price on new music. Rainbow Ends (2016), his first album in 43 years, features Rhodes accompanied by a backup band; it received positive reviews.
Early life Emitt Lynn Rhodes was born on February 25, 1950, in Decatur, Illinois. Around the age of four, he moved with his parents to Hawthorne, California. His father, a machinist, was "lured" to California by the aerospace industry. Rhodes attended Hawthorne High School.
Career
1964–1969: The Palace Guard and the Merry-Go-Round When Rhodes was in the sixth grade, he discovered a passion for music after he enrolled in a school drum class to avoid studying. At the age of 14, he became the drummer of the garage band the Emerals, made up of friends from his high school. Rhodes initially joined the group as a substitute drummer as the previous drummer had fallen ill, but he was popular with audiences and became the group's permanent drummer. He also became the drummer largely because his parents had a garage that the band could practice in. Rhodes attended the same school as the Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson (Rhodes was a freshman during Wilson's senior year) and joked that "[Wilson] borrowed my drums and broke a drum pedal and owes me one of those. I've yet to receive it." After a bicycle accident left Rhodes with a broken arm and leg, he fell behind in his studies and eventually dropped out of school in the ninth grade to pursue a music career.By 1965, the band was known as The Palace Guard. They were musically influenced by the Byrds and the Beatles, and dressed in the red uniform of royal British guardsmen. The band regularly played two shows a night, six nights a week at the Hullabaloo on the Sunset Strip. Rhodes was given one solo spot per show—performing the Beatles song "Michelle", originally sung by Paul McCartney. In 1966, The Palace Guard released their single "Falling Sugar". The Palace Guard were briefly the backing band for Don Grady. Rhodes left the band after Russ Shaw, son of music publisher Eddie Shaw at A&M Records, caught Rhodes singing "Michelle" and convinced him to sign with A&M.Rhodes formed the psychedelic pop band The Merry-Go-Round, of which he was the leader and primary songwriter. The band signed a contract with A&M. The band was a West Coast take on British Invasion music. Their 1967 self-titled album, on which Rhodes wrote 10 of its 12 songs, charted at #190, and the single "Live", written by Rhodes, reached #63 on the Billboard Hot 100. They also had the top 100 hit "You're a Very Lovely Woman". The band featured on the ABC television variety show "The Hollywood Palace". Around this time, Rhodes appeared on the television game show The Dating Game. A&M left the band in 1969, and the group disbanded the same year.
1969–1973: Solo artist Rhodes pursued a solo career, and he began making his own demo recordings in a garage behind his parents' house which he had converted into a home recording studio. These recordings, which Rhodes estimated as representing "half" of his eventual album Emitt Rhodes (1970), caught the attention of Harvey Bruce, an A&R man from ABC/Dunhill Records. Bruce recommended Rhodes to his boss, Jay Lasker, who signed Rhodes to a solo contract. Rhodes signed a contract with ABC/Dunhill requiring him to record an album every six months for three years. Neither Rhodes nor his parents consulted an attorney before signing the contract. Rhodes invested the $5,000 advance from A&M into his home studio, and began recording his planned debut solo album, performing all of the instruments and vocals himself.
His single "Fresh as a Daisy" (1970) reached #54 on the pop chart and stayed there for nine weeks. To bank off its success, A&M released the album The American Dream (1970), a compilation of tracks Rhodes had recorded with studio musicians during his time in The Merry-Go-Round to fulfill his contract with A&M. Rhodes did not approve of the release and was allowed little input.
His self-recorded album Emitt Rhodes released in 1970 to critical success. Billboard called Rhodes "one of the finest artists on the music scene today" and in 1996 called the album one of the "best albums of the decade". It reached #29 on the Billboard charts. However, the near-simultaneous release of two albums credited to Rhodes confused record buyers and stunted his career momentum. His musical style was considered similar to the Beatles and Paul McCartney, leading some listeners to speculate that the album was a secret Beatles or McCartney record. He was subsequently dubbed the "one-man Beatles". On whether he was bothered by comparisons to McCartney, Rhodes stated in 1971: "A little bit, but I really don't agree. The Beatles themselves have definitely influenced my music, but only as a group, not as any one individual." Rhodes has stated that John Lennon appealed to him more, and in 2002 called Beatles comparisons "really flattering. Those guys were my idols."
