Knack lead singer Doug Fieger dies of cancer [Archive]

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FORD

02-14-2010, 03:37 PM

February 14, 2010

Knack lead singer Doug Fieger dies of cancer

PAUL EGAN
The Detroit News

Doug Fieger, the lead singer of the rock band The Knack, has died after a battle with cancer, his brother, the prominent Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger, confirmed today.

He was 57.

Fieger sang lead vocals on the 1979 hit "My Sharona," which held the No. 1 spot for six weeks.

He attended Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in Oak Park and Oak Park High School.

Geoffrey Fieger said the family will issue a statement later today.

Detroit native Jaan Uhelszki, a former editor at Creem Magazine in Detroit who is now a music writer based on the West Coast, knew Doug Fieger when he had the band Sky, which predated The Knack.

"He had a radiant talent," she said. "He was determined and pugnacious with big dreams, most of which he achieved."

Aaron Goff, who taught both Fiegers at Oak Park High School, remembers Doug as talented but less outgoing and bombastic than his brother Geoffrey.

"He was a nice young man," Goff said. "He wasn't extroverted like Geoffrey. He kept to himself a little more."

But Detroit News columnist Laura Berman, who grew up next door to the Fiegers in Oak Park, said she never doubted Doug Fieger was headed for stardom.

"He was one of the most extraordinary people that I ever met," Berman said. "He was the pied piper. He was so charismatic and admired that people would just follow him everywhere."

Fieger was always putting on dramatic productions -- staging his own funeral with his brother Geoffrey's help when he was about 10 and Samuel Beckett's theater of the absurd classic "Waiting for Godot" in high school, she said.

"I'm more surprised that he wasn't a big star all his life than I am that he became a star," Berman said. "He always felt destined for stardom and intent on making himself a star."

Knack lead singer Doug Fieger dies of cancer | detnews.com | The Detroit News (http://detnews.com/article/20100214/METRO/2140317)

FORD

02-14-2010, 03:41 PM

FORD

02-14-2010, 03:42 PM

Nickdfresh

02-14-2010, 03:47 PM

Damn. :( "My Sharona" popped on the iTunes this morning...

FORD

02-14-2010, 03:49 PM

FORD

02-14-2010, 03:51 PM

Censorship, 1979 style (listen to the "revised" lyrics)

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thome

02-14-2010, 03:51 PM

Dang,Cool Band.

I wouldn't say one hit wonder, but if you include, My Sharona in that club it could be the one most played and forever.

RIP

sadaist

02-14-2010, 03:55 PM

The Knack was almost my first concert. They played at a local auditorium and my older brother & sis went. Mom had second thoughts and didn't let me tag along. Considering I was about 9 or 10, my siblings probably didn't really want me to go anyhow.

FORD

02-14-2010, 03:59 PM

Susie Q

02-14-2010, 04:01 PM

Cancer is a ugly monster that consumes more and more each day. Maybe someday Cancer will become a conquered whisper in the past.

FORD

02-14-2010, 04:02 PM

kwame k

02-14-2010, 04:07 PM

Great band....very tight and great hooks.

I forgot that that douche Geoffrey Fieger was his brother.......

RIP, my fellow Michigander!

FORD

02-14-2010, 04:07 PM

ThrillsNSpills

02-14-2010, 04:10 PM

Damn.
That band had a lot of punch and great energy, and it was a shame they didn't have much staying power as far as their releases were concerned, but certainly My Sharona probably got used a lot in TV and movies, as it was a timepiece kind of thing that took you back to the time it was released.
Last I heard it used was on the Monk show when his "Watson" character came back to the show for a last appearance.

RIP DF

FORD

02-14-2010, 04:23 PM

Anybody ever heard Doug Fieger's first band "Sky"??

http://jhendrix110.tripod.com/images/Sky.jpg

Apparently the album was produced by Jimmy Miller, the guy who was making all those great albums with the Stones at the time, so that says a lot for a rookie band. I've never heard the album and it's long out of print, so I doubt I ever will.

kissfan1976

02-14-2010, 07:01 PM

Get The Knack is a very underrated Rock n Roll album.

R.I.P. Doug

Terry

02-14-2010, 07:08 PM

Get The Knack was classic. Chock full of tunes on it just as good, imo, as My Sharona.

Thinking about that band reminds me of other groups that sprung up at or around the same time: Blondie, The Pretenders, The Cars. Groups that may have dabbled in promotional films, but were still releasing their first records a few years before MTV came out. Blondie obviously had the visual component of Debbie Harry, but you couldn't turn on the tv and see them 24/7...other than some lip-synched performances on Solid Gold once a week or something.

