Biography All Media Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Bill Danoff
Starland Vocal Band dominated American airwaves during the Bicentennial summer of 1976 with their quintessential soft rock chart-topper "Afternoon Delight." The group emerged from the Washington, D.C., folk scene of the late '60s, its roots dating back to the formation of the acoustic duo Fat City, comprised of future husband and wife Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. Together the couple wrote a song titled "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado," which was recorded by John Denver and Mary Travers; with Denver, they also penned the smash "Take Me Home, Country Roads." In 1969 Fat City recorded their debut LP, Reincarnation; after 1971's Welcome to Fat City the duo began working as simply Bill & Taffy, regularly opening for Denver on tour.
On Bill & Taffy's second album, 1974's Aces, the duo enlisted 18-year-old singer and pianist Jon Carroll; the couple was so impressed by Carroll's performance they decided to form a new group, adding the youngster as well as vocalist Margot Chapman to become the Starland Vocal Band. They soon signed to Denver's Windsong label and in 1976 issued their self-titled debut LP, with the lead single "Afternoon Delight" quickly reaching the top of the charts on its way to helping earn them five Grammy nominations. (They won two, including Best New Artist.) "Afternoon Delight" was so enormously popular that the group even landed its own short-lived CBS variety series, The Starland Vocal Band Show, which featured a then-unknown David Letterman.
The second Starland Vocal Band album, Rear View Mirror, followed in 1977, but failed to match the success of its predecessor; Late Nite Radio, issued a year later, also fared poorly by comparison, and after scoring one last minor chart entry with the single "Loving You with My Eyes," the group disbanded in the wake of its fourth and final LP, 1980's 4 x 4. The Danoffs divorced in the wake of Starland Vocal Band's demise; Carroll and Chapman, who had also married at the peak of the group's success, later split up as well. All four members of the group later went on to mount solo careers, though never again recapturing the success of "Afternoon Delight."
from Wikipedia:
Starland Vocal Band were an American pop band, known primarily for "Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles in 1976.
Career
The group began as 'Fat City', a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. The band was also composed of Jon Carroll (keyboards, vocals) and Margot Chapman (vocals). Carroll and Chapman were also married after meeting as members of the group, but later divorced. Their son Ben Carroll is also a musician.
The group's debut album was the self-titled Starland Vocal Band and included “Afternoon Delight”. The song was a #1 hit and the album also charted. The group was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won two — Best arrangement (voices) and Best New Artist. The follow-up album Rear View Mirror was a failure in comparison, although it was a minor chart entry, spending 13 weeks on the Billboard 200 (reaching a peak of #104). In 2010 Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time.[1]
The band hosted a variety show, "The Starland Vocal Band Show," that ran on CBS for five weeks in the summer of 1977. David Letterman, then still unknown, also participated in the show, as did Mark Russell, Jeff Altman, and Proctor and Bergman.
The band broke up in 1981, unable to match their previous success. Danoff and Nivert divorced shortly afterwards. Each of the band members went on to a solo career.
In 1998 the Starland Vocal Band reunited for a few concerts, often featuring the children of the four original members as vocalists. In 2007, they appeared on a 1970s special on the New Jersey Network (NJN), singing "Afternoon Delight".
Danoff and Nivert co-wrote the hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" with John Denver. Denver subsequently signed them to his label Windsong Records.
