Starland Vocal Band
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Starland Vocal Band is an American pop band, known primarily for "Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest singles in 1976 (see 1976 in music). The group began as Fat City, a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert.
The band was also composed of Jon Carroll (keyboards and vocals) and Margot Chapman (vocals). Carroll and Chapman were also married after meeting as members of the group, but later divorced. They had one son, Ben Carroll, who is also a musician.
Their debut was the self-titled Starland Vocal Band, which included "Afternoon Delight". The song was a hit, reaching #1 and the album also charted. They were nominated for five Grammy Awards and won two - Best arrangement (voices) and Best New Act. The follow-up, Rear View Mirror was a failure in comparison, although it was a minor chart entry, spending 13 weeks on the Billboard 200 (reaching a peak of #104).
The band hosted a self-titled variety show that ran on CBS for six weeks in the summer of 1977. David Letterman, then unknown, also participated in the show, as did Mark Russell, Jeff Altman, and Proctor and Bergman.
The band broke up by the early 1980s, unable to match their previous success (see 1980s in music). Danoff and Nivert divorced shortly afterwards.
Each of the band members has gone on to a solo career.
As recently as 1998 Starland Vocal Band has reunited for a few concerts, often featuring the children of the four original members as vocalists.
Danoff and Nivert co-wrote, with John Denver, the hit song "Take Me Home, Country Roads". Denver subsequently signed them to his record label, Windsong Records.
[edit] Cultural references
In The Simpsons, Homer Simpson excitedly mentions how he got a tattoo in his younger years, only to find that it reads "Starland Vocal Band"; he responds with, "Starland Vocal Band? They sucked!"