Back when the music was the focus. Like, The Knack had a tremendous amount of media hype when their first album was released, but at least it was hype over the music, as opposed to what they were wearing or who they were fucking.

FORD

02-14-2010, 07:41 PM

Posted: 5:37 p.m. Feb. 14, 2010
2003 interview with Knack's lead singer
Doug Fieger dies at 57

BY BRIAN McCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC CRITIC

Michigan-born Doug Fieger, who scaled the pop charts with the Knack, died this morning in California after a long battle with cancer. He was 57.

Fieger talked extensively in April 2003 with Free Press music writer Brian McCollum. At his home tucked in the Hollywood hills, Fieger sat among vintage rock instruments and studio gear as he reflected on a career that took him from Detroit's teen clubs to the heights of the music world.

On his musical upbringing in Oak Park, and his band Sky:

"I started playing in bands when I was 11. But didn't really start playing in a professional sense 'til I was 12 or 13. I got hooked up with a guy named John Coury, who was a multi-instrumentalist. He was a year older than me; played amazing guitar and Hammond organ. He'd play any instrument, really. He took me in his band with a guy who lived across the street from me -- if I let him use a guitar I had. My father had bought me a very nice Gretsch country Gentleman. He said, 'You go rent a bass and you can be in our band. Because you've got to loan me your guitar.' So I did, and that's how I started playing bass. I was younger than them."

"We entered the Vox Band of the Land contest, which was a thing that Vox did around the country, and had all these semifinal things, and then there was gonna be a final show at the Michigan State Fairgrounds where the Lovin' Spoonful were the headlining band. We came in second in the semifinals and fifth in the finals. The Woolies were the band that came in first. We played right before the Woolies. We were very young, didn't do any original songs -- we did Byrds songs, Animals songs, Yardbirds songs.

"That was my first professional thing. We didn't really get paid, but the promise of a record deal and free equipment was there.

"We worked (the local teen clubs). If we made $10 a weekend it would be good. Our parents still had to drive us to gigs. But very shortly thereafter, not too long, that band morphed into Sky. John and I kind of bonded ... and we got a third guy who was kind of the hot drummer in Oak Park, a guy named Bob Greenfield. And that became Sky. I started writing songs, just said, 'I'm gonna do this.'"

On moving up in the Detroit scene during the '60s, including a deal with RCA Records and Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller:

"We played this English-oriented, three-part harmony power pop, and we were totally accepted on a gig with the MC5 and the Stooges and the Bob Seger System. The Red White & Blues Band, Savage Grace -- they all played kind of different things. All the Lonely People were a kind of horn band. Wilson Mower Pursuit were another one. Everybody was doing something different, and everything was accepted. You were not put down for doing anything.

"We had opened for the Who a couple of times. I'd gotten to talk to Townshend, and Keith Moon taught me how to twirl drumsticks backstage, and I had a couple of conversations with Townshend backstage. ...

"The kind of music that we played, I just didn't think was gonna catch on in Detroit, for a Detroit band. It was fine if you came from somewhere else. I had this idea of writing producers, so me and John Coury made a list of producers who we'd contact and the top four were George Martin, Shel Talmey, Pete Townshend and Jimmy Miller. ...

"We went to London (with Miller) and recorded the album and came back to Detroit. Jimmy said to us, 'Look, if I was you, I'd move to one of three places -- London, New York or Los Angeles.' And for me, it was a no-brainer -- Los Angeles was warm.

"Obviously we were a Detroit band, and I'm from Detroit, but we weren't representative of that era, of that time. Because the sound of what we did was something different. But to the credit of the scene, everything was allowed. We were totally accepted."

On forming the Knack in L.A. several years after Sky's 1971 breakup:

"It took me another seven years to put together a band. I'd been living in the basement in the house of a guy whose brother was the Who's business manager. I go upstairs one day and he says, 'Somebody wants to talk to you.' The Knack had been starting to get a name for itself around Los Angeles, we actually were getting very big, but this was before record companies got interested in us. I got on the phone and recognized this voice immediately. 'Hello, Doug, it's Pete Townshend.'

"When Pete Townshend came to America to promote 'Who Are You,' right before Moon died, a friend of mine up in San Francisco calls me and says, 'Pete Townshend's talking about you on TV!' They'd asked him if there were any young bands that were any good, and he says, 'Well, I know this guy named Doug Fieger, I met him when he was a little kid in Detroit, and he's got this band called the Knack, and you're gonna hear from 'em.' It was just one of those things -- I'd played with him a few times, met him backstage a couple of times, sent him a demo tape, and he remembered. That was the kind of camaraderie, that kind of support, that was in Detroit -- even with bands that came from other places. THEY recognized that. They joined the family. It was like that."

On the inspiration for "My Sharona":

"I had this girlfriend that I was living with. We'd started living together in Detroit when we were 15. She lived with me and my parents at my parents' house. I stayed out here (in L.A.) when Sky broke up, and she came out here and we started living together here, for another eight years. She started working as a hairdresser, and she met this young girl named Sharona, who had worked at a children's clothing store across the street from her hairdressing salon.

"She introduced me to her, and I instantly fell in love. I'd been living with Judy for a long time, and loved her, but I fell in love with this girl. We broke up and I moved out. We're very good friends to this day.

"That's how it happened. I chased her. Most of the songs on the first and second Knack albums were written about her. There was a song on the first album called 'Good Girls Don't' about a girl I'd met in Oak Park, at Clinton Junior High School, named Bobbie Ernstein. She was there for two years, and then she moved to St. Louis. She actually said those words to me: 'Good girls don't, but I do.'"

FORD

02-14-2010, 07:46 PM

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1435/1144954353_8f9c8ea0a3.jpg

I still have this 45", as well as the original LP on vinyl.

And yes, that is the actual Sharona with the nice rack :biggrin:

FORD

02-14-2010, 08:39 PM

FORD

02-14-2010, 08:40 PM

jacksmar

02-14-2010, 09:02 PM

I remember the Carvin "endorsment" and Private Duty Nurses during the college days.

Thanks for the memories Doug.:yourock:

thome

02-14-2010, 09:31 PM

Being all things the same I wonder if it ever pissed him or any of the other members of the group off that every guy across the world in every language would have a point in thier lives when they would stand in front of thier buddies and go.....(lyrically)...Da.. Da.. dada... My Sca'rotum... and then wait for everyone to giggle..?

My Sharona... and a arrested developement.

Ok, maybe it was just me..lol.

Diamondjimi

02-14-2010, 09:34 PM

Matt White

02-15-2010, 06:32 PM

Panamark

02-16-2010, 06:23 AM

The Knack singer Doug Fieger dead at 57

By Hannah Stott of Sky News From: NewsCore February 16, 2010 1:54AM 1

The Knack lead singer loses cancer battle

My Sharona ended reign of disco in US

Song about Fieger's former girlfriend

DOUG Fieger, the lead singer of The Knack who sang on the 1979 hit My Sharona, died late Sunday at the age of 57.

Fieger died at his a home in Woodland Hills near Los Angeles after a six-year battle with cancer, according to The Knack's manager, Jake Hooker.

He formed The Knack in 1978 and the group quickly became popular in LA rock clubs.

It was when Fieger co-wrote and sang lead vocals on My Sharona that the band started to become known beyond the Sunset Strip.

Fieger said the song was inspired by a girlfriend of four years.

"I had never met a girl like her, ever," he said in a 1994 interview.

"She induced madness. She was a very powerful presence.

"She had an insouciance that wouldn't quit. She was very self-assured.

"She also had an overpowering scent, and it drove me crazy."

My Sharona held the number one spot on the Billboard pop chart for six weeks.

It was credited for ending the reign of the '70s disco queens, as it was the first rock song to bump a disco track from number one in several years.

Fieger never recreated that single's blockbuster success but he continued touring under The Knack banner.

Panamark

02-16-2010, 06:25 AM

Too young....

He must have been good !

Panamark

02-16-2010, 06:32 AM

The lead solo in that song fookin ripped !
Lots of memories, lost now to memories.

FORD

02-16-2010, 02:51 PM

http://www.epiphone.com/images/N_FiegerTop.jpg

<TABLE CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" ALIGN="left">
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="500">
<IMG SRC="images/N_FiegerTop.jpg" BORDER="0">

In the late 1970's, four young men were taking the Sunset
Strip by storm. Together, Doug Fieger, (vocals/guitar); Berton Averre, (guitar);
Prescott Niles, (bass) and Bruce Gary, (drums) called themselves The Knack
and their music described by some as pure pop was making a major impact on
Rock & Roll history. They released their debut record; "Get the Knack",
in 1979 and with the leadoff single "My Sharona" The Knack climbed both the
album and singles charts, eventually selling millions of copies around the
world. Now back in the spotlight thanks in part to "My Sharona" being included
on the movie soundtrack for "Reality Bites", The Knack with new drummer Pat
Torpey (of Mr. Big fame) is once again putting out great music. Epiphone's
Don Mitchell talked with Doug Fieger from his home in California. 


EPI:
Hey Doug, thanks very much for taking
the time to chat. Your music has impacted so many people, both players and
non players. Tell me about your early musical background and how you got
started in music. Was anyone else in your family musical, other than yourself?


<IMG SRC="images/N_Fieger1.jpg" BORDER="0" ALIGN="Left">DOUG:
Not really, although my mother loved to listen to music. She loved opera
and folk music and I actually learned how to speak listening to her records.
She had all the 45's of the day like Peggy Lee and Dean Martin and she told
me I was singing along with those records before I could even talk. She'd
just kind of sit me in a high chair and put on a stack of records and that's
really I guess where I fell in love with music. I've been playing music since
I was about five years old. I started out on piano, and then moved to trumpet
but when I was eleven years old the British invasion started and that's when
I really knew that I wanted to do this. That's when I started playing guitar
as well. A friend of my brothers had this old Jazz Master and it wasn't cool
at all but I thought you know, maybe I'd like to try playing guitar.

EPI:
Did you take guitar lessons at that
point or just kind of plunk around?


DOUG: I did take some lessons but they wanted to
teach me stuff like "Lady of Spain" and I really wasn't interested in learning
that single-note kind of square music. Not long after that I met a guy who
lived across the street from me that was in a band. By this time I had gotten
a
<A HREF="http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/chetatkins/CountryGentleman.html">Country
Gentleman</A> which was a really beautiful and expensive guitar. Well, he
offered me a gig in his band if I would switch over to bass and let this
other guy named John Corey play my Country Gentleman! (Laughs) I had to go
out and rent a bass while this other guy was playing my guitar! Anyway, after
that I became a bass player for the next fifteen years. I really never played
guitar in a band until The Knack. John Corey and I went on to form a band
called Sky that got signed right out of high school. We made a couple of
records with Jimmy Miller who produced the Rolling Stones and Traffic.

EPI:
That's pretty impressive that you were
signed right out of high school! How did you manage to accomplish that so
young?


DOUG: Actually I was still in high school when
we started having some success with Sky. I was only fourteen when we were
opening for some major acts. We opened for Traffic, The Who, Joe Cocker,
Jethro Tull, The Jeff Beck Group plus we played with all the local Detroit
stars like Bob Seger and Iggy. Around that same time I wrote a letter to
Jimmy Miller saying "If you're ever in Detroit, come and hear my band". Well,
he not only answered the letter, he came to my house and later signed us.
Five days after I graduated from high school he flew us to London where we
recorded our first album at Olympic Studios, right next door to where The
Stones were recording "Sticky Fingers". We recorded our second album at Mick
Jagger's house using the Rolling Stones mobile studio. In the midst of all
this we moved from Detroit to California.

EPI:
And what label did those Sky projects
come out on?

DOUG: RCA, which explains why you probably never
heard the records. (Laughs)


EPI:
I guess really the band Sky was where
you gained your initial stage experience?

DOUG: Yes, opening for all those major acts at
fourteen was quite an experience.

EPI:
Were your parents OK with you doing
all this at such a young age?


DOUG: They were cool with it as long as I didn't
bother them. (Laughs) No, they were fine with it. We used to rehearse in
my basement during the day while my parents were at work so it worked out
pretty good. 

EPI:
So what happened after Sky?

DOUG: Well unfortunately that band broke up but
I wasn't going to go back to Detroit. I didn't want to spend another winter
in Michigan so I stayed in California. The reality of it was that suddenly
I was just another musician among the thousands of musicians already out
here. Even though I'd made a couple albums and hung out with a bunch of heavy
people it didn't really mean much. I just had to start looking for musicians
and the first guy I met was Bruce Gary who was to become the original drummer
in The Knack. We started jamming together and then a couple years later I
met Berton Averre who would become the guitar player in The Knack. We started
writing songs together but it actually took seven years to put The Knack
together. We'd record demo tapes of the songs we wrote, many of which were
later recorded by The Knack, and shop them around but we got turned down
by everybody�.more than once. An interesting story is that "Good Girls
Don't" was written in 1972 and Capital Records which finally put it out on
1979, selling millions of records with it, turned it down four times before
they took it! Anyway, finally by 1978 The Knack was officially formed and
by then I was playing guitar in the band. On the demo's I would play bass
and guitar but when we started playing live I had to pick one so I chose
the six-string and that's when Prescott Niles joined the band on bass.


EPI:
And Burton and Prescott are still with
you today�Right?

DOUG: Yes they are.

EPI:
It sounds like you shopped those original
demos to everybody on earth! What do you think it was that finally got the
attention of somebody after all those rejections?


