Richard Podolor

Richard Allen "Richie" Podolor (born January 7, 1936)[1] is an American musician, record producer and songwriter. His career started as a session musician in the 1950s, and he is best known as the producer of Three Dog Night.

Richard Podolor
Birth nameRichard Allen Podolor
Also known asDickie Podolor
Richie Allen
Born (1936-01-07) January 7, 1936
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation(s)Musician, record producer
InstrumentsGuitar
Years active1956-2000s
Associated actsThe Pets
Sandy Nelson
Three Dog Night
Steppenwolf, Phil Seymour

Life and career

Podolor was born in Los Angeles, and learned guitar as a child.[2] He became a session musician at the age of 16, and played on Bonnie Guitar's hit, "Dark Moon", in 1956. He made some recordings as Dickie Podolor in the late 1950s, and toured as a member of the Pets, a group that also included session musicians Plas Johnson and Earl Palmer. He played on the Pets' 1958 hit "Cha Hua Hua". His success as a musician enabled his family to open a recording studio, the American Recording Company, initially run by his brother Don Podolor. Together with drummer Sandy Nelson, Richie Podolor recorded a demo of "Teen Beat", but the song was then taken up and recorded by other musicians with Nelson, becoming a hit in 1959. Because Podolor was not given a co-writing credit for "Teen Beat", Nelson later credited him with co-writing some of his later recordings, including his 1961 hit "Let There Be Drums".[2]

Podolor released recordings for Imperial Records in the early 1960s, using the name Richie Allen (or, on one single, Dickie Allen). His 1960 single "Stranger from Durango" reached number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] His early 1960s albums as the leader of Richie Allen and the Pacific Surfers featured top Los Angeles session musicians including René Hall, Tommy Tedesco, Plas Johnson, Lincoln Mayorga, and Sandy Nelson. Two of these Imperial albums, The Rising Surf and Surfer's Slide, were later reissued on CD.[2]

He continued to record under his own name as well as working as a session musician. By the mid-1960s, he increasingly worked as a recording engineer as well as a musician, on recordings by the Monkees, the Turtles, the Electric Prunes, the Grateful Dead, Donovan, and others. He produced two albums for Steppenwolf, engineered all their early hits including "Born to Be Wild", and produced Three Dog Night's "Mama Told Me Not To Come" and "Joy to the World", leading to his work on all subsequent albums by Three Dog Night.[4] Other acts with whom he worked as a producer included Iron Butterfly, the Dillards, Chris Hillman, and Black Oak Arkansas.

Discography (producer)

Three Dog Night

Donovan

Atlantis To Susan On The West Coast Waiting

Iron Butterfly

Blues Image

Albums: OPEN (1970), RED WHITE & BLUES IMAGE (1970) Atco Records

The Dillards
  • [Roots and Branches] (1972) (Anthem Records)

Jellyroll
  • Jellyroll (1971) (Kapp Records US MCA Records UK and Germany)

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

Chris Hillman
  • [Like a Hurricane] (1988) (Sugar Hill Records)

20/20
  • Look Out! (1981)

Alice Cooper

Phil Seymour
  • Phil Seymour (1981)
  • Phil Seymour 2 (1982)
  • “Prince Of Power Pop” (2017)

Dwight Twilley
  • The Luck (recorded 1994, released 2001)

Steppenwolf

John Kay & Steppenwolf

Alcatrazz

London

References
  1. State of California. California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Sacramento, CA, USA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, Ancestry.com. Retrieved 26 January 2016
  2. Dik de Heer, "Richard Podolor", Black Cat Rockabilly. Retrieved 26 January 2016
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 12. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
  4. "Gwen Mars Hits Wolf Mountain Next Thursday", The Deseret News, July 28, 1995
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