Origin: Los Angeles, California (USA)

NIELSEN & PEARSON

Reed Nielsen - Mark Pearson

Nielsen & Pearson albums:

	st - 1980 (with lyrics)
	Want to own a copy? → Buy on Amazon (new & used) → Find vinyl & CD copies on eBay (new & used)
	Blind luck - 1983
	Want to own a copy? → Buy on Amazon (new & used) → Find vinyl & CD copies on eBay (new & used)

Notes about Nielsen & Pearson:

 Text in English

- Reed Nielsen and Mark Pearson joined forces in Sacramento, California, in 1969 [1]. Nielsen had started out as a drummer: after playing in high-school bands and orchestras and working for a while out of the musicians' union in Sacramento, he moved on to the local group scene, where he made a name for himself as a drummer and singer [1]. Pearson took cello lessons at the age of eleven and then turned to the acoustic guitar, inspired by the Kingston Trio, Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan; he later switched to electric guitar and spent the rest of the 1960s playing in rock bands around the Bay Area, until a series of engagements took him to Sacramento [1, 2]. Over the next eight years the pair honed their songwriting at home and on stage, performing up to four hours of original material [1]. When Nielsen came out from behind the drum kit in 1973 to concentrate on singing, they went looking for a backing band: they lured bassist and synthesist John Scott Bowen away from a well-paid job with Dr. Robert Moog and then found drummer Steve Boutté [1, 2]. Bowen, who had become Moog's first official clinician in 1973, joined the band in 1974; he would later create the original factory sounds of the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and serve as product manager for Korg's Wavestation series [3]. Epic Records signed the group in 1977 [4].

Their debut album, *The Nielsen/Pearson Band* (Epic JE 34984), was released in 1978 [2]. It was produced by Don Murray and L. Gold in association with Skip Drinkwater for Brooke Productions, except for "Whatever I Have to Be", produced by Drinkwater and Murray, with Jerry Schoenbaum as executive producer [2]. Murray also engineered the album, which was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco and at Sound Labs and Western Recorders in Hollywood and mixed at Sound Labs, and Bernie Grundman mastered it at A&M Studios [2]. Pearson and Nielsen wrote all ten songs, and both sang lead and played guitar and piano; the additional players were Mark Jordan, harmonica player Norton Buffalo, Lenny Pickett of Tower of Power, L. Gold, who also arranged and conducted the strings, and the Faragher Brothers, Tom, Jim and Dan [2]. The album is more country-oriented than the duo's later work [5], and its opening track, "Home", was released as a single but did not chart [6].

By 1980 the duo had moved to Capitol Records and shortened its name to Nielsen/Pearson [4, 6]. Their second album, *Nielsen/Pearson*, was produced by Richard Landis, who also arranged the strings and most of the rhythm parts; Peter Wolf arranged the rhythm section on three songs, "If You Should Sail" among them, and Tom Scott wrote the horn arrangements [7]. Ed Thacker recorded and mixed the album at Capitol Studios, The Sound Factory, The Village Recorder, Hollywood Sound Recorders and Crimson Sound, with Hank Cicalo recording the horns, and Wally Traugott mastered it [7]. Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Neil Stubenhaus on bass and Charles "Icarus" Johnson on guitar formed the core of the band, alongside David Foster, Peter Wolf and Jai Winding on keyboards, John Scott Bowen on synthesizer, Victor Feldman on vibraphone, Paulinho Da Costa on percussion and a horn section made up of Tom Scott, Pete Christlieb, Bill Perkins and Jackie Kelso on saxophones, Chuck Findley and Gene Goe on trumpets and Dick "Slyde" Hyde on trombone [7, 8]. The cover shows a woman bending over the edge of a swimming pool, with the two musicians standing in the background [8].

The first single, "Two Lonely Nights", sung by Pearson, stalled at No. 110 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 [6, 7]. It was followed by "If You Should Sail" (Capitol 4910, with "Don't Forget" on the B-side), another Pearson lead vocal, featuring Peter Wolf and Jai Winding on piano and Chuck Findley on flugelhorn [7, 9, 10]. The song peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 22 November 1980 and reached No. 35 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 52 on the Cash Box singles chart; it remained the duo's only Top 40 hit [9, 10, 11]. A third single, "Givin' Your Love to Me", sung by Nielsen, did not chart [6, 7]. Nielsen also sings lead on "Annie", the album's longest track, with Jim Haas, Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Stephanie Spruill and Pearson on backing vocals [7]. In 1981 Capitol released the duo's version of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", the Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio song first recorded by Frankie Valli in 1965 and taken to No. 1 in Britain by the Walker Brothers in 1966, as a single (Capitol 5032) that does not appear on either of their Capitol albums [8, 12, 13]. It reached No. 56 on the Hot 100, their last entry on that chart, No. 31 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 54 on Cash Box [6, 12, 13].

*Blind Luck*, credited on the cover to Reed Nielsen and Mark Pearson by their full names, followed on Capitol in 1983 [8]. Bill Schnee produced seven of its ten tracks and recorded and mixed them at his own studio, Bill Schnee Studios, while "Lauralei", "Expectations" and "Got Me Where You Want Me" were produced by Richard Landis and recorded and mixed by Ed Thacker at Sunset Sound; Doug Sax mastered the album at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood [8]. All the songs were written by Pearson and Nielsen except "Too Good to Last", by David Roberts, who had recorded it on his 1982 debut album, *All Dressed Up* [8, 14]. Neil Stubenhaus played bass on every track, and Charles "Icarus" Johnson played guitar in both sets of sessions [8]. Schnee's tracks feature drummer Carlos Vega, keyboard player Robbie Buchanan, guitarist Michael Landau and percussionist Lenny Castro, with Victor Feldman taking over the percussion on "Too Good to Last"; Buchanan and Landau were both members of Maxus [8, 15]. On the Landis tracks, Vinnie Colaiuta plays drums, Jai Winding keyboards and Steve Foreman percussion, with John Bowen on synthesizers on "Lauralei" and "Expectations", and Ian Underwood and Landis himself on "Got Me Where You Want Me" [8]. Toto guitarist Steve Lukather plays the second guitar solo on "Hasty Heart" and the solo on "Fadeaway", and Jon Joyce and Jim Haas sing backing vocals on "Expectations" and "Got Me Where You Want Me", joined by Joe Chemay on the former [8]. Pearson sings lead on "Hasty Heart", "Break Nobody's Heart", "Lauralei", "Got Me Where You Want Me" and "Carrie", and Nielsen on "Too Good to Last", "I Hear You Breathing", "Expectations" and "Fadeaway", while the two share the vocals on "Sentimental" [8]. "Hasty Heart" was released as a single in 1983 [6]. *Blind Luck* was their third and last album, and the partnership came to an end that same year [6, 16].

Reed Nielsen, whose full name was George Reed Nielsen, went on to a second career as a country songwriter [17]. He wrote "Cinderella", the first single from Vince Gill's *The Way Back Home*, which reached No. 5 on Billboard's country chart in 1987 in a production by Richard Landis [18], and co-wrote with Gill "Let's Do Something", "Liza Jane", "What the Cowgirls Do", "You Better Think Twice" and "Don't Come Cryin' to Me" [17]. His "I Don't Call Him Daddy", first recorded by Kenny Rogers on *I Prefer the Moonlight*, became a No. 1 country hit for Doug Supernaw in 1993, again with Landis producing [19]. His other successes included Juice Newton's "Old Flame" (1986), Lorrie Morgan's "Except for Monday" (1992), Billy Ray Cyrus's "Could've Been Me" (1992) and Montgomery Gentry's "My Town" (2002), and he also wrote with Eddie Rabbitt [17]. In the AOR field, he wrote "We're Doing Alright", the lead single from Van Stephenson's 1986 album *Suspicious Heart*, and "(We Should Be) Together Tonight", co-wrote the title track and "Desperate Hours" with Stephenson, and played keyboards on the album [20, 21]. Reed Nielsen died on 15 November 2014, at the age of 64 [17].

Both Capitol albums were issued on CD for the first time in Japan on 15 May 1998, combined on a single disc, *Nielsen/Pearson + Blind Luck* (VSCD-566), number 4 in Vivid Sound's City Breeze Collection, manufactured by Toshiba-EMI and with liner notes by Toshiki Nakata and a comment by Akito Katayose of Great 3 [8]. The 1980 album was later reissued on CD in South Korea by Big Pink in a miniature LP-style sleeve [22]. -

Notas sobre Nielsen & Pearson:

 Texto en Español

- Reed Nielsen y Mark Pearson unieron sus fuerzas en Sacramento (California) en 1969 [1]. Nielsen empezó como batería: tras tocar en grupos y orquestas del instituto y trabajar una temporada a través del sindicato de músicos de Sacramento, se incorporó a la escena local de grupos, donde se hizo un nombre como batería y cantante [1]. Pearson recibió clases de violonchelo a los once años y luego se pasó a la guitarra acústica, inspirado por el Kingston Trio, Dave Van Ronk y Bob Dylan; más tarde adoptó la guitarra eléctrica y pasó el resto de los años sesenta tocando en grupos de rock de la bahía de San Francisco, hasta que una serie de actuaciones lo llevó a Sacramento [1, 2]. Durante los ocho años siguientes, la pareja fue puliendo sus composiciones en casa y sobre el escenario, con actuaciones de hasta cuatro horas de material propio [1]. Cuando Nielsen dejó la batería en 1973 para centrarse en el canto, ambos se pusieron a buscar un grupo de acompañamiento: convencieron al bajista y especialista en sintetizadores John Scott Bowen para que dejara un empleo bien remunerado con el doctor Robert Moog y después encontraron al batería Steve Boutté [1, 2]. Bowen, que en 1973 se había convertido en el primer demostrador oficial de Moog, entró en el grupo en 1974; años después crearía los sonidos de fábrica originales del Prophet-5 de Sequential Circuits y sería jefe de producto de la serie Wavestation de Korg [3]. Epic Records fichó al grupo en 1977 [4].

Su primer álbum, *The Nielsen/Pearson Band* (Epic JE 34984), se publicó en 1978 [2]. Lo produjeron Don Murray y L. Gold en colaboración con Skip Drinkwater para Brooke Productions, salvo «Whatever I Have to Be», producida por Drinkwater y Murray, con Jerry Schoenbaum como productor ejecutivo [2]. Murray fue además el ingeniero de sonido del disco, que se grabó en los Wally Heider Studios de San Francisco y en los estudios Sound Labs y Western Recorders de Hollywood y se mezcló en Sound Labs, y Bernie Grundman lo masterizó en los A&M Studios [2]. Pearson y Nielsen firmaron las diez canciones, y ambos cantaron como voz principal y tocaron guitarra y piano; los músicos adicionales fueron Mark Jordan, el armonicista Norton Buffalo, Lenny Pickett, de Tower of Power, L. Gold, que también arregló y dirigió las cuerdas, y los Faragher Brothers, Tom, Jim y Dan [2]. El disco tiene un perfil más country que los trabajos posteriores del dúo [5], y su tema de apertura, «Home», se publicó como sencillo, pero no entró en listas [6].

En 1980 el dúo ya había pasado a Capitol Records y había abreviado su nombre a Nielsen/Pearson [4, 6]. Su segundo álbum, *Nielsen/Pearson*, lo produjo Richard Landis, que firmó además los arreglos de cuerda y la mayoría de los de la base rítmica; Peter Wolf arregló la base rítmica de tres canciones, entre ellas «If You Should Sail», y Tom Scott escribió los arreglos de metales [7]. Ed Thacker grabó y mezcló el disco en Capitol Studios, The Sound Factory, The Village Recorder, Hollywood Sound Recorders y Crimson Sound, con Hank Cicalo a cargo de la grabación de los metales, y Wally Traugott se encargó de la masterización [7]. El núcleo del grupo lo formaban Vinnie Colaiuta a la batería, Neil Stubenhaus al bajo y Charles «Icarus» Johnson a la guitarra, junto a David Foster, Peter Wolf y Jai Winding a los teclados, John Scott Bowen al sintetizador, Victor Feldman al vibráfono, Paulinho Da Costa a la percusión y una sección de metales formada por Tom Scott, Pete Christlieb, Bill Perkins y Jackie Kelso a los saxofones, Chuck Findley y Gene Goe a las trompetas y Dick «Slyde» Hyde al trombón [7, 8]. La portada muestra a una mujer inclinada sobre el borde de una piscina, con los dos músicos de pie al fondo [8].