DOUG: Yes, we shopped them to everybody in Los
Angeles, New York and London! Despite the rejections we decided to start
playing gigs in Los Angeles and by our fifth gig we were packing the clubs,
literally. There would be lines around the block and it had become like a
local phenomenon. Still the record companies were not real
interested�..they wouldn't know a good song if it came up and bit them.
Anyway, at one point all these stars started coming to our shows. We didn't
even know these people but they heard about us and came to see us. Raymond
Manzarek of The Doors was the first one and he asked us if he could sit in
with us. We did a couple of shows with him and then Eddie Money and Tom Petty
came down and we did some shows with them. Then Steven Stills came down and
then Bruce Springsteen came down. Bruce got up with us on a Friday night
at the Troubadour and on Monday we suddenly had fourteen offers! I'm not
sure but I think it was the fact that Bruce Springsteen got up with us that
suddenly made all these record companies think we were cool. 

EPI:
So Los Angeles was a great place for
you to be at the time. What about up and coming bands today? Do you think
a move to L.A. would be a wise thing for a band to do? 

DOUG: I don't think so anymore. I think Los Angeles
is the last place that record companies want to go because they can't use
their expense accounts if they just have to drive down the street! (Laughs)
You can probably tell I'm not a big fan of record companies! 


EPI:
It seems like a lot of artists I talk
to these days share your sentiments.

DOUG: Well, you know nowadays the record business
is pretty well over�.but that doesn't mean the music is over. As a matter
of fact I think it's actually much better for music.

EPI:
Which of the fourteen offers did you
take?


DOUG: We signed with Capitol.

EPI:
And then was it right into the
studio?

DOUG: No actually we played some more gigs. We
did bout 150 that first year and had all the songs for the first and second
albums by the time we started to record. We actually wanted to release a
double album but the record company didn't think we would sell that well
and were
<IMG SRC="images/N_Fieger2.jpg" BORDER="0" ALIGN="Right">concerned
that a double album would be too expensive for people to buy. So we got a
producer, Mike Chapman, and went in and recorded our first album "Get the
Knack" live in the studio in eleven days. We still had this whole other album
that went with the first album but we didn't record it until later. It turned
out to be our second album "But the Little Girls Understand". They came out
very quickly, one on the heels of the other because they were meant to be
a double album.


EPI:
So all the material was ready to record,
you just didn't get the green light from the label to do the initial double
album?

DOUG: Right. And we had a lot of other songs too,
in fact some of the songs on the third album and even some of the songs we
recorded later than that were written during the time when Berton and I were
just trying to get something happening. 

EPI:
At what point did you become aware of
Epiphone guitars?


DOUG: When we were recording "But the Little Girls
Understand" I got a 1963 Casino with a Bigsby tremolo. It was just like Paul
McCartney's and I fell in love with it. He's been quoted as saying that if
he had to pick one
<IMG SRC="images/N_Fieger3.jpg" BORDER="0" ALIGN="Left">guitar
it would be that one and I can see why. I totally fell in love with it and
it's still one of my favorite guitars today. A couple years back I got one
of the
<A HREF="http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=18&CollectionID=2">John
Lennon 1965 Casino</A>s that I use live. 

EPI:
And you like it? 


DOUG: Oh God Yes! The thing that's wonderful is
that it feels exactly like an old guitar. Not that I don't like new guitars,
I do because I think that Gibson and Epiphone are now making guitars as good
as they were back in the day. There was a time that they weren't, a period
in the late 70s and early 80s when the quality of the instruments wasn't
so good but fortunately for us guitar players the Gibson companies are now
making guitars as well as they ever did.

EPI:
We've worked very hard in the past several
years to put out the best quality instruments possible. The John Lennon Casinos
are a real treat for guitar perfectionists out there. We actually went to
"The Dakota" in Manhattan and met with Yoko to examine John's Casino. During
the examination, measurements were carefully performed, body tracings were
done, drawings were created, and photographs were taken. As a result, the
guitar is a "true" reproduction of the guitar as John originally purchased
it.

DOUG: It shows! It just feels like an original
mid 60's Epiphone. It plays and feels very similar to my '63. The neck feels
very, very similar and the sound is very similar as well. I recently got
one of the
<A HREF="http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=19&CollectionID=2">Revolution
Casino</A>s too and I love it. You know, for a while I actually had a mid
60's Casino that somebody had stripped like the Revolution. I recorded with
it on a
<IMG SRC="images/N_Fieger4.jpg" ALIGN="Right">couple
songs on the album Zoom we did in 1998. You can also hear the '63 on that
project. I used my '63 on our last album also which we did in 2001 called
"Normal as the Next Guy". You can see me playing the '63 on the song "That's
What the Little Girls Do" on our DVD, "Live from the Rock and Roll Fun
House".


EPI:
How can our readers can get these
projects?

