I've always known who Kenny Loggins was; his name's been in my head for what seems to be my whole life, but I never really gave him much thought. Maybe it's the plainness of the name--Kenny Loggins just doesn't seem to have a beat that you can dance to.
Some years later, I had a daughter. She is as of this writing three-and-a-half. So one day I'm crashed out in front of the television watching this Star Trek: The Next Generation episode with throat symbiotes, and the phone rings. On the other end it's my mother asking me, do I remember exactly who Kenny Loggins is. I tell her, the name sounds familiar, but beyond that, no, I don't remember him at all. I don't give him much thought after that.
Later, I'm crashed out on the couch again, and this Kenny Loggins fellow appears on Dharma and Greg when I least expect it, and he's playing Danny's Song. Well, that was it. Seems that my mother had phoned asking me if I'd remembered Kenny Loggins, because of Danny's Song, and she associated it with me, and my new parenthood.
Like just about any parent, I've got one or two Disney tapes lying around the house, for Alia. She's a big Pooh fan. We bought her The Tigger Movie, and she adores it. Tigger's even better than Pooh-bear in her eyes. During the credits, this song comes on, and I swear, Loggins appears everywhere, all of a sudden! His voice hasn't really changed since Footloose (the song he's probably most often associated with), but his music is wonderful, folky, melodic, beautiful. The simple lyrics of the few songs I know truly make me wonder why angst-ridden pain lyrics ever sell.
According to his website, http://www.kennyloggins.com, he's had quite the career for himself, but a small amount of solely his work. There are plenty of soundtracks and compilations, some of the Loggins and Messina stuff. It seems that Loggins enjoys to create children's music and "music for families to enjoy together." And really, he's quite good at that sort of thing, if Return to Pooh Corner is any indication.
He was born January 7, 1948 in Everett, Washington, what I can gather is that Loggins went directly into music at an early age, about twenty. In 1970, he met Jim Messina, and they soon started touring together. Apparently, they were good at it, too, grabbing two platinum albums and five gold albums before parting ways in 1976. (This is the period during which incredible songs like Danny's Song were recorded.)
Over the years, Loggins has had platinum albums, gold albums, Grammy nominations, a platinum selling "Best Of" album. He's done this without the help of MTV, an establishment he cares little for. He's done this without blathering aimlessly about the meaningless miasma that is life, he's done it without the gratuitous use of the word "fuck". He's sold well and been successful through writing songs that mean something.
Kenny Loggins lives with his wife, Julia, and his children, Crosby, Cody, Bella, Lukas and Hana, in southern California.
Important albums to take a look at: