"Moonlight Feels Right"
side-A label by Private Stock Records
Side A of the US single
Single by Starbuck
from the album Moonlight Feels Right
B-side"Lash LaRue"
ReleasedDecember 31, 1975[1]
Recorded1975
GenreSoft rock[2]
Length3:38
LabelPrivate Stock
Songwriter(s)Bruce Blackman
Producer(s)Bruce Blackman
Starbuck singles chronology
"Moonlight Feels Right"
(1975)		 "I Got to Know"
(1976)

"Moonlight Feels Right" is the debut single recorded by the American band Starbuck. Written and produced by Bruce Blackman, the song was released in December 1975 but did not chart until April 1976.

Background

On the American Top 40 radio program of August 14, 1976, Casey Kasem reported the group's difficulties in promoting their single. Over the winter they had hand-delivered the record to 400 radio stations, 95 percent of which had told them they would play it, but did not. One of those stations, WERC in Birmingham, Alabama,[3] told them that it sounded like a spring song to them, so they would play it but would wait until spring to do so. Discouraged, the group re-entered the recording studio. However, WERC kept their promise and became the first to do so, because "Moonlight Feels Right" became a hit immediately following its first airing. The song debuted at number 90 on the U.S. charts the week of April 17, 1976,[4] with a chart run of over five months.[5]

Blackman detailed the story of the song in his 2018 book, The Road to Moonlight Feels Right - the story behind one of the most popular songs of the '70s.[6]

Marimba solo

The song features a prominent marimba solo by co-founding band member Bo Wagner, who in the early 1970s worked as a studio musician in Los Angeles, appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show for three years and toured with The 5th Dimension, Roger Williams and Liberace. His mallet teacher was Emil Richards.[7] Wagner claimed the performance that ended up on the record was his first attempt, really just a rehearsal. But everyone seems to have realized they wouldn’t get it any better. Wagner went on to set up a performing arts school and taught music and dance. He then shifted careers into health care for the entertainment industry, where he established himself over the course of thirty years as “Dr Bo”.[8] Wagner was one of the first players to use an amplified marimba, making it more feasible to balance its sound against guitars and electronic keyboards. At a 2013 revival performance in Chastain Park, Atlanta[9] he used an electronic instrument (a MalletKAT Pro).[10] Wagner died on June 20, 2017, in Santa Monica, California, aged 72.[11][12]

Television performances

Starbuck performed "Moonlight Feels Right" on The Midnight Special television program on July 23, 1976 (season 4, episode 37). The show was hosted by The Spinners.[13] They also performed it on American Bandstand with Dick Clark on August 28, 1976.[14]

Chart performance

"Moonlight Feels Right" was a major American hit, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 the weeks of July 31 and August 7, 1976,[15] number two on the Cash Box chart,[16] and number four on Record World. It is ranked as the 34th biggest US hit of the year. On the Canadian chart, the song reached number three in early August 1976. It is ranked as the 51st biggest Canadian hit of 1976.

References

  1. ↑ "Moonlight Feels Right - EP by Starbuck". iTunes. January 1976.
  2. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Moonlight Feels Right - Starbuck | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Moonlight Feels Right - EP by Starbuck". iTunes. January 1976.
  4. ↑ Billboard Hot 100, Week of April 17, 1976 – Billboard.com. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  5. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  6. ↑ "The Road to Moonlight Feels Right". bruceblackman.com.
  7. ↑ 'His last interview: the late Bo Wagner'. YouTube
  8. ↑ dr.bo website
  9. ↑ Moonlight Feels Right, Live Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA. July 2013
  10. ↑ 'Starbuck: Moonlight Feels Right (1976)', Atuneaday, 26 April 2014
  11. ↑ "Members of Georgia Bands Starbuck, Sea Level Pass Away in June". Georgia Music. July 1, 2017. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  12. ↑ Clark, Matthew C. "Bo Wagner (Starbuck) dies". EricCarmen.com. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  13. ↑ "The Midnight Special - Season 4 - TV.com". www.tv.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-06.
  14. ↑ "American Bandstand: Season 19: Episode 47 - Starbuck / Jeff Altman". Metacritic. 1976-08-28. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
  15. ↑ Billboard Hot 100, Week of August 7, 1976 – Billboard.com. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Cash Box Top Singles - 1976". tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  17. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  18. ↑ "Top Singles - Volume 25, No. 19, August 07 1976". collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1976-07-10. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  20. ↑ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1976-09-13. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  21. ↑ "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard.com. 1976-06-19. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  22. ↑ "Cash Box Top Singles - 1976". tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Top Singles - Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1976/Top 100 Songs of 1976". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  25. ↑ Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1976
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