DOUG: Online is the best place to get them. You
can go to <A HREF="http://www.Knack.com">www.Knack.com</A> or
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/75895/ref=m_art_dp/103-9688253-6351006">www.amazon.com</A>

and pick them up. 

EPI:
The live DVD sounds like a fun project.


DOUG: Originally the company that we signed with
wanted us to go to a club and record a live show but we had already done
that back in 1979 when we played at Carnegie Hall. We didn't want to do that,
I mean how can you beat Carnegie Hall, so I came up with this idea of doing
like an old-time 60's TV show complete with host and audience. It was a lot
of fun even though "The Rock & Roll Fun House" never really existed.


EPI:
I heard you have some other projects
you're working on besides The Knack?

DOUG: The newest thing I'm doing is a project with
Elliott Easton and Clem Burke called Zen Cruisers.

EPI:
That sounds very interesting. Any idea
when we might see a project released?


DOUG: It's hard to say. We've been working on it
for a couple years now but because we're busy with our day jobs so to speak,
Clem with Blondie, Elliott with Creedence and me with The Knack we kind of
have to grab the time when we can. Coincidentally, Elliott is actually coming
over today to put a lead on one of the songs.

EPI:
So you have your own studio?

DOUG: Yes, it's in my house and is "full on" analog.
I have a 16 track Studer 800 tape machine.


EPI:
So you mean�."full on" analog�.
on purpose! 

DOUG: Yes, on purpose and then we dump to Pro Tools
but basically I just use Pro Tools for storage.

EPI:
I'm sure you know that every interview
with you must eventually come to "My Sharona"! Do you ever get tired of talking
about it? 


DOUG: Well, I'm more sick of talking about it than
I am of playing it!

EPI:
It's a great song! How could you ever
get tired of playing it?

DOUG: You can't and honestly we still love playing
it.


EPI:
This is one of those early songs that
you wrote with Berton?

DOUG: Yes, we wrote it in 1978. Berton had the
lick for a while, he seems to think it was only about eight months but I
think it was more like a couple of years. He'd pull it out every once in
a while and say, "You want to write this song yet?" and I'd say, "Naaagh".
But then I met Sharona. She was this girl who my then girlfriend actually
introduced me to and I instantly fell in love with her. I wanted to impress
her and what better way to impress her than to write a song about her? So
we wrote it and I'm pretty sure it impressed her! Really, a lot of our early
songs were about her. She was my muse!

EPI:
Obviously she will always be a big part
of your life in a musical sense but is she still a part of your personal
life?


DOUG: Oh yeah, she's a friend of mine. She is a
great person and also happens to be a very successful real estate agent in
the Los Angeles area. 

EPI:
Thanks Doug for talking with me. We
are proud to be associated with you and The Knack.

DOUG: No problem,�it was my pleasure.


�

<A HREF="http://www.knack.com"><IMG SRC="images/N_Fieger5.jpg" BORDER="0"></A>
 
<A HREF="http://www.knack.com">www.Knack.com</A></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

Mr Walker

02-18-2010, 09:32 AM

Pretty cool tribute posted by Butch Walker on his blog...
Maybe It's Just Me... (http://maybeitsjustme.biz/)

i GOT The Knack....

on this sad day, a man by the name of Doug Feiger lost his battle to Cancer. he was only 57, which to you young grasshoppers may seem old, but hell.. i ain’t THAT far behind him. you probably are thinking to yourself, “Okay, i will just go to Perez’ website and find out about him..” you aren’t gonna find anyone in THAT world will probably give two shits about the powerpop genius of Doug. you see, when i was in about..um… 5th or 6th grade, i remember bringing my 45 vinyl single to school with a really hot, dirty slutty looking girl in a wifebeater on the sleeve jacket. she was holding a full length vinyl album under her arm and had no bra on.. this was pretty racy for the time, considering my church..er.. i mean school was VERY conservative and religious. the song was called “My Sharona”. i am only to assume that said girl on the cover of the single was Sharona. i was really jealous that the album she was holding had 4 guys faces on it (none of which were mine) and they were called The Knack. the name of the album was… get this… “Get The Knack”. they looked so cool. i remember i would stare at the album at home all the time, as the shot of them on the back was taken when they shot the “promo” video (this was pre-MTV and videos were shot merely as press kit fanfare) for the single “My Sharona”. they were very Beatles looking. a 50s meets 60’s vibe with an all white wall behind them, as they were all dressed in monochrome glory with matching black pants, white shirts, and black skinny ties.