El primer sencillo, «Two Lonely Nights», cantado por Pearson, se quedó en el número 110 de la lista Bubbling Under Hot 100 de Billboard [6, 7]. Le siguió «If You Should Sail» (Capitol 4910, con «Don't Forget» en la cara B), también con Pearson como voz principal y con Peter Wolf y Jai Winding al piano y Chuck Findley al fliscorno [7, 9, 10]. La canción alcanzó el número 38 del Billboard Hot 100 con fecha del 22 de noviembre de 1980, además del 35 de la lista Adult Contemporary y el 52 de la lista de sencillos de Cash Box, y fue el único éxito del dúo en el Top 40 [9, 10, 11]. Un tercer sencillo, «Givin' Your Love to Me», cantado por Nielsen, no entró en listas [6, 7]. Nielsen es también la voz principal de «Annie», el corte más largo del disco, con Jim Haas, Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Stephanie Spruill y Pearson a los coros [7]. En 1981 Capitol publicó la versión del dúo de «The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore», la canción de Bob Crewe y Bob Gaudio que grabó por primera vez Frankie Valli en 1965 y que los Walker Brothers llevaron al número 1 británico en 1966, como sencillo (Capitol 5032) no incluido en ninguno de sus dos álbumes para el sello [8, 12, 13]. Alcanzó el número 56 del Hot 100, su última presencia en esa lista, el 31 de la Adult Contemporary y el 54 de Cash Box [6, 12, 13].

*Blind Luck*, acreditado en portada a Reed Nielsen y Mark Pearson con sus nombres completos, llegó en 1983, también en Capitol [8]. Bill Schnee produjo siete de sus diez cortes y los grabó y mezcló en su propio estudio, los Bill Schnee Studios, mientras que «Lauralei», «Expectations» y «Got Me Where You Want Me» los produjo Richard Landis y los grabó y mezcló Ed Thacker en Sunset Sound; Doug Sax masterizó el disco en The Mastering Lab, en Hollywood [8]. Todas las canciones son de Pearson y Nielsen salvo «Too Good to Last», de David Roberts, que la había grabado en su álbum de debut de 1982, *All Dressed Up* [8, 14]. Neil Stubenhaus tocó el bajo en todos los cortes, y Charles «Icarus» Johnson, la guitarra en ambas tandas de sesiones [8]. En los temas de Schnee figuran el batería Carlos Vega, el teclista Robbie Buchanan, el guitarrista Michael Landau y el percusionista Lenny Castro, a quien sustituye Victor Feldman en «Too Good to Last»; Buchanan y Landau eran ambos miembros de Maxus [8, 15]. En los temas de Landis, Vinnie Colaiuta toca la batería, Jai Winding los teclados y Steve Foreman la percusión, con John Bowen a los sintetizadores en «Lauralei» y «Expectations» e Ian Underwood y el propio Landis en «Got Me Where You Want Me» [8]. El guitarrista de Toto Steve Lukather toca el segundo solo de guitarra de «Hasty Heart» y el solo de «Fadeaway», y Jon Joyce y Jim Haas cantan coros en «Expectations» y «Got Me Where You Want Me», con Joe Chemay también en la primera [8]. Pearson canta como voz principal «Hasty Heart», «Break Nobody's Heart», «Lauralei», «Got Me Where You Want Me» y «Carrie», y Nielsen, «Too Good to Last», «I Hear You Breathing», «Expectations» y «Fadeaway», mientras que ambos se reparten las voces de «Sentimental» [8]. «Hasty Heart» se publicó como sencillo en 1983 [6]. *Blind Luck* fue su tercer y último álbum, y la sociedad terminó ese mismo año [6, 16].

Reed Nielsen, cuyo nombre completo era George Reed Nielsen, desarrolló después una segunda carrera como compositor de country [17]. Escribió «Cinderella», primer sencillo de *The Way Back Home*, de Vince Gill, que llegó al número 5 de la lista country de Billboard en 1987 con producción de Richard Landis [18], y firmó junto a Gill «Let's Do Something», «Liza Jane», «What the Cowgirls Do», «You Better Think Twice» y «Don't Come Cryin' to Me» [17]. Su «I Don't Call Him Daddy», que grabó primero Kenny Rogers en *I Prefer the Moonlight*, fue número 1 de country para Doug Supernaw en 1993, de nuevo con Landis como productor [19]. Entre sus demás éxitos figuran «Old Flame» (1986), de Juice Newton; «Except for Monday» (1992), de Lorrie Morgan; «Could've Been Me» (1992), de Billy Ray Cyrus, y «My Town» (2002), de Montgomery Gentry; también compuso junto a Eddie Rabbitt [17]. En el terreno del AOR, escribió «We're Doing Alright», primer sencillo de *Suspicious Heart* (1986), de Van Stephenson, y «(We Should Be) Together Tonight», coescribió con Stephenson el tema titular y «Desperate Hours», y tocó los teclados en el disco [20, 21]. Reed Nielsen falleció el 15 de noviembre de 2014, a los 64 años [17].