Rhodes described himself as foremost a songwriter, stating he was "really not a performer... I perform because it is necessary and it's also another means of communicating". Rhodes toured in support of the album despite his reluctance. He made his solo nightclub debut with a six-night residency at the Troubadour in February 1971, and performed piano and acoustic guitar with a three-man backing band. As his performance occurred simultaneously with the 1971 San Fernando earthquake in Southern California, Billboard joked "That wasn't an earthquake, that was Emitt Rhodes opening at the Troubadour!". However, Rhodes's touring was limited by the demands of needing to quickly record another album to fulfil his contract.
By May 1971, he was writing and recording demos for a follow-up album using an eight-track recorder. Rhodes's next album, Mirror (1971), reached #182 on the Billboard charts. Rhodes toured the United States to support the album, and in December he performed at Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. Rhodes's next album Farewell to Paradise released in 1973; he described it as "probably the best-engineered record I made". Its single "Tame the Lion" (1973) was a protest song about the Vietnam War.
1973–2009: Withdrawal from performing After Farewell to Paradise, which Rhodes has called "a farewell album", Rhodes stepped away from performing due to a legal dispute with Dunhill. He had struggled to meet the schedule of an album every six months as he handled the recording process almost entirely by himself. Rhodes was a perfectionist and spent over nine months recording his self-titled album. By December 1971, Dunhill had sued him for $250,000 and withheld royalties. Additionally, Rhodes had signed away the royalty rights to his songs "in perpetuity". He stated in 2001: "There were lawsuits and lawyers and I wasn't having any fun anymore... Simple as that. I worked really hard and there was no reward". He admitted in 2015 that his contracted recording schedule "was a Herculean task and it was impossible for me to do."
In 1976, Rhodes began working as a recording engineer and record producer for Elektra Records. He produced Bim's 1978 album Thistles, as well as the 1976 novelty single "Up Your Nose" by Gabe Kaplan. In 1978, he began work on a solo album for Elektra Records, but abandoned it after the A&R man he was working with was fired. Rhodes's first solo music since Farewell to Paradise—the song "Isn't It So" (1980)—was released on Listen, Listen: The Best of Emitt Rhodes. After about six years, he left Elektra to work independently, recording artists in his home studio. He rejected an offer to produce The Bangles in the 1980s; they covered "Live" and included it on their debut studio album All Over the Place (1984), though Rhodes did not make royalties from it. Both "Falling Sugar" and "Live" were featured on the influential psychedelic rock compilation Nuggets. Fairport Convention and Linda Ronstadt also covered Rhodes's songs.
Rhodes performed at the 1998 Poptopia Festival. The New York Times reported that Rhodes's contract with a record label in 1999 "went belly up before he got to work". In 2000 he had completed a solo album for the Rocktopia label, but the label was shut down due to financial issues before they could release it. In January 2002, it was reported that Rhodes recorded "a few songs" with musician Ray Paul, but plans for a comeback album were cancelled when the record label closed.
Rhodes's song "Lullabye" was featured in Wes Anderson's 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums; actor Jason Schwartzman had introduced the song to Anderson. The song's inclusion introduced a new generation to Rhodes. Due to his contract with Dunhill, Rhodes did not receive royalties from the film. By 2015, new agreements were made which allowed Rhodes to profit from his earlier work.
Rhodes's four solo albums were released by Universal in 2009 as The Emitt Rhodes Recordings 1969 – 1973.
2009–2012: The One Man Beatles and new solo recordings In January and February 2009, Italian director Cosimo Messeri shot a documentary film, titled The One Man Beatles, focused on Rhodes. The documentary was selected for the International Rome Film Festival 2009, and it received standing ovations. In 2010, The One Man Beatles was nominated for David di Donatello Award as Best Documentary of 2010. Its U.S. premiere was scheduled for May 29, 2010, at the Rhino Records Pop Up Store in Westwood, Los Angeles.
In 2009, Rhodes once again entered the recording studios with a new band and all-new material, joined by the co-founder of The Grass Roots and The Merry-Go-Round drummer Joel Larson, co-founder and former bassist for Counting Crows, Matt Malley, and guitarists Jim Rolfe and Dan Mayer.
In 2010, Rhodes, along with Matt Malley, joined Iain Matthews on a new version of "Time Will Show the Wiser," arranged, produced and performed by Nick Vernier Band. This recording, initially released on Nick Vernier Band's Sessions album, marked Rhodes's first new release as a featured artist in almost four decades. Both Rhodes and Matthews recorded this Rhodes original early on in their careers, the song being starting points as well as signature works for the Merry-Go-Round and Fairport Convention respectively. The new version united the two singers in an Indian musical setting. Also in 2010, a tribute album titled Long Time, No See was released. It contained Rhodes's songs recorded by various artists.