this look and sound would transpire throughout rock n roll history as a very staple “glam meets garage” look that would inherently shape a lot of modern artists that you see and listen to today. there’s not a day that goes by that i don’t hear a nod on the radio to the famous guitar riff from “My Sharona” or the kik and snare beat. it was primitive. it was simple. it was dirty. and it was good… i don’t know a single person who knows the song that doesn’t love it and everyone goes ape shit when it comes on in a bar or club. This album was recorded in like 3 days or something like that, and it sounds better than most records that take a month. the Guitar solo alone in “My Sharona” by guitarist Berton Averre is the most hook-laden, singable guitar solo i have EVER heard. and it’s long as fuck. that would never fly today on radio. Hell, ask Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols who Doug Feiger is and you will get a spillage of compliments to him and his genius. Little Steven would say the same.

there was a lot more to Doug. he also wrote a slew of other great songs that would help shape my adolescence and make me question my purity as a wee lad. i remember my teacher at school asking me if i knew what they meant when in the song “Good Girls Don’t” they sang “until she sits on your face”. i said, “it’s a wrestling move, right?” and my teacher wiped the sweat from her forehead and grinned and said “yes, Bradley..”

it’s not that i am trying to compare Doug to Tom Waits here. but everyone knew this guy could and would help glorify a neglected genre of misunderstood music known as Power-Pop or (Indie-Pop or Garage Rock as you little hipster shits like to call it now). either way, he will be missed. i remember meeting him for the first time a year ago, and he was secretly dealing with his 6 year battle with Cancer. we met at a music expo thing, and i just walked up and said, “Doug, i want to thank you for inspiring the look and sound of a genre.. and not being afraid to get it heard by the masses. hell, The Marvelous 3 was, if anything, a tribute to you. thank you for your music and spirit”. i saw him hold his heart and a tear welled up in his eye. he just nodded a “thank you” to me and never lost eye contact with me until i was out of the room. i have to think that Doug, like so many others, never got his due or respect, and he knew it. i could tell by the body language from a guy who knew he was going to die within a year and leave his family behind to mourn his loss. i could see it in his eyes. i bet he would lie awake at night and be sad sometimes that they never broke the stereotype of “one hit wonder” status, and i could just see his friends or family telling him “No Doug… You are different”. one day, all the bands are gonna be dressed and sounding like you guys. i hope i am wrong, and that he just had a grin all the time for knowing what a bad-ass album “Get The Knack” was.

Rest in Peace, Doug. not only did YOU “Get The Knack”…. I Got them too….

Butch

FORD

02-18-2010, 01:15 PM

It really was a badass album, wasn't it? I've said so before and will say it again. Definitely in the top 5 releases of 1979 (Along with Van Halen II, Highway to Hell, London Calling, and The Wall)

FORD

02-18-2010, 11:01 PM

Nearly 31 years since this concert, and they still haven't put the DVD out :(

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Mr Walker

02-19-2010, 08:30 AM

I went back and really 'listened' to that 2nd guitar solo in 'My Sharona' last night and Butch is right... it really is amazing.

Mr Walker

02-21-2010, 03:26 PM

ALICE COOPER's Interview With THE KNACK's DOUG FIEGER To Re-Air Monday - Feb. 21, 2010
Following the untimely death last week of THE KNACK's Doug Fieger, producers of the syndicated radio show "Nights With Alice Cooper" have scheduled a re-broadcast of an interview that first aired on August 2, 2006. Alice and Doug, both Detroit natives, had long shared mutual admiration so the encounter was especially warm. It will air worldwide on Monday, February 22.

A preview of the friends' encounter can be streamed using the audio player below.

Alice Cooper is the is the host of "Nights with Alice Cooper", produced and distributed by the United Stations Radio Networks. Alice anchors 30 hours per week of original classic rock programming. Alice's time slot reaches 1.1 million listeners (12+) each week, and his affiliates have a weekly reach of over 6 millions listeners.

For more information, go to Nights with Alice Cooper - Homepage (http://www.nightswithalicecooper.com).

FORD

02-21-2010, 03:35 PM

Bummer... no radio station around me carries the Alice Cooper show.

BTW, since when is Alice from Detroit? I always thought he was a Phoenix native?

Igosplut

02-21-2010, 07:15 PM

Bummer... no radio station around me carries the Alice Cooper show.

BTW, since when is Alice from Detroit? I always thought he was a Phoenix native?

For years always read that he was from Detroit...

kwame k

02-21-2010, 07:40 PM

Alice was born in Detroit (Allen Park) but the family moved to Phoenix when he was in High School.

The band decided to move to LA and after getting signed to Zappa's label and....I think, 2 albums later, they decided to move to Detroit. Alice saying something like LA was full of hippies doing Acid and we were drinking beer and didn't fit in.

Panamark

02-22-2010, 08:57 AM

I went back and really 'listened' to that 2nd guitar solo in 'My Sharona' last night and Butch is right... it really is amazing.

