Doug Fieger
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Biography:
Doug Fieger is best known as lead singer of The Knack and co-writer with guitarist Barton Averre of that groups summer of '79 1 smash and perrenial favorite, &"My Sharona". His colorful and storied career goes beyond that hit recording and the band that spawned it to reveal a dizzying array of escapades in the music industry dating back to when he was a young teen as well as a more serious side including production work and/or interactions with Was Not Was, Ringo Starr, Roy Orbison and other artists. //Doug was three or four when he saw his first movie and from that moment on the stage was his goal, his major influence being, strangely enough, Danny Kaye. At the age of twelve he acted professionally and began staging Edward Albee plays while a teenager. The idea for young Fieger was not necessarily just be a singer or musician, it was to be an entertainer. He describes his parents as "fairly flamboyant", his father was a very successful labor lawyer, his mom a union organizer who put together the first teacher's strike in the United States. "...so we come by our theatricality naturally" he told the All Media Guide. When Doug Fieger says "we" he means his siblings as well, his sister Beth Fieger-Falkenstein writes for TV and movies, the two episodes of Mad About You with Yoko Ono at the piano coming from her pen, while brother Geoffrey Fieger is a high profile attorney.//Around February 1964 he picked up the guitar at age 11 and began jamming with John Coury, though he was playing piano and trumpet before that. At 13 years of age he and Coury formed the group Sky, the band being managed by the owner of the -Grande Ballroom (pronounced Grand-dee) in Detroit. They made a demo and mailed it to Peter Townshend since Doug had met him and got the contact from their manager. The Who guitarist received the demo tape but it wasn't until The Knack were emerging in 1978 that Townshend acknowledged he listened to the songs on the tape many times, singing one of them to a stunned Fieger on the phone all those years later. With no word from Townshend at the time it was the connection with Traffic which led to the groups recordings with the legendary producer for The Rolling Stones, the late Jimmy Miller. The teenagers in Sky made a list of producers and at top of the list was George Martin and Jimmy Miller. Miller was producing Traffic and had just started producing the single &"Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the album Beggars Banquet for The Rolling Stones. The other names on the list of potential Sky producers included Shel Talmy and Pete Townshend. Doug Fieger went to a party at Sky's manager's house and Traffic were there. Dave Mason was also there at that time, though he would come and go in that band. Mason gave Fieger the address of Jimmy Miller since Sky opened Traffic shows a number of times. Young Doug wrote to Miller "you can ask Stevie Winwood about us, and if you're ever in Detroit...." and Jimmy Miller answered the letter, calling Fieger by phone, expressing interest in wanting to see the Motown studios. And he did. The band took him to Motown studios and brought him back to the Fieger house where they sat around Doug's parents ping pong table in the basement hearing the Sky repertoire. The next morning Miller signed the group to a recording contract. After Doug graduated from high school Miller took Sky over to London and they recorded their first album at Olympic Studios next door to The Stones recording Sticky Fingers. Sky recorded their second album at Mick Jagger's house using the Stones mobile truck, their old friends in The Who recording &"Won't Get Fooled Again" with that truck earlier in the day. London was amazing for the young Doug Fieger who went there after graduation. The band hung out with the likes of Jeff Beck, Chris Wood, one of their producers Gary Wright, Andy Johns, Bobby Keyes, Jim Price, The Plastic Ono Band's Alan White and so many others. Sky moved to Los Angeles at the suggestion of Jimmy Miller and eventually broke up due to youth and management hassles. In 1971 Doug met Bruce Gary, the first drummer of The Knack with Berton Averre hooking up with them in 1973 on guitar. Doug decided to put a band together and go out and play live and a showcase gig for a management company led to the creation of The Knack. They began packing clubs, notables like Ray Manzarek, Bruce Springsteen, Stephen Stills, Eddie Money, Tom Petty and others showing up to jam with them in concert. Looking for an original song to replace Buddy Holly's &"Not Fade Away" they created &"My Sharona" and the rest is history. Doug Fieger likes to build cars and race them, produce other acts in his analog recording studio in his house "The kind of equipment we would've made Sky records on", and is busy with The Knack who reunited for a benefit for the late Shel Myer, the first person to book the band. They decided they liked performing together after the benefit concert and continue to write, record and perform with the voice of Doug Fieger and his songs steering the ship. Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
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