Randy Newman: The Man Most Likely To
Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 3 March 1972
RANDY NEWMAN has been in people's heads since 1966, when Alan Price went to the top of the singles charts with Randy's song 'Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear'. Since then, Cilla Black, Gene Pitney, and Three Dog Night have had commercial hits with Newman songs; his ' I Think it's Gonna Rain Today' has been covered an estimated 33 times, including by Nina Simone, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, and Peggy Lee, and singers as diverse as Rick Nelson, Neil Diamond, Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross and Ella Fitzgerald have sung his songs. Harry Nilsson has recorded an album entitled Nilsson Sings Newman, and there are persistent rumours that Sinatra will do the same.
Total word count of piece: 746