Fuck Yeah !!!!!!!!!!

ThrillsNSpills

02-22-2010, 11:22 AM

Bummer... no radio station around me carries the Alice Cooper show.

BTW, since when is Alice from Detroit? I always thought he was a Phoenix native?

If the show's syndicated there's a good chance you can find a station that streams it.

chefcraig

02-22-2010, 11:29 AM

Bummer... no radio station around me carries the Alice Cooper show.

If the show's syndicated there's a good chance you can find a station that streams it.

Here (http://nightswithalicecooper.com/Listen-To-Alice-Now-/3699069) is a link to the list of stations that stream the show. Unfortunately, unlike the amazingly cool Little Steven's Underground Garage (http://littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/homepage.html), there is no archive of past shows.

Mr Walker

02-22-2010, 05:26 PM

BRUCE KULICK Pays Tribute To Late THE KNACK Singer - Feb. 22, 2010
Former KISS and current GRAND FUNK RAILROAD guitarist Bruce Kulick has issued the following update:

"This past Sunday, one week after the passing of THE KNACK singer and frontman Doug Fieger, a memorial service was held at his home in Los Angeles, California for his close friends and family.

"I met Doug about four years ago when we did the Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp together. I was impressed with his talent and passion for music, and from working with him I got to see that Doug was a gentle soul who really cared about people.

"I was at his home about a year after the camp to ask him about him performing on a song for my new solo disc. He loved the music and agreed to sing on it.

"After showing me many of his vintage instruments and gear, it was clear that we both shared a deep appreciation of the music that we loved and the instruments that we used to create our sounds. He sang the song 'Dirty Girl' about a year after that, as my schedule and his treatment for the cancer that took his life would dictate when we could get the job done.

"Doug was a total pro. He came into the studio and nailed the song in an hour, including his tambourine part!

"I kept him informed on the progress of the tune, and, of course, once it was mixed I shared the end result with him. He was very pleased with the song, and that was important to me, but I always wanted him to see the final product.

"At my Cat Club CD-release party on February 1st, I met THE KNACK bassist Prescott Niles, who told me he would be seeing Doug that week. I gave him a copy of 'BK3' and asked him to please give it to Doug along with my best regards. I called his home 10 days later to see if I could speak to him or his family. His lovely sister Beth answered and confirmed that Doug did indeed get the CD and that it was on his dresser. I was not aware at the time that his battle with lung cancer would be taking his life only a few days later.

"Doug passed away on Sunday, February 14th. It was news I was expecting at some point but that I never wanted to hear.

"Yesterday, a week later, I found myself at his home again, this time to pay my respects.

"I remember his house being meticulous, but musical: he has a Ringo BEATLES drum set in the living room, along with various Vox amps. 'How cool was that?' I thought!

"I spoke with his family, and Prescott, of course, was there, as well as other musicians that knew Doug. After some testimonials from the people closest to him (even 'the' Sharona who inspired the hit song), I realized what an intense and sad reality Doug had to deal with after he found out about his cancer.

"His older brother Jeffery said it the best, that he learned the word 'courage' from Doug, and that the powerful way his younger brother dealt with this illness was a lesson he will never forget.

"Shortly after that I noticed some of my music heroes in attendance at the home, as both Jeff Lynne from ELO and Joe Walsh of the EAGLES had come to pay their respects.

"The event felt totally surreal to me when none other than Ringo Starr and his lovely wife Barbara Bach walked in.

"What an amazing tribute for Doug to have known a member of THE BEATLES well enough to have him attend his memorial.

"I could never have known from the comparatively brief amount of time I spent with Doug how much he meant to so many people. He touched many lives with his music, but it was his personal relationships with his friends and industry mates that brought everyone together to say their goodbyes to a man that will be very missed.

"I was just lucky enough to have met him and worked with him before he left us."

FORD

02-26-2010, 06:22 PM

And here it is.......

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You would never know Doug was so sick listening to that song. His voice sounds as good as it did on the Knack albums.

ELVIS

02-26-2010, 06:37 PM

Pretty good tune ...

The girls in Steel Panther should take come cues from real musicians like this...

:elvis:

FORD

04-04-2010, 02:09 PM

Found some recent additions to YouTube from Doug Fieger's first band, Sky. It's unmistakably him singing, but completely different from The Knack sound. More "Stonesish" really. But then, Jimmy Miller did produce it.

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FORD

04-04-2010, 02:10 PM

FORD

04-04-2010, 02:13 PM

FORD

04-04-2010, 02:15 PM

FORD

04-04-2010, 02:34 PM

FORD

04-04-2010, 02:40 PM