Los dos álbumes de Capitol se publicaron en CD por primera vez en Japón el 15 de mayo de 1998, reunidos en un solo disco, *Nielsen/Pearson + Blind Luck* (VSCD-566), número 4 de la serie City Breeze Collection de Vivid Sound, fabricado por Toshiba-EMI y con notas de Toshiki Nakata y un comentario de Akito Katayose, de Great 3 [8]. El álbum de 1980 se reeditó más tarde en CD en Corea del Sur a través del sello Big Pink, en una funda que reproduce el LP en miniatura [22]. -

Sources/Fuentes

[1] Epic Records. "The Nielson-Pearson Band" [sic]. Biography from Epic, press release issued with a promotional photograph (Reed Nielsen, Steve Boutté, Mark Pearson, John Bowen). Undated, c. 1978.

[2] The Nielsen/Pearson Band. *The Nielsen/Pearson Band*. Epic JE 34984, US, 1978. LP back cover credits and inner sleeve ("All About Nielsen/Pearson Band").

[3] "John S. Bowen (sound designer)". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._Bowen_(sound_designer)

[4] "The Nielsen-Pearson Band". Artist biography, Wolfgang's (Bill Graham Archives): https://www.wolfgangs.com/the-nielsen-pearson-band/

[5] "Nielsen Pearson". Blue Desert (westcoast.dk): https://www.westcoast.dk/artists/n/nielsen-pearson/

[6] "Nielsen Pearson". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Pearson

[7] "1980 Nielsen/Pearson – Nielsen/Pearson". Album credits, Sessiondays: https://sessiondays.com/?p=75929

[8] Nielsen/Pearson. *Nielsen/Pearson + Blind Luck*. Vivid Sound Corporation / Toshiba-EMI VSCD-566 (City Breeze Collection #004), Japan, 15 May 1998. CD tray card, obi and sleeve, including the original credits of *Blind Luck* (Capitol, 1983).

[9] "If You Should Sail". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_You_Should_Sail

[10] "If You Should Sail" – Nielsen/Pearson. Cash Box chart history, Ultimate70s: https://www.ultimate70s.com/song?id=56280

[11] "US Top 40 Singles for Week Ending November 22, 1980". Top40Weekly: https://top40weekly.com/2013/11/22/us-top-40-singles-for-week-ending-november-22-1980/

[12] "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Ain%27t_Gonna_Shine_(Anymore)

[13] "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" – Nielsen/Pearson. Cash Box chart history, Ultimate70s: https://www.ultimate70s.com/song?id=60662

[14] "1982 David Roberts – All Dressed Up". Album credits, Sessiondays: https://www.sessiondays.com/2014/10/1982-david-roberts-dressed/

[15] "1981 Maxus – Maxus". Album credits, Sessiondays: https://sessiondays.com/2016/05/1981-maxus-maxus/

[16] "Mark Pearson". Tag archive, including "1983 Nielsen/Pearson – Blind Luck", Sessiondays: https://sessiondays.com/tag/mark-pearson/

[17] Oermann, Robert K. "Nashville-Related Music Obituaries 2015". *MusicRow*, 22 December 2015: https://musicrow.com/2015/12/nashville-related-music-obituaries-2015/

[18] "Cinderella (Vince Gill song)". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_(Vince_Gill_song)

[19] "Red and Rio Grande". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_and_Rio_Grande

[20] "1986 Van Stephenson – Suspicious Heart". Album credits, Sessiondays: https://sessiondays.com/2020/03/20/1986-van-stephenson-suspicious-heart/

[21] "Van Stephenson". Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Stephenson

[22] Nielsen/Pearson. *Nielsen/Pearson*. Big Pink Music BIGPINK739, CD, South Korea. Product listing, VEA Music: https://www.veamusic.com/nealsen-